Help for Dry Cracked Hands

With winter fast approaching, one big target issue that always flares up for me is dry cracked hands! I look like a fighter with rough, sliced up fingers and flake-covered phalanges…wow that almost sounds like an appetizer! Okay, GROSS, anyway, it is really painful and makes me feel so old when I stare upon my dry cracked hands. :(

SO I have compiled a list of possibilities to check out and a few helpful hints for your hands. These are issues I discovered through the great trial and error! Hopefully they’ll be of some use to you:

1. Biggest culprit for me has always been Dish Soap! Especially if you wash dishes by hand or use dish soap to wash your hands. Buy a pair of gloves for any and all dish duties. For an added benefit, coat your hands in Extra Virgin Olive Oil before beginning your dish adventure. The warm water will heat the gloves, open your pores and help the oil nourish and sink deeply into your skin.

2.  Keep hands covered in extreme temperatures! Gloves again! But these can be a bit more fashionable. Don’t wait for a drastic change, if you feel cold or there’s wind or dry air, cover up the hands!

3.  Soak your hands in coconut milk. You can get a can in the ethnic food section of most stores. Use 4-6 cups warm water (not too hot!) and a can. Let your hands soak for about 10-15 minutes. Get caught up with your spouse, bf, sister what have you, or just watch TV! Dry hands and apply oil or lotion.

4.  Don’t use unnatural moisturizers. Seriously. They have mineral oil (pore clogging and interfering with your body’s natural detoxing process), petroleum (again, pore clogging and skin irritant) not to mention as well, Sodium Laurel Sulfates and such. If your dry cracked hands are really a problem, take this and highly consider it!

5.  Even with good soap and moisturizer, be cautious about over washing hands. There’s clean and then there’s excessive! Oils get stripped leaving skin exposed and vulnerable.

6.  Hand sanitizer. High in alcohol, this too strips oils and is very drying to the skin.

7.  Drink water! Keep up on this, it helps hydrate and plump your skin cells from the inside out.

Hopefully this list will give you some ideas on things to look for or change and ultimately help for dry cracked hands. I found these especially important during seasonal changes! Our hands are very important to our lives and they totally deserve the best care and attention we can give them.

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Dry Skin Around Eyes

What to do about dry skin around eyes? You’ve looked in the mirror and might have been aghast to find you have patches of dry skin lurking about your eyes; I was horrified when I saw the flakes forming in the corners. Don’t panic and run to the store for some Olay eye rejuvenation! There are natural ways to doctor your flesh and don’t forget to examine the possible causes as well!

Dry Skin Around Eyes

First, lets go ahead and think of these here possible causes. One of the biggest reasons that has affected me is the repeated use of makeup, both eye and foundation. For us women, that right there should be the place to look. Maybe you’re allergic to your eye shadow? Mascara? Concealer? Or maybe you wear too much too often? Resist the urge to try and cover up your flake ridden dry skin with more makeup. You are doing the future YOU a big bad un-favor, for if you don’t address this problem, get to the root of it and improve it, you’ll end up with skin that looks old long before its time and probably long before you are ready! Or you might look like you’re wearing goggles….

Moving on! Next biggest culprit to dry skin is your face wash or moisturizer. These both are just not nice to skin. Unnatural beauty products such as these are like lawyers; they are suppose to be helping you but are really screwing you over. They are LOADED with chemicals and preservatives and scientists only know what else, so instead of giving your skin cells a life raft, you’re throwing them to the sharks and expecting them to survive. Dry skin around your eyes could be a sign they are losing that battle….

Okay so let’s not forget the one thing most of us just don’t want to talk about…our food and beverage intake. This indeed plays quite a part in dry skin, more than we want to acknowledge. Any food that is not giving something to your body is taking it instead. Sorry my dear readers, but cheerios fall under this.Yes, I know what they say on the box, but if you read the ingredients and look up the nutritional value of each one, you’ll find that there is nothing all that beneficial going on there. They are swim toys for the invisible people in your milk. :(

SO junk food, sweets, boxed foods, coffee, soda, juices that are not 100%, energy drinks etc, these are all slowly sucking the life from your organs and YOUR SKIN!!! Oh, PS>Alcohol does this as well. Big crocodile tears here, I enjoy partying! Never fear though, switch to wine and lower consumption. Ahh much better.

I’m not recommending you throw out every food that tastes oh so darn good, I’m just merely suggesting perhaps incorporate body feeding nutrition (such as the dreaded fruits and vegetables) for at least half of your daily food intake. You will feel better. Besides, broccoli can always be covered in cheese!! :)

Okay, I can touch on diet more in depth later.

One last thing before moving on to what we can do about dry skin around the eyes: We must not forget that a change in climate or season can cause dry skin issues, most particularly the wintertime. Take note! Okay now for helpful hints on how to tackle dry skin around eyes!

    • Use mild warm water when washing your face. No searing hot allowed!
    • Drink plenty of water!
    • Use natural moisturizers around your eyes and for your whole face. Some of my favorites are coconut oil, jojoba oil, Burt’s Bees Honey & Shea Body Butter. I’m also using a combination of jojoba oil and myrrh essential oil. I usually put this on ever day or two, focusing around my eyes. They’ve never looked better!
    • Apply a mask around the eyes consisting of: 1 tsp of wild honey. Moisten the skin around your eyes with warm water to open the pores. Gently and carefully dab the honey around, avoiding inside the eyes. Let set for 5-8 minutes. Rinse off, dab dry and apply an approved moisturizer!
    • Don’t over wash your face. This can aggravate dry skin. Once a day is plenty and not required of course!
    • Take a break from the makeup so your skin has a chance to dry and improve. It’ll happen quicker if you do!

Don’t let your dry skin get you down! Be proactive (no I’m not promoting that product) and most of all slow down and take care of yourself. Dry skin around the eyes can be annoying and even scary, but breath and relax and well…just do something about it! Oh and most of all, keep it natural. :)

Oh So Natural....

     

     

     

     

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    Homemade Bath Soak

    Homemade Bath Soak

    Sometimes the best thing to do on a cold winter evening after a hard days work it to fill up the tub and settle in! There’s something extra special about this relaxing event if you could only add something to the tub that makes you feel like a million bucks after you towel off…how about a homemade bath soak? Something easy and nourishing that makes your skin sigh in relief and tingles with gratefulness.

    Never fear, there are a couple options that emulate easy and comforting and I shall give you the recipes, right here and now. First lets start with a couple 1 ingredient homemade bath soak recipes:

    Coconut Milk Bath Soak

    1 can (about 14oz or so) coconut milk

    Add some nice hot water (not too hot!) to the tub. Shake the can of coconut milk to blend. Open and pour contents into tub.
    This one is a favorite! I love the way it feels while soaking; not oily, just very silky. My skin felt wonderfully smooth and hydrated after soaking for about 20-30 minutes. This one is easy and very soothing! Find coconut milk in a can in the ethnic food isle. Usually $2-$3.

     

    Olive Oil Bath Soak

    1/8-1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

    Add some hot water (not too hot!) to the tub. Pour Olive Oil in while water is running. Slip in and soak, massaging the oil into your skin to get even moisturizing. Best done before bed as this gives the oil a chance to really sink into your skin overnight. I do this one about once a week. Great for dry skin!

     

    Baking Soda Bath Soak

    1/2 cup Baking Soda

    Add Baking Soda to tub while water is running. This helps to soften skin. If suffering from really dry skin, use 1 cup of baking soda with 1/8-1/4 cup oil such as coconut, olive, grapeseed, or jojoba. It’s basically just combining the Olive Oil recipe with the Baking Soda one. Easy! And most of the time, these ingredients are in your cupboard, I’ll be so bold as to assume, thus opening the door for you to be spontaneous…because you might actually be reading this while your bath is filling!

    A homemade bath soak doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, most of the time we just want something simple to throw in the tub while lighting a candle and sliding in…all this bath talk is making me crave one! Just like when I talk about doughnuts…oh dear. No, I’m not on my period.

     

     

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    Should I Exfoliate Dry Skin?

    When it comes to a bad bout of dry skin, sometimes it seems no matter what we do it gets worse or stays the raging same. One popular thing to do is exfoliate. But wait, should I exfoliate dry skin? … Continue reading

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    Does Soap Dry Skin?

    So how many times in a day do you wash your hands? Or shower? Go ahead…count. I’ll wait. Now, did you ever open your mind to the possibility that you are caring for your skin in a way that is … Continue reading

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