hands only, or whole body, or face?

For my hands I use glycerine hand therapy from Camille Beckman, the French vanilla scented one, and for my body I use Curel ultra healing lotion. For my face I use Estee Lauder Resilience Lift night cream and Resilience lift Extreme for day use.

Moni

After a warm bath, try rubbing down with Vaseline, then totally cover up, rub legs then put on jammie bottoms. feet then socks, etc, and sleep that way. In the morning hit the shower to wash off what hasn't absorbed into you skin. It works wonders and is much cheaper than lotions that don't work.

My mom was a nurse and her hands were always dry and cracked in the winter. She found an old-fashioned product called Corn Huskers Lotion that worked for her. It was super thick and worked wonders. I just googled it and found it for $3.99 at Walgreens, so it's still out there. (I have no connection to the product or company! :) )

Another thing you can do is put heavy lotion on your hands just before bed and then put on a pair of cotton gloves. The gloves warm your hands all night so that the lotion absorbs well. A few nights of this will have you back on track!

On another forum the people are raving about Africas Best Herbal Oil.Its from Walmart,in the ethnic section and about $2.00.
I just bought it and will let you know how it works...

I use baby oil gel after the shower. It works great.

My feet and hands get dry in winter. Vaseline and socks and white gloves help a lot. My veterinarian is a woman, she swears by vaseline under rubber lab gloves. I give my hands a beauty treatment by putting on any hand lotion, then rubber Playtex gloves, then hand wash my dishes in hot water. The heat really helps the lotion get into your skin. Remove the gloves, then massage any remaining lotion into your cuticles. And don't wash your hands after this treatment.

I've had dry skin basically all my life. What works best for me is first "plumping" my skin with either a warm shower or a hand lotion (Jergen's Shea Butter has been my favorite for the past 5 years or so), then immediately applying a thin "sealer coat" of vaseline. Never try vaseline if your skin feels dry -- vaseline can't add moisture, it can only block moisture from leaving your skin. Only exception is my face -- for that, I use Aveeno's tinted sunblock, which seems to have enough body to keep my facial skin from drying out.

Any fragrance free lotion or cream should help it if you put it on when you are still damp from a shower or bath. If not, it maybe an allergy. I am very allergic to Nexium and the other PPIs. They all make me itch, one in particular made me feel like I had been rolling in insulation. The last was an over the counter generic one and it made my head itch so bad there sores on my head was losing hair in those spots. If you are taking meds, research them for side effects.

If you use a bath oil, put it in the tub after you have gotten wet. I put it in just before I get out and pat dry.

I the Parade Magazine in our newspaper. There was a small article about dry skin, questions answered by a dermatologist. I looked for a Link but didn't find one. Here is what he says about dry skin.

Question: chilly conditions demand thick, rich moisturizers.

Answer: False.

Heavier creams aren't necessarily more effective in the winter months, according to Dr. Wendy Roberts, a dermatologist in Ranco Mirage, Calif. A better solution? Products with water-binding ingredients like glycerin and hyaluronic acid. They lock in moisture and plump skin without clogging pores", Robert says. Try Cetaphil Daily moisturizer or neutrogena oil-free moisturizer.

It had a lot of good advice, like hot showers and baths are not good for the skin and advice on lip balms.

Everytime I do dishes, I think I should wear rubber gloves. Our water is so darned hot, you'd think we all had dishwashers. I checked it this morning and it was 120 degrees, but other days it's hotter. Scaldable.

So if I remember to wear gloves, I can put cream on first, like Jannie.

I swear by Dove bar soap to prevent all over body dryness. It really makes a difference. I also keep a good lotion in the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom so that I can put it on my hands after using hot water.

I've had lots of people ask me about my skin over the years and I always 'blame' it on the Dove.

Another Dove user here, for years and years.

I've had excema since forever. After a shower using Dove soap, I use cetaphil lotion (not the pump container, but in a tub- it is thicker and has no alcohol), then use either Eucerin (also in a tub, it is a wax base that seals in moisture) or Aquaphor (a vasaline base that also seals in moisture)

I LOVE Argon oil, which is a cheap version of the expensive Moroccan oil. I have used both and have found very little difference, in the healing of my skin, between the two. Do a Google.com search for Argon oil and see if it's a product you can benefit from.

Eucerin cream works wonders.

thanks, so much, everyone. i really appreciate all the great tips. i will be trying them all and will let you know what has worked best for me. thanks, again!! ;)

oh, and moni, it is all over but especially hands, arms and legs!!

I use aquafor. My dr. told me about it.

I have been using O'Keefe's hand cream and their foot cream on my hands, arms, legs and feet and it works wonders.
They have an on line site explaining their products.
I usually buy mine at our local Ace hardware but found recently I can get it cheaper through Amazon. I pay no shipping since I have their Premium service.

My dermatologist suggests avoiding tub baths and says showers should be warm, not hot. I have excema on my hands and use Cetaphil cream on my hands at night and white cotton gloves all night.

Eat nuts: Brazil nuts, cashew nuts, sunflower seeds, walnuts

And avoid hot baths and showers

I use just plain glycerine.

Over the last few years, I have developed extremely dry skin as well. Mostly on my feet. And not like most people, who get callouses mainly on their heels. I actually get very dry skin along the outside edge of my sole. It just cracks open and bleeds. No lotion helped, and believe me, I tried MANY lotions. The only thing that gave me some relief was to wear Band-Aids over the cracked portion and to always wear socks. Of course, many times when I removed the bandage I would also remove some skin, causing more bleeding.

And then I turned to the article in the Reader's Digest that changed my life. No kidding. You know they always have those articles - 13 Things Your Waiter
Won't Tell You, 13 Things Your Mechanic Won't Tell You, etc. A few months ago the article was 13 Things Your Podiatrist Won't Tell You. I read it with interest and the recommendation for dry and cracked feet was to use AMLACTIN. The doctor who recommended it said it was "pretty much magic in a tube". There is a body lotion and one specifically for feet (a little thicker). The only caution is that if you use it you should limit your exposure to sunlight. I felt that if my feet never saw the light of day again but stopped cracking and bleeding, I would be happy. It promised to also exfoliate.

And guess what? After using it just twice a day for less than a week, my feet were 100% better. No cracks or bleeding. I continued to use it for about a month and the skin on the bottom of my feet became soft and supple.

I know I sound just like a commercial, but I truly felt that I had found my miracle. I now use it just a couple of times a week and I can't recommend it highly enough. It is expensive IMO (about $12 for the foot cream), but SO worth the cost.

my doctor recommended Aquaphor you can also use Eucerin.check the labels they are made by the same company I think but one has one less ingredient.

When I went to a dermatologist years ago for very dry and cracked skin on my hands, she told me to never use lotions. She gave me a cortisone ointment which I used liberally as it felt soooooo good after about 20 minutes, and it wasn't until several years later that I learned that it thins the skin. Shame on her for not telling me that! So now I use it only when my palm is very itchy and generally use Vaseline almost once a day since the weather turned cool and dry. My hands feel a bit better after that, though not as good as when I use the cortisone. I'm going to have to figure something else out.

Years ago a doctor suggested I use a lotion with urea for dry, itchy dry skin. The stuff I used was Aqua Care, but there are plenty of others. It worked great.

When you get out of the shower, lightly dry off and then apply the lotion with urea. You will have itch-free, moist skin, a good part of the day.

This approach was purportedly discovered by the Egyptians while building the pyramids. They would douse themselves with water and then coat their bodies with camel urine. Lovely. :-) But, it seemed to help them. At least we don't have to have a camel available to us to reap the benefits.

Jodi-

Here is a link that might be useful: Google search for

No they just put a bucket under a cow here. LOL

Usually Aveeno lotion works for me, but once in awhile my skin gets so dry that it won't work.

What works for me then is straight Vit E oil from the drug store. It's cheap and it works great. It is oil though so be careful about touching things (like clothing) if you have it on your hands. I use it on my face in the winter.

Thanks from my boys for the ideas. Both of them have eczema and at the first sign of winter it really shows up.

Stacie

I find anything that is a cream instead of a lotion works so much better for me