Moisturizing Tips for Winter

Keep every inch of you soft, smooth and soothed during dry-skin weather

Winter weather is a blast. Outdoors, you're buffeted by fierce, skin-chapping winds. Inside, you're pummeled by the steady gust of a heater that can create desert-like conditions. The result: skin that's parched, itchy and rough to the touch.

There's help, literally at hand. By applying the right moisturizers you can replace the hydration that's being sapped by winds, indoor heating and dry, humidity-free winter air. Try these tips and treatments for day and night and your skin will be as supple in February as it was in June.

Day

1. Skip long, hot showers or baths. Good as those steamy soaks may feel, hot water strips natural oils from the skin. Instead, keep your showers brief and the water warm, not scorching, and use a moisturizing body wash like Aveeno Daily Moisture Body Wash.

2. Apply moisturizer while your skin is damp. That helps the hydrating ingredients absorb more efficiently. Just as you change your wardrobe from cotton tees to cashmere in the winter, you'll want to switch to heavier, thicker moisturizing potions. Try a body butter, like The Body Shop Vitamin E Body Butter.

3. Protect your skin with a moisturizing sunscreen. Dermatologists stress that it's important to wear a sunscreen with a SPF of 30 or higher every day of the year. The sun's damaging rays pierce through clouds and are especially dangerous when they bounce off the reflective surface of snow. Switch from your summer mist or gel to a more emollient but still lightweight lotion, like Neutrogena Healthy Defense Daily Moisturizer SPF 30.

4. Soothe chapped lips with a moisturizing lip balm. Try Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Lip Protectant, which creates a long-lasting barrier against moisture loss and contains SPF 15.

Night

1. Hydrate your skin while you sleep with a rich, moisturizing night cream. Philosophy Hope In A Jar Night Intense Retexturizing Moisturizer is packed with nutrients that quench thirsty skin while improving skin tone, zapping dullness and diminishing fine lines.

2. Give extra TLC to your body's roughest parts, like elbows and heels. La Roche-Posay Lipikar Baume AP has high concentrations of shea butter and niacinamide to soothe severely dry and chapped skin and rebuild the skin's protective barrier. Earth Therapeutics Intensive Heel Crack Cream contains tea-tree oil to repair and soften leathery, cracked heels.

3. Hand over some relief. With all the hand washing we do in winter to protect ourselves against colds or the flu, our hands can become so dehydrated that they crack, peel or even bleed. Keep an intensive hand cream on your bedside table and slather it on just before you hit the sheets. Try Boots No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Hand Night Cream.