Have your moisturizing methods defeated dryness or only mitigated it? (Denver: pharmacist, move to)

[buffalobirdie]

I am sooo excited about our move to Denver, but soooo concerned about the dryness! I see lots of advice on how to handle the dryness, but do these methods really conquer the issue or is it honestly - a losing battle? Have any of you really found a magic method that keeps super dry skin away?

[OneMoreMove]

I use lots of moisturizer, and we put it on our 2 year old all the time. It really seems to help, but still pretty dry!

[Moonwalkr]

Like everything else you do, it's a lifestyle change you deal with, it's not a one-shot thing that cures the problem permanently. It's just like eating a healthy diet, you can't stop doing it once you reach an ideal weight, you have to maintain it.

[80skeys]

You know something, I grew up in this climate and I have never used lotion or chapstick. I don't notice any issues but that's probably because I'm used to it.

You may want to use nothing and see if you get acclimated.

[Brian_M]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

You know something, I grew up in this climate and I have never used lotion or chapstick. I don't notice any issues but that's probably because I'm used to it.

You may want to use nothing and see if you get acclimated.

Same here. My hands get dry if I do a lot of dishes (like, when I'm baking several things and wash 4~5 sets of dishes in a few hours), and I use chapstick when outdoors for the SPF protection... but in my day to day life, I use neither. No cracked/rough elbows, heals, etc...

My wife, on the other hand, is from Georgia and uses chapstick non-stop (but I think it's an addiction personally). She uses lotion only after being in the water (shower, hot tub, swimming), though more often on her hands since she washes those frequently through the day (she's in the medical profession). This is Substantially less than when she first moved to the Rockies (SW Colordao/Cortez) 6 years ago.

[denverian]

I use lotion daily (entire body), but in Summer there seems to be enough humidity that I don't get chapped lips or dry hands. The only time I find it annoying is in Winter. We use humidifiers in the bedrooms and I get some sort of good had moisturizer. My hands are what get dried and cracked if I don't moisturize them often in Winter. Summer is just pleasantly dry in Denver, IMO.

[vegaspilgrim]

I used to have bad dry skin problems, until I got smart. Now, I use Aquaphor religiously, every time I take a shower or wash my hands. No problems now.

[LisaCACO]

there is no defeating dryness, only trying to cope with it here.

take an omega 3, that helps. then make sure you moisturize endlessly, drink gobs of water and use your sunscreen. moisturize and sunscreen religiously and you'll be okay. oh and don't expect your regular lotion to work here. you'll need the serious stuff, probably in layers, like a regular lotion and a heavy sealer lotion like aquaphor (mentioned above). or you can use something like cerave (also heavy, but not as petroleum filled as aquaphor).

your soap will need to be non-drying as well.

(your hair will need stuff too).

[2bindenver]

Bag Balm on the elbows and heels. I saw that it is $7.99 at Walgreens today.

I am getting used to the new 100 spf sunscreens. It's a little bit of a science project to wear sunscreen and foundation.

[Brian_M]

FWIW, SPF over 30 doesn't help in any way (wife is a pharmacist and did a paper on this for a class). Or, put another way, SPF 30 and SPF 100 offer the exact same protection when new. Though, since sunscreen has about a 1-year half-life (meaning 100spf today will be 50spf in 2012), it'll still provide maximum coverage after a year. Save yer money.