Tips on How to Get Rid of Dry Skin Around Nose and Mouth

With winter weather comes dryer skin, itchiness, and irritation. The cold, abrasive air paired with indoor heating is a recipe for wreaking havoc on your skin. It dehydrates you, making your skin more prone to cracking and aging. The areas around your nose and mouth are extremely sensitive and are more vulnerable than other parts on your body. As it gets colder and colder, you’ll probably find yourself wiping your nose more often, causing even more dry skin around nose and mouth.

Depending on how bad it gets, the inflammation caused can be painful and annoying, and it may even make you feel self-conscious as it gets red. Taking care of your skin is an important part of self-care. Although it’s not solving huge issues like world peace, it can feel like a big deal to you. After all, the skin is your body’s largest organ! You should protect it and take care of it.

What Causes Dry Skin

There are several different causes of dry skin issues. Cold weather usually worsens these symptoms. You might not be able to change the weather, but you can change other things in your environment that could be contributing to it or making it worse. For example, some of the most common skin conditions are caused from allergies, dehydration, perioral dermatitis, sunburn, washing your face too often, eczema, or psoriasis.

https://youtu.be/pelk7IT8jN8
Dry Skin Tips For Winter – The Whole Happy Life

Surprisingly, hot water can also have a negative effect on your skin. Remember those long, hot showers you use to warm up in the cold months? They could actually be doing you more harm than good.

Unfortunately, aging also dries out your skin. As you get older, your skin gets thinner, causing it to lose more moisture. The areas on your face, neck, and hands are especially influenced. You need to take extra care that you are eating healthy and using moisturizers that work well for your body. Dermatologists recommend treating your skin issues from the inside out—meaning that increasing your water intake and reevaluating your diet choices are two of the most important things you can do to clear up your skin.

Dry Skin Around Mouth

Since the skin around your mouth is one of the most sensitive areas, it is the most susceptible to changes in your environment and your health. When it’s cold outside, it’s imperative that you keep yourself moisturized! If your skin can’t maintain enough moisture, it may look uneven or scaly, or it may begin to crack.

Overwashing your face or applying your lip balm too often may actually dry your skin out even more. Both can cause an imbalance in your natural oils. Some lip balms may not be good for your skin type, and you may react to the chemicals in it. If you feel you are guilty of either of these, you should consider using a gentle exfoliating scrub to remove some of the flakiness and then apply a thick, moisturizing ointment like CeraVe Healing Ointment. If this fails, consider seeing your dermatologist for a steroid cream.

Dry Skin Around Nose

To get rid of dry skin around your nose, use ointments instead of lotion. These are more moisturizing and effective for healing dryness. The best time to apply ointments is right after you wash your face and it’s still a little damp. That way, the ointment can trap the rest of the water into your skin, healing it faster.

When buying an ointment, look for products that contain hyaluronic acid, glycerin, or urea. If you want all-natural products, use shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil, or jojoba oil.

How to Prevent Dry Skin

Now that we’ve learned how to heal dry skin, how can we prevent it? One of the main ways is to avoid beauty products and toiletries with harsh ingredients. When the weather begins to get cooler or you feel your skin starting to dry out, stop using creams that have ingredients like retinol or exfoliators. It would also be smart to avoid anything with salicylic acid. If you struggle with acne, make sure whatever products you use do not contain this ingredient! To further prevent dry skin, follow some of the following tips:

Try Calming Creams

Skin irritation and dry skin usually go hand in hand. To soothe the area, use a calming cream such as Eucerin Skin Calming Cream. This is perfect for sensitive skin, and it alleviates irritation and redness from stress. It also protects your skin from future irritations by creating a protective shield that makes it harder for your skin to get inflamed by outside sources.

Use a Humidifier

Dry heat from your house’s heating system often leaves you dehydrated and your face feeling rough and flaky. The worst is when you wake up in the morning feeling chapped, thirsty, or headachy. To eliminate this problem, you need to remoisturize your house, too! Adding a portable humidifier to your room can hydrate your skin and take away any headaches you were experiencing from dehydration.

Watch What you Eat

Many skin issues can be solved or greatly reduced simply by changing your diet. A diet high in omega-3s and antioxidants are the best for soft, supple, glowing skin. Mackerel and salmon are excellent sources of omega-3. If you’re looking for more antioxidant-dense foods, start by grabbing some green tea, turmeric, or dark chocolate. There are a lot of foods for healthy skin, but also a lot that will wreak havoc, so read your labels and do research!

Food sources of omega 3 and unsaturated fats that helps prevent dry skin around nose and mouth.
A Diet High In Omega-3s And Antioxidants Are The Best For Soft, Supple, Glowing Skin (Image Source: Shutterstock)

Take Warm Showers

Remember when I said earlier not to take hot showers? Well, it’s true—warm showers are much better for your skin than hot. Dermatologists also recommend that you limit your shower time to 10 minutes, tops. The shorter your shower, the more moist your skin will be. If you stay in too long, that’s when your skin starts to get dehydrated. 

Never Stop Moisturizing

The most effective and perhaps easiest technique is to always moisturize. Moisturize if your skin is hydrated. Moisturize if it’s not. Just never stop doing it! Moisturizing should always be a part of your skincare routine. The techniques you use in winter may be different, but, no matter what, you should always be applying something to your skin. Especially to the dry, vulnerable skin around your nose and mouth.

Portrait of a beautiful woman in snow with application of the protective cream in winter.
Moisturizing Should Always Be A Part Of Your Skin Care Routine (Image Source: Shutterstock)

Moisturizer for Dry Skin in Winter

The main thing to change up in the winter is to switch your lotion for a cream-based moisturizer. This is the best dry skin treatment! We already went over a few good creams, but just remember that you need one of these because they are thicker and more soothing. Lotion doesn’t provide enough of a barrier to protect your skin in the colder months. The best way is to apply your moisturizer fresh out of the shower or right after you wash your face. This locks in the moisture.

Woman with a skincare product during winter.
Cream Based Moisturizer Are The Best Dry Skin Treatment (Image Source: Shutterstock)

You also might want to consider using hydrating masks in the winter. For an easy homemade mask, use recipes that include honey, avocado, yogurt, olive oil, or jojoba oil.

Lastly, switch out your lip balm for one that feels good on your lips. If your lips start to burn after you apply one, try a different one that’s more soothing. Balms that have the following ingredients are usually the best:

  • Castor seed oil
  • Ceramides
  • Dimethicone
  • Hemp seed oil
  • Mineral oil
  • Petrolatum
  • Shea butter
  • Sun-protective ingredients, such as titanium oxide or zinc oxide
  • White petroleum jelly

Bottom Line

Everyone has different skin and will respond differently to treatment. If you change up your skin routine or add more hydrating techniques, though, you should start to see some improvement within a week or two. If you still aren’t seeing any improvements, reach out to a dermatologist to make sure you don’t have any underlying issues causing your skin reactions.