How To: Care For Dry Skin The Natural Way
Looking after dry skin can feel arduous. Fighting with tight, red, dull, flaking or cracking skin can be an uphill battle – and figuring out a routine that helps keep skin hydrated, moisturised and glowing is tricky!
We’ve written an easy to follow guide for how to help combat and care for dry, dull, grey-looking or dehydrated skin, using our natural products and wellbeing tips.
- What To Eat To Care For Dry Skin
Something usually forgotten when talking about caring for dry skin is that it’s equally important to keep an eye on what goes in your body, as well as on your body!
If you struggle with dry skin, or dehydrated skin the key thing is to up your water intake (the advice is usually 2 litres a day!) This can come from any source of non-caffeinated drink - water, herbal teas, or squash.
You can include black tea or coffee in your fluid intake but beware – caffeine can be quite drying for the skin, so make sure to limit this.
What you eat is also a factor; foods high in processed sugar can add to drying of the skin, so limit your late night snacking and swap to healthier snacks instead. Note that it’s processed sugar that’s the trouble – fruits that are high in natural sugars are perfectly fine (and are fantastic for your skin and hair!)
If you want a good snack alternative, consider oranges for a vitamin C boost, which helps brighten dull skin, or bananas! Bananas are rich in potassium, manganese and vitamin C; they help support collagen production, skin elasticity and even help with the reduction of fine lines.
- Cleansing When Caring For Dry Skin
One mistake commonly made when caring for dry skin is using a cleanser that is too harsh. Cleansing wipes and pads – even when removing make-up – are an absolute no. These are far too drying for skin and strip your skin of its essential moisture.
Swap instead to a cleansing milk, or an oil-based cleanser, which are much more gentle on your skin. The Odylique Silk Touch Cleanser is a very gentle oil based cleanser that is perfect for dry skin.
Make sure when you cleanse, you’re gentle with your face – massage the cleanser into your skin in circles, starting with your cheeks. Avoid using a terry-cloth flannel to rinse away; either rinse off with pure, warm water, or use a more gentle cloth (such as bamboo).
- Moisturisers that Care for Dry Skin.
Moisturising is the last step in your skin care routine! With dry skin it’s so tempting to skip straight to this step, especially if it’s feeling tight, or sore – but missing out the cleansing means you’re not giving fresh skin cells their best chance to perform.
For dry skin, choose a rich, cream based moisturiser. The Odylique Avocado Cream is perfect for this as is the Odylique Prebiotic Rich Hydration Cream. The latter helps to balance the skin microbiome with its prebiotic chicory extract. Both creams are rich in antioxidants and essential fatty acids, helping protect your skin from free radicals as well as providing moisture.
If you’re concerned about night cream – with dry skin, the best thing is to use as few products as possible on your skin. Using too many ingredients, or changing your routine too often, can ‘confuse’ skin (not to mention, can feel overcomplicated!). Repeating your day time routine at night-time, as long as you are using the products mentioned above, will be enough to keep your skin hydrated, moisturised and nourished. With dry skin, it’s better to apply creams frequently in small amounts to your skin rather than a lot in one go.
- Facial Oils to Care for Dry Skin
The next step in your skin care routine can be a facial oil! Don’t worry, we won’t over complicate things.
Oil-only products like facial oils and balms provide further nutrients and lock in hydration to your skin. They should always go over water-containing products for optimal absorption.
The Acala Frankincense Facial Oil is rich in organic essential oils and seed oils that help to nourish and hydrate the skin – it’s quite rich so you’ll only need a small amount each time!
Once you’ve cleansed, rinsed and moisturised your face, gently massage in the facial oil into your skin. You’ll need to leave it to sit, and absorb into your skin prior to using makeup.
If you find it quite heavy to use a serum and moisturiser each time, you can use oil only in the evening, before bed.
- Using Make-Up When Caring For Dry Skin
Make-up can be a tricky one, especially with dry skin – and it’s something we get asked so often. Powders and liquid foundations can settle into creases or dry patches, or leave skin feeling drier.
If you’re someone who won’t leave the house without foundation, or you’re looking to glam up for a special event, the Odylique Cream Foundation range is perfect. It’s so rich and moisturising, it’s almost like adding an extra layer of moisturiser to your face! It has UV protection, making sure skin is protected when you go out.
For all our range of products for dry skin, look at our range here >>>
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