Whole Body Skincare

The care of body skin, with its fewer oil and more sweat glands, does differ. But for most people, skincare below the neck is a matter of controlling dryness.

Whole Body Skincare

The most important thing about body skincare therefore is not to over cleanse and to bathe or shower in warm, not hot water, especially if your skin is very dry. In the past, skin was washed maybe once a week, but today, our keenness to eliminate all body odour and the need to soak away the strains of stressful modern living has meant that daily bathing or showering is now normal. While assiduous washing is good news for our neighbours’ noses, is not so good for our skin.


Body hydration

Since the body’s skin is almost always normal to dry, the liberal use of moisturizers is important. The best time to apply it is immediately after bathing while the skin is still damp. Doing so will lock in the moisture the skin has absorbed during the bath. Be sure to apply moisturizer very liberally to the arms and legs which can be especially dry. On areas such as elbows and heels, which if allowed to become especially dry can become painfully cracked, you might like to use a heavier cream (look for ones containing urea) or use one that contains an alpha hydroxy acid to refine the skin’s outer layer.

If you like bathing or showering in the morning and have dry skin, be sure to apply cream or lotion before going to bed. The application of moisturizers at bedtime is more beneficial because the cream can be absorbed more in a warm bed.

If you have dry body skin it can often be improved by gentle exfoliation. The easiest way to do this is with a mildly abrasive cloth or by gently using a loofah. There are also many body exfoliating creams or cosmetic scrubs on the market. Which you use is both a matter of personal preference and how much you’re prepared to spend. Body skin is less fragile than facial skin so physical exfoliation is fine. Again, as with facial skin, don’t overdo it. If you experience increased dryness, smarting, burning or any form of irritation, you’ve overdone it.

An alternative to physical exfoliation is to use a cream with an AHA to refine the outer skin layers. In some cosmetic preparations, AHAs are not present in sufficient concentration to make a marked difference to the look or feel of the skin and may be included as much for marketing as for skin smoothing reasons. Others, however, may have a significant effect — controlling both dryness and roughness.


Hands

It is a fact that hands are the great ‘give-aways’ of age. According to our current understanding of the effects of UV rays, what they actually ‘give away’, of course, is the level of protection they have, or have not, received. Like our faces, our hands are constantly exposed to the elements but they receive far less care and attention, and are also subjected to much more rigorous tasks, including much more washing. Hence, hands may need as much, if not more, protection and moisture as our faces.

It’s a good idea to keep a tube of SPF 15 hand cream nearby, and to apply some whenever you feel the need. Moisturizer alone will stop the skin drying out, but it cannot prevent most of the ageing changes we so often see on hands: the so-called ‘liver’ spots which we now more correctly call age or sun spots, uneven pigmentation, thin, fragile-looking skin and lack of elasticity. Only a moisturizer with sun screen protection will do that.