Winter can be a tough time for anybody’s skin… painfully dry hands and cracked heels galore (ouch!)
Dry heated air dehydrates and cracks your vulnerable skin while you are inside staying warm…
…combine that with whipping cold winds that chaff skin when you are outside and winter is just no fun on your skin, especially if you suffer from chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema or other forms of dermatitis.
Today I have a blog post for you that is full of wonderful things you can do to support tender dry winter skin and support skin health in general.
Year round, I recommend a skin care regime to my patients that supports their skin from the inside out in 3 easy steps:
1. take high quality Omega 3 supplements daily
2. drink lots of water (more than you think you need)
3. slather on coconut oil as a whole body moisturizer.
But beyond this basic routine, if you have specific trouble spots you might want a topical barrier cream to apply directly on a daily basis for protection.
And luckily, if you like the barrier protection of petroleum jelly but don’t want petroleum by-products anywhere near your body, it’s super easy to make your own!
Today I want to share with you the recipe my daughter and I whip up each winter to use on our poor cracked hands and feet.
We have enjoyed this for several years now… thank you so much to One Good Thing by Jillee (which is where I first saw this recipe!)
Homemade (Un)Petroleum Jelly.
- 1/4 cup Beeswax Pellets
- 1 cup Olive Oil
Melt together over very low heat in a saucepan or double broiler… once well combined, pour into a jar or recycled container and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
I keep a jar by my bedside and by my kitchen sink to us on my winter cracked hands and heels.
***If you don’t want to make yours from scratch, give Earth’s Best Non-Petroleum Jelly a try on any super dry trouble spots!***
And for whole-body relief from tight, dry, itchy skin in the winter, I like to capture the moisture of a shower or bath by layering on some colloidal oatmeal lotion (you can find this at your local drugstore… something like this one…) immediately after stepping out from bathing, and then coconut oil on top of this lotion to help seal it all in.
I have found that adding the colloidal oatmeal topical can make all the difference when pure coconut oil is just not enough. My son’s psoriasis plaques really respond well to the colloidal oatmeal topical treatment, sealed in with either coconut oil or our homemade Non-Petroleum Jelly.
So my expanded “Winter Time” list for treating parched, painful winter skin and to prevent cracks and bleeding (or to treat existing eczema or psoriosis patches) is:
1. Take high quality Omega 3 supplements daily.
2. Drink lots of filtered water (here’s why you want non-fluoridated water…)
3. Immediately after bathing, apply colloidal oatmeal to skin…
4. …and slather on coconut oil to seal it in.
5. Spot treat cracked areas or dry patches with homemade Non-Petroleum Jelly (recipe shared above or try this one)
xoxox Laura
P.S. Want to go even further with vibrant skin health?
You know that I love skin care (at one point I even considered going into dermatology!) so I’ve written lots of great blog posts over the past few years to support the innate health of your skin.
Skin Care Blog Post Round Up:
Protect your skin with my favorite sunscreen
Caffeine to reduce basal cell cancer incidence
Stop using unhealthy antiperspirants… by doing this one thing!
My approach to skin care (and why most skin care products you use actually accelerates the aging of your skin!)
The Deep Seated Intuitive Energy of Skin
Beauty is only skin deep — enjoy your beauty just as it is (here’s how!)
How to get rid of itchy yeast overgrowth on your skin