I’m pretty sure everybody in my life is sick of hearing me complain about my dry skin. At least 4 times everyday someone will hear me shouting ‘I HATE MY SKIN’ and ‘I AM A SCALY WENCH’, and it must get quite annoying. However, the fact of the matter is that I am a scaly wench and my winter skin is driving me up the wall.

Prepare yourself for what can only be described as the most boring post known to human kind – BUT I hope that it will give help and advice to anyone who’s struggling with looking like a T-Rex.

My skin has never been this bad before and I’m blaming it on a combination of getting old and cold weather. Unfortunately, my normal moisturising routine hasn’t been working. Usually I use either Dove or Nivea, but if you have very dry skin that is broken in areas – these are both a no-no. Anything with perfumes and chemicals irritates bad skin and to be quite honest, these just aren’t strong enough to cope with very dry, dinosaur-like skin.

After trying lots of different combinations and even having a bath in olive oil (I don’t recommend trying it, you come out smelling of salad), I’ve found the best combination that is slowly starting to improve my skin.

Aveeno Daily Moisturising Lotion

This is weirdly hard to get hold of, it’s a bit hit and miss whether Boots and Superdrug has it in stock. If you do manage to get hold of it, then you are a lucky thang and your skin will be as soft as a baby’s botty. It’s an emollient based lotion that combines oatmeal and some other nonsense to make a brilliant moisturiser that I suspect of wizardry. I had this recommended to me by my doctor and it’s a great lotion to use everyday. It treats already dry patches fairly well, but if you have really stubborn bits of eczema or dry skin – you may need something stronger. Other plus points include that it is fragrance free and it is not as thick as E45 cream, meaning it’s great for everyday use.

There was also an article in the Daily Mail recently about how a lot of creams and skincare have the chemical Methylisothiazolinone in them – this can cause allergic reactions and flare up eczema, so if you are have skin probs then you might want to check the label of your moisturiser!

Derma Care Hydrocortisone Cream

This stuff is magical when used on smaller areas of dry skin. You’re not meant to use it for more than 7 days, you can’t use it on sensitive (i.e. face) skin and you’re not supposed to use it on large areas. Saying that, even with a ridiculous amount of limits and rules (fight the power), it’s really good for patches of dry skin or eczema. I’ve found that it works almost instantly and that you can notice a difference within a couple of hours of using it. My hands are the bits that seem to get hit the most by dry skin, so it’s great to use on my tiny chubby fists. If you’re finding that your regular moisturiser isn’t doing the job and suspect yourself of eczema, definitely give this a whirl. It’s £3.49 from Boots – not bad, eh!

Sudrocream Antiseptic Healing Cream

No skincare list would be complete without Sudocrem. I literally use this for everything: spots, blisters, cuts, scrapes…and any other injuries I manage to inflict on myself. I am currently using this on my horrible cracked dinosaur skin, particularly if I have got a bit too vigorous with my scratching and broken the skin. It works really well, which is no surprise because Sudocrem is magical and brilliant.

Stylingo Top Tip: Slather Sudocrem on your face before bed if you’re suffering from a break out. Tiny little Sudocrem wizards will work tirelessly as you sleep to get rid of any unwanted blemishes. 

If you still are looking vaguely T-Rex like and want to go even further than these 3 products, then E45 Bath Oil is really good too (much better than the olive kind). Hitting your skin with a double whammy of an oil bath and Aveeno, you will literally love your life more than someone who loves life a lot. It’s also worth mentioning that keeping your diet in healthy oils is important too – lots of nuts, avocados and healthy fats have a massive impact on the way your skin looks. I’m a hugey fan of avocados but I could probably do a bit better on the fish and nut scene. If you want to find out more about what you need to eat to have better skin, this BBC Good Food article is really good.

Anywhoo, I hope this is at least a little bit helpful if you’re suffering from dinosaur problems this winter. These 3 products are my favourites and are the only ones that have been working properly to fix my horrible skin. It’s not quite there yet though, so if you do have bad skin that nothing will shift – you may need to head to your GP like I will have to do soon! Cry.

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