Preventing & Caring for Dry Skin in Beijing’s Long, Cold Winters

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The Beijing cold is creeping in, and that can mean dry skin for the whole family. In between the biting wind, the low humidity, the constant central heating, and the less-than-stellar water quality, it can start to feel like there is no way to stop yourself from turning into a scaly reptile by the time Christmas rolls around. However, a judicious selection of skincare products and home remedies can go a long way to preventing and caring for dry skin (and it doesn’t have to cost you a fortune, either). Last year, our former editor Pauline van Hasselt tried a number of home remedies to keep skin moist and supple.

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water…

Don’t shower every day

This tip can be difficult to adhere to if you love to luxuriate in the bath or shower, but trust us that it will make a difference in the long term. Long, hot showers can disrupt the skin’s natural barrier and strip away natural oils, leaving skin more susceptible to the elements. As dermatologist Dr. Lotus Lv noted in an interview with the Beijinger, this is especially true in cities with hard water like Beijing, as the minerals in the water mean that soaps and body washes don’t foam up as much, meaning you may be tempted to use more to get that squeaky clean feeling.

Oats are a hero ingredient when it comes to homemade skincare

Try an oatmeal bath

This one sounds like an old wife’s tale but it does work. Colloidal oatmeal (oatmeal that has been finely ground and suspended in a liquid) is a popular ingredient in many skincare products, such as those made by popular brand Aveeno. Make your own moisturizing bath without running out and buying any expensive creams by grinding a cup or so of oats to a fine powder in a food processor or coffee grinder — you’ll know it’s fine enough when it dissolves in water. Then, simply dump these in the bath or, for easier cleanup, put them in a sock or old pantyhose tied at the top (bonus: kids also love to play with the slimy sock in the bath). Just remember the tip above — oats may be moisturizing but you should still avoid staying in the water for more than about 10-15 minutes.

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Oils really are essential

Pauline suggested lacing your bath with coconut oil and a few drops of essential oil. It might not be great for the bathroom plumbing if you do it all the time, but it should help to keep your skin glowing and smelling like a tropical drink. You can also try rubbing some coconut oil, jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, or another skin-safe carrier oil into dry patches of skin before you bathe to create a barrier between your skin and the Beijing water. Top any post-bath moisturizers with a light coating of oil to lock in the benefits of the cream.

Mix up a homemade body scrub

Scrub up

In order to allow your skincare products — home remedies or otherwise — to penetrate into the skin, it helps to first remove any pesky dry or dead skin by exfoliating. Look for gentle exfoliators that scrub rather than scratch and damage the skin. Our old friend oatmeal can lend a hand here again. For a simple homemade body scrub, grind around half a cup of oats to a fine-ish powder, then mix with 2-3 tbsp each of almond meal/ground almonds and light brown sugar, 1 tbsp honey, and enough milk (preferably fresh, no UHT) to form a paste. Massage onto the body and then rinse off.

*It goes without saying that you should only try any of these remedies if you know you aren’t allergic to any of the ingredients, or that you should do a patch test before you start.

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Images: Unsplash (Christin Hume, Keven Baquerizo, Melissa di Rocco), Pxhuel

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