Top 3 Tips for Getting Rid of Dry Skin

Dry skin seems to be an unfortunate fact of life for most of us. In the summertime the sun dries us out, in the wintertime it’s the dry air and indoor heating.

Thankfully there are some really simple steps you can take to fight dry skin so you no longer have to deal with the discomfort, unsightly flaking and (this may surprise you) heightened appearance of lines and wrinkles that come from dry skin.

Let’s get right into it.

1. Get rid of drying skincare products

You might not even know it, but there’s a good chance that the products you use to clean your skin are contributing to your dryness (unless they’re from Oars + Alps of course ;) ). Many companies put stealthy ingredients like alcohols and sulfates into their formulas for face wash, body wash, soap and other cleansing products. Those ingredients are used to make you feel clean, but they strip the moisture and natural oils on your skin that would otherwise keep you hydrated.

If it isn't alcohol-free and sulfate-free, toss it and replace it.

2. Exfoliate

Exfoliate is a fancy word for removing dead skin cells from the surface of your skin. When skin gets dry enough to get flaky or give off a white-ish hue, that’s all just dead skin cells (we know, gross). If your skin is feeling dry (even if it isn’t flakey), you very likely have dead skin cells on top of the healthy skin cells underneath.

If you’re just putting moisturizer on top of that layer of dead skin cells, that’s not going to work very well at hydrating the healthy cells underneath. Your skin might feel better for a short while and any flakiness might momentarily look better, but it’s going to come back quickly since you’re not getting to the root of the issue.

So all that is to say, make sure you exfoliate. There are lots of exfoliating products out there and you’ll want to find one that works well for you skin. Exfoliants come in the form of soaps, face washes, scrubs, body washes, toners – you name it. Some have little pieces of an exfoliating ingredient that are large enough that you can see them, and some have exfoliating ingredients that work on a micro-level. In either case, you want to find one that isn’t too abrasive, especially on your face or if you have delicate skin, as your skin will end up with red, irritated or potentially damaged.  

We have a few exfoliating products that use Activated Charcoal, an exfoliant that is still gentle. For your face, check out our Solid Face Wash. For body, our Blue Charcoal Oars Bar is a big customer favorite.

3. Moisturize

This one is pretty obvious, but there are so many options out there for moisturizing that we want to take a minute to describe their differences and help you figure out what’s best for you.

You’ll want to think about how intensely dry your skin is and where on your body you’re experiencing dryness. If your face is super dry, a combination of a serum and a moisturizer is best. A serum with hydrating ingredients will penetrate the deeper layers of your skin and moisturize from the inside out. (For an example, check out our Wake Up Face Serum.) A moisturizer will add additional hydration to the top layers of your skin and lock it in so it doesn’t evaporate (yes, alas, water evaporates from the skin). If the skin under your facial hair or beard is dry, add a hydrating beard oil into the mix.

For your hands and body, a moisturizing soap or body wash and a lotion should be enough. Go with a heavier lotion when your skin is at its driest. For dry hands, our Dry Hand Repair Cream is a lifesaver. 

There are awesome moisturizing ingredients out there like aloe, shea butter, Vitamin E and Hyaluronic Acid. They work in different ways to hydrate your skin and we use them a lot in our products. We won’t get into the nitty gritty of each of them here, but suffice it to say they are super effective in delivering results and are healthier than many of the synthetic and chemical ingredients in lots of mainstream products.

Say Goodbye to Dry Skin

Those are the basics! If you want any recommendations for your dry skin, we are always here to help. Chat with us on our website or send us an email at hi@oarsandalps.com and we’ll help you find awesome products so you can finally say so long to your dry skin.