Winter skin care

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My hands get so dry in winter.I just did my cheapo treatment and thought I'd share .Mix whatever oil{olive,soy or veggie} and sugar together rub well into hand and rinse .It takes all the dead skin off and moisturizes too! Hubby even asked for some for work .It got his hands some what clean and no yucky chemicals.Do you guys have anything special you do for winter skin ?

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@hotmail.com), January 04, 2001

Answers

bag balm helps. Put it on just before bedtime and when you wake up your hands will be much improved.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), January 04, 2001.

I suffer from chapped hands, and cracked and bleeding fingers due to working outside all the time, and I also use bag balm just before bed, but after I apply it, I slip on latex gloves, not only to keep from smearing the stuff on the sheets, but it seems to help it penetrate better, so my hands stay soft longer.

-- Joe (Threearrs@AOL.com), January 04, 2001.

Baby oil (which is scented mineral oil), could just use mineral oil, or vaseline, for feet, put it on before bedtime, then put socks on or to really boost the effectiveness put plastic bread sacks over the socks. These are the most inexpensive things I've found.

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), January 04, 2001.

I use a lot of my homemade goldeneal salve in the winter, it's basically equal parts cocoa butter, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, beeswax, and a whole bunch of herbal tinctures and vitamin E. The whole recipe is back in archives, if you want it.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), January 04, 2001.

A good natural face moisturizer is pure aloe gel. Mary

-- Mary Fraley (kmfraley@orwell.net), January 04, 2001.


I used to have dry skin and used lotion all the time so I started making my own goat milk soap and the dryness has gone away.

-- Kathy (jubilant@ncweb.com), January 04, 2001.

Hard water is something that will make the skin dry out, especially in winter. I don't want to beat the drum for water softeners, even though I do have one and love it, but if you have a source of soft water (rain barrel, etc.) to collect water for washing your hands in that should help alleviate the problem a bit. The minerals from hard water stick to your skin and absorb the natural oils from the skin, resulting in the drying and cracking.

I rather like the Skin so Soft from Avon, and the Neutrogena skin lotions, they're not as "greasy" as some of the others.

-- Chelsea (rmbehr@istar.ca), January 04, 2001.


I've found the best thing I can do for my poor chapped hands is to wear rubber gloves when doing dishes, etc., and use salve several times a day. I made up a batch of Annie's goldenseal salve, and I have the recipe right here in front of me if anyone needs it. It's really as good as she says it is!!

-- Cathy in NY (hrnofplnty@yahoo.com), January 05, 2001.

GLYCERIN- Plain glycerin works best,husband gets cracked hands and fingers in winter, got plain glycerin at work and it works great. If you cannot get plain glycerin, rose water & glycerin was next best but any product with glycerin in it works also. Mary

-- Mary (marwel@microserve.net), January 05, 2001.

My "Sauce" as I call it, is 1 part glycerine, 1 part water, 2 parts oil (olive, almond, whatever), and a bit of fresh lime juice. It is amazingly effective. You could put in a drop of whatever aromatic oil you like, too, of course.

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), January 05, 2001.


When I go to the dentist, they smear pure lanolin on my lips. It's great. I would like to know a source for this if anyone has one, other than kissing my sheep (as much as I love them, I don't see that as a viable option!)

-- sheepish (WA) (rborgo@gte.net), January 05, 2001.

Bag balm.

-- jimR (jymcyn@earthlink.net), January 05, 2001.

My husband got me an udder lotion in a squeeze tube at the Blue Seal store that I really like. In the few months I've been working at the hospital, I've become allergic to latex, and even the non-latex gloves were causing problems because of the constant sweating and drying. Now I put the lotion on before I start work, and it coats my hands and protects them from the moisture that builds up in the gloves. I have to re-do it at the supper break usually because of the constant washing. But my knuckles had been so cracked they were bleeding -- can't have that with the kind of work I do. This stuff cleared it right up.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), January 05, 2001.

Sheepish: The last time I looked they had pure lanolin in with the shoe care stuff at the shoe store. We like to use the lotion called Hoofmaker found in the horse care products. It keeps my hands from cracking when I am milking in the winter. Put the lanolin on (or bag balm) with gloves at night.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 05, 2001.

I use some stuff called WOOL WAX CREAM. Seems to do a good job also found a cream made of goat milk, can't find the bottle now to get you the name, got it at Cracker Barrel Restaurant.

-- Betsy K (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), January 05, 2001.


I have trouble with extreme dry skin all the time- the nutrition clerk at the local health food store recommended I take evening primrose oil in gel cap form and a good b and c vitamen supplement with it. I had cracked, bleeding hands and a scalp so dry and tender that it bleed when I combed my hair. For the hair I added a pure castile soap with camomile. It took about three months to see a difference. Now, as long as I keep taking the primrose oil capsules, I get along with a good hyperallergenic cream for sensitive skin applied on a regular basis. I also have learned to use cotton workgloves whenever I use a hand tool so that the friction doesn't damage the skin. My scalp cleared up and has never been as healthy as it is now (can't ever remember having such healthy hair). The primrose oil also helped regulate my feminine cycles and relieved the hot flashes I was beginning to feel. I have been taking it for almost three years and do feel it when I forget or run out for a few days. (I feel it in my joints. I'm up and down from the floor in my job with preschoolers with disabilities) Good stuff, and it can be squeezed out of the capsule for use directly on the skin if needed. I also need to remember to drink plenty of water- I tend to forget that in the winter time when I don't feel as thirsty. If you hydrate from the inside out and the outside in you do the job better. betty

-- betty modin (betty_m9@yahoo.com), January 07, 2001.

We keep bees, and I make my own handcream with beeswax, mineral oil, water and a bit of borax. This is really good for dry skin. Especially if you have your hands in water a lot as the beeswax repells water. I want to try making it with almond or olive oil instead of the mineral oil but haven't as of yet.

-- Mary R. (cntryfolk@ime.net), January 09, 2001.

Most real pharmacies carry either hydrous or anhydrous lanolin, it is extremely cheap and goes a LOOOOOOOONG way.

-- Artie Ann Karns (rokarns@arkansas.net), January 11, 2001.

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