How to Moisturize Your Skin in the Shower
Updated: May 20, 2011
How you wash, cleanse, and moisturize becomes more important as you get older. Here’s how you should be spending your
How you wash, cleanse, and moisturize becomes more important as you get older. Here’s how you should be spending your time in the shower.
Take the scratch test.
Before you step in the shower, scratch a small area on your arm or leg with your fingernail. If a white mark is left behind, your skin is dry and needs more moisture.
In and out in 10 minutes.
Long, hot showers strip skin of its moisture, and wash away protective oils. Keep the water cool, and your showers quick. In fact, try showering every other day, especially in winter.
Fatten up your soap.
Brands such as Dove, Oilatum and Neutrogena contain added fat, which leaves an oily yet beneficial film on skin. Deodorant soaps can be drying.
Love your loofah.
While showering use a gentle circular motion to remove dead cells and discourage ingrown hairs. Always store your loofah in a dry place (not the shower stall) to discourage bacterial growth.
Hit the moisturizing deadline.
Apply a moisturizing cream or lotion within 3 minutes of leaving the shower to trap water in the upper layers of skin, and prevent dryness and itching later. Use a heavier, thicker moisturizer in winter when humidity levels are lower.
