Water + Cold Air= Dry Skin?

Are you moisturizing properly?

Now that summer is definitely over and the holiday season is upon us, its about time we talk about our winter skin routine. Do you have a routine for the winter? I didn’t until recently. 

Before creating my own skin care, the most I have ever done for my skin during the cold months is find and buy a thicker lotion/cream or find a product that didn’t have water as its first ingredient. In my mind, the thicker the cream and the less water in the product, the less ashy I would get. I have spent so much money on name brand lotions that marketed towards helping my extremely dry skin. I’ve even slapped Vaseline on my skin, poured oils all over myself. I’d always end up disappointed because as soon as I stepped outside into cooler air, its like my skin instantly seized up and started this transition to a white, flaky, itchy mess. Honestly, the only thing the creams, Vaseline, and oils did was slow down that process. At that time, that was a win in my book. The longer it took for my skin to get dry, the better that product was.

I’ve even went as far as having separate containers of moisturizer for my bag, for work, for the car……I have really dry skin and I can’t stand it. It wasn’t until this year that I changed, or should I say created a routine especially for the winter.  I was speaking with a friend about her shower routine. She mentioned to me that she applies her oil or whipped shea butter to her skin right out the shower before drying off. An alarm went off. How did I forget that was thing?

Ever since chopping off my hair and ‘going natural’ almost four years ago, I have a much greater appreciation and understanding of water and everything it does to help our bodies inside and out. We need water for our skin and hair; water does the exact opposite of making us dry. But we can’t rely on water alone.

I was slightly familiar with the process of moisturizing while still wet from the shower, but it wasn’t something I practiced often due to habit. I was always taught to dry off completely before applying lotion so that I WOULDN’T get ashy. I’ve only learned about this ‘process’ about a year or so ago from watching Youtube videos of others’ skin and body care routine.

I bought a few in-shower moisturizers from local stores. I have even moisturized while wet with my favorite floral scented body oil.

Since creating my own moisturizers, I jump right out the shower with Day 3 Organics Whipped shea butter. It glides across the skin easier when the skin is wet, therefore you need to apply less and the container lasts a lot longer. My skin has been loving me for it and I am definitely going to moisturize like this all year long.