Beauty tips for hard times: exfoliating and moisturizing

This winter, moreso than past ones, by skin has been incredibly dry. In fact, my shin skin resembled scales. I felt really tight, like I was too big for my skin, that I needed to shed. Gross imagery, I know, but I don't know how else to describe it!

I stopped by CVS on the way home from work last night and checked out the exfoliants. I love browsing through the beauty aisle, but it leaves me overwhelmed. A lot. And last night, I had tired Friday brain, so I couldn't think too much.

I went home. As I drove home, I decided to make my own exfoliant.

It's easy:

• Take whatever liquid hand/body soap you have on hand. If it says "moisturizing" on the bottle, that's even better! Don't use dishwashing detergent; the ingredients may be too harsh for your skin. Pour some of the soap into a bowl.
• Now take out some table salt. Any table salt will do; the cheaper, the better. (I just got a container of salt at Price Rite for 59 cents).
• Pour whatever amount of salt you want into the bowl, and mix it with the soap. I wish I could say "1 part soap to 2 parts salt, but adjust to whatever consistency you wish. If you have sensitive skin, you may want to use less salt.
• Take your bowl and head over to the shower. You want to put this exfoliant on while you're standing in the tub, otherwise your bathroom floor will be a mess. Gently massage it onto your DRY skin. The key word here is GENTLY. My skin was so dry that it really hurt to massage.
• Now turn on the water and rinse. You can massage your skin as you're in the shower, too; the soap will help you cleanse.
• Finally, time to moisturize! Since my skin was so dry, I went by an old Italian woman's standby: olive oil. Use the cheapest stuff you can find at the grocery store; I only use the extra virgin stuff for my cooking, not for my skin!
• Slather the olive oil on damp skin. Put your PJs on immediately. Again, put the olive oil on while you're in the tub, and don't use too much of it, otherwise you'll end up with an oil slick next time you bathe.
• It's best to do the olive oil treatment at night, so your skin can absorb all of its wonderful moisturizing goodness. :)
• FYI: olive oil also makes a good hair treatment. Heat it up gently, comb it through dry hair, and leave it in for half an hour. Shampoo as usual.

My skin is still a little dry, but it is definitely not as bad as it was before my shower yesterday. I don't have that tight, itchy feeling anymore. I still have moisturizing creams, but I use those during the day.

So that was my little beauty regime for last night. I'm doing the olive oil thing again tonight, but am sticking with the exfoliation for every other day. If you try this, let me know how it works for you!