BODYCARE Q & A
with Alice Hart-Davis
How can I stop my shins from getting dry and scaly?
Sounds like they're a bit dried out. There are very few oil glands in the skin on your lower legs, which is why this area is particularly prone to getting dry and flaky. The best way to deal with this is to exfoliate your legs regularly, to remove dead skin, then slather them with generous quantities of body moisturiser. Try exfoliating with Good Things ULTRA RICH Creamy Scrub, followed up with ULTRA RICH Body Butter or Body Lotion, and see if that does the trick.
I've got really rough bumpy skin on my upper arms, what can I do about it?
Bad luck - those really annoying little bumps are a very common skin condition called keratosis pilaris, or KP for short. They are very hard to get rid of, and they get worse when the air around you is very dry. You would think that scrubbing them smooth might help, but it doesn't, so go easy on them and keep your arms soft with moisturiser - Good Things SOOTHING Body Lotion should help here. For persistent cases, your doctor may be able to prescribe skin lotions containing salicylic acid or alpha hydroxy acids which speed up the turnover of skin cells and could help smooth out the bumps.
Is your body butter one of those really thick ones that go all oily on the skin?
No! It's thick and feels very nourishing on the skin but its ingredients are designed to sink right into the skin,
leaving it smooth on top, not oily. It will make your skin really soft and keep it soft - we have put our Body
Butters through clinical tests to see if it will maintain moisture levels in the skin for 24 hours and it passed with flying colours.
My feet get really rough and dry in Summer. Help!
You'd think that being open to the elements in sandals and flip flops was much better for feet than being stuck inside shoes and boots - and it is, but all the exposure to the air means that your feet will dry out, and the skin will get rougher, more quickly. Give them a bit of TLC before bedtime. Use a foot-file to file off any build-up of dead skin on the soles and heels, then give feet a good wash, maybe using an exfoliating scrub to help clean them really well (you'd be amazed how much grime your feet pick up when you're wearing sandals), then get into bed and rub loads of rich moisturiser like Good Things ULTRA RICH Body Butter into your feet. (If you're in bed, then you won't have to walk across to your bed with creamy feet.) For maximum softening, pull on a pair of cotton socks. Yes, it will be a bit hot but the heat will help the cream to penetrate and soften the thicker and drier bits of skin on your feet.
What is a good product to use before applying self-tanning creams?
What you need is any decent exfoliator - Good Things ULTRA RICH Creamy Scrub or Good Things SOOTHING Exfoliating Scrub will do the job beautifully. What you need to do is get rid of all the dead skin cells and any bits of old self-tan that are still on your skin. To get a really thorough exfoliation, apply the product to dry skin and work it firmly over the skin before stepping under the shower.
My legs are always really itchy and raw after shaving.
Should I be using a body lotion or body butter?
It sounds like your legs could do with some sort of moisturiser! The skin on your legs tends to be drier than other parts of the body anyway, because it has fewer oil-glands, and shaving removes a thin layer of skin cells, too, which only makes this worse. Try to shave as carefully as you can so that your legs don't end up feeling raw and then, after rinsing them well and patting them dry, give them a light coating of body lotion or body butter and let this sink in, and they should be more comfortable.
What is the difference between body lotion and body butter?
Body lotion is a runny, liquid moisturiser and body butter is a thick, almost-solid form of body moisturiser, which melts when you warm it up in your hands and rub it onto your skin. Which should you use? That depends on your skin type and your personal preference. If your skin feels just a little tight after bathing, then body lotion should make it feel softer and smoother. Body butter is better for skin that is really dry. You could use it all over, or just keep it for the driest bits of skin, which usually means elbows, knees, shins, ankles and feet.
How often should you exfoliate your body?
Whenever you feel it needs it, really. Exfoliating keeps the skin looking smoother, and enables body lotion to sink in better, but it won't harm your skin if you don't do it religiously. If you are keen on using fake tan, though, regular exfoliating is a must, firstly, to prep your skin so that the tanning formula goes on smoothly and sinks in evenly, and every few days afterwards, to help the tan fade evenly, and make a good base for applying the next coat.
What is the difference between body brushing and body exfoliation,
is either better or worse?
I'd say they're just different rather than being 'better' or 'worse'. Body brushing is done on dry skin, using a long-handled brush, working upwards from the soles of the feet, up the legs and torso, towards the heart, and also up the arms to towards the neck and breast bone (and your back, if you can reach). Doing this does help exfoliate your skin (how much it exfoliates depends on how stiff the bristles of your brush are and how firmly you use it) but body-brushing is more about getting the flow of lymph in your limbs moving towards the lymph nodes in your groin and your neck. Exfoliating with a body scrub focuses more directly on working loose dead skin cells and sloughing them off, to leave your skin looking smoother or fresher.
Do you need to adapt your bodycare routine when the weather changes?
If you can feel your skin changing as the weather changes, then yes, you should adapt your bodycare routine. When Summer arrives, we expose much more of our skin to the elements, which can make our arms and legs feel much drier. When that happens, you might want to exfoliate more often to shift dead skin, and use a heavier product, like body butter, to moisturiser your skin more deeply. But if you go off on holiday somewhere very hot, a heavy moisturiser will feel too thick and may make your skin seem oily (moisturiser doesn't make your skin oily, but if you are almost sweating the whole time, it will spread out what oil there is on your skin, which makes it feel that way), so you will want to shower more often, and use a lighter moisturiser, to keep your skin feeling fresh.