Question: Hi Maureen, I’m From CT, But Have Just Spent The Last 5 Days In Joburg, And It Feels Like My Skin Is Falling Off. Friends Warned Me That I Should Bring Buckets Of Body Lotion And Hand Cream With Me, But I Thought They Were Being Funny And Ignored Them. It Now Feels Like I Have Sandpaper Instead Of Skin. My Skin Is All Dry And Rough And Cracking, And Feels Like It Will Never Be The Same Again. Please Help! I Don’t Think I Even Have Enough Moisture Left In My Body To CRY! :(

Hi Maureen, I'm from CT, but have just spent the last 5 days in Joburg, and it feels like my skin is falling off. Friends warned me that I should bring buckets of body lotion and hand cream with me, but I thought they were being funny and ignored them. It now feels like I have sandpaper instead of skin. My skin is all dry and rough and cracking, and feels like it will never be the same again. Please help! I don't think I even have enough moisture left in my body to CRY! :(

Answer

Oh no! That’s a terrible way to feel! I’m so sorry! Let’s get that sorted out for you right away! For your body, there is a product that I swear by when it comes to winter and my skin gets all dry and uncomfortable. It’s also great to repair your skin after you’ve done a trip like this and your skin is angry at you! It’s called “Problem Dry Skin Cream”, from Neostrata. That should get the body back to normal pretty quickly! As for your facial skin, we need to take quite a bit more care as when your skin gets extremely dry and irritated, you also (even though it’s not very noticeable) will have low grade inflammation in the skin, it can appear pink/red and feel itchy and uncomfortable. This is because the skin’s barrier which protects you has become impaired and it can’t do its job properly. Normally when you go off on a trip like this, I would suggest you just add some barrier repair cream to your daily routine morning and evening (just put it over all your regular moisturisers before applying your sunblock). In your case, where the damage is already done, we need to do some restoration work first! So you will need to get yourself some HA Serum or a growth Factor Serum (we have some from Lamelle which are fantastic). You will need to apply this after cleansing, followed by your regular moisturizer (you can also add some barrier repair over the top of your moisturizer), and then a hydrating sunblock ( I would suggest Lamelle’s Dermaheal Sunblock or Heliocare Silk Gel). That should get you back to normal ASAP!

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