It seems the moment cooler weather arrives our skin and hair feel the affects; dry, rough hands, tight skin and fly-aways. Not to worry, there are remedies for these problems. By adding a few products or ingredients to your existing regimen, you will be flake and fly-away free in no time.
Let’s take it from the top: our tresses. Once temps drop many experience limp, lifeless and parched locks. I have long used organic argan oil on my hands nightly to keep them soft and supple and have surely heard that the oil can be used on hair, but was always a little too cautious to go for it. Well, I recently threw caution to the wind and have been using a bit (no more than 2-3 drops is needed) of this super-oil in my towel dried hair after washing. Not only does it keep ends from drying out, but it adds a little bounce and shine too. My stylist even noticed the difference. Simply amazing stuff and a little goes a super long way.
Now on to skin. My absolute fave skin care product is organic rose hip oil. This stuff can be used year round as a moisturizer for delicate eye area skin and also as a spot-lightener and zit-zapper. But I like to use it on my entire face, morning and night, through colder months under my moisturizer for extra hydration. It also seems to add a little glow to the skin and, again, a little dab will do ya’.
The area where I notice dry skin first is my hands. The minute humidity was gone from our days they turned up dry and scaly (yuck!) and the usual nightly argan oil treatment was not cutting it. So, I grabbed my copy of The Green Beauty Guide by Julie Gabriel for an instant fix and found her recipe for Hand Rescue Cream. This cream is easy to make and requires only a few easily obtainable ingredients. Whip it up in just a short time and you will have this amazingly rich hand balm. Slather it on before bedtime, don a pair of cotton gloves and your digits will be much happier come morning. Here’s the recipe:
1/2 ounce beeswax
Juice of one freshly squeezed lemon
1 tablespoon sweet almond oil
5 drops lemon essential oil
2 drops lavender essential oil
1. Melt beeswax in a pan.
2. Add the lemon juice and oils and stir with a wooden spoon until blended.
3. Transfer to a jar. Shake occasionally until the cream is cooled and uniform.
Since a thick and rich hand cream isn’t conducive to most of our daytime activities a couple of truly wonderful moisturizers for hands are Weleda Sea Buckthorn Hand Cream and Skin Lemon Mousse Hand Cream. Both are great at moisturizing dry skin without any greasiness. And the Skin Lemon Mousse smells delicious.
So, try a few of these terrific products for dry skin, drink lots of water and you’ll be plumped up and perky all winter long.
Image credit: calico courtney brooke at Flickr.com, Creative Commons license.