Causes of Dry Skin

In order to avoid the many activities that jeopardize your skin’s health, it is important to identify the many factors which results to the unwanted condition of dry skin.

· Avoid Using Soaps with Harsh Ingredients – Regular soaps such as anti-bacterial and deodorant soaps, which are non-moisturizing, dehydrate the skin and rob your integument with essential oils which locks moisture from your body.

Products containing alcohols also dissolve skin lipids and cause the skin’s moisture to evaporate resulting to skin dryness. Water and oil-based products are perfect for your skin. Use Dove Olay and other soap substitutes available at your local drugstore.

· Washing with Hot Water – Although water is an effective moisturizing agent, it also strips your skin with valuable oils or lipids which are responsible for retaining moisture from your skin.

Frequent bathing, especially with hot water, removes valuable oils and exposes your skin to infections by destroying your body’s first main line of defense.

Once this is lost, your skin will become more prone to organic attacks by pathogens and sometimes cause irreversible damage to your skin.

If you are used to bathing with hot water and cannot resist the temptation, try replacing it with lukewarm water to lessen the effect of skin dryness.

Washing too much? 

Frequent Washing – Frequent washing and bathing, usually more than once a day depletes your body with moisture and natural oils. Also, limit your bathing time within 15 minutes.

· Weather – Winter is one major factor in the development of a dry skin. The use of humidifier, in most cases, solves the problem of the effect of the climate. It compensates for the insufficient humidity needed for the preservation of skin moisture.

This is because cold air cannot afford to hold adequate amount of water to serve skin’s moisture demands. Warm air on the other hand holds enough humidity to keep the skin moisturized at a certain level.

· Patients under medication – People taking diuretic drugs remove water from a patient’s body because the kidney will less likely reabsorb the water filtered through it. In this case, frequent intake of water is needed.

· Genetic Disease – People afflicted with a rare genetic disease called ichthyosis are likely to develop dry skin. This genetic disease has no cure and the goal of treatment is to secure the symptoms that manifest along the way.