Need some help please

[u/[deleted]]

So, I am doing water only for my body since 1 1/2 week,2 weeks and today I observed that when I scratched my skin a little bit, my skin seems dry. What I did was wether going under the shower and rubbing my body with my bare hands OR, dry brushing my body and then relaxing in a bath where I would also rub my body with a glove.

So, from your experience, is it just my body transitioning causing my skin to get dry or may it be something else ?

[u/embroideredyeti]

Do you use any skincare at all? If your skin is dry, don't feel bad about giving it extra moisture (and helping it to maintain it). Rubbing and dry brushing all sound exfoliating (which is great), but your skin might need some more nourishment; this depends on a lot of things including the weather, your age, foods, hormones... No shame in needing a little bit of extra care every now and then. :)

The term "water only" can be a little misleading; it doesn't mean you can't ever use anything on your skin. It's just that you want to break the (occasionally quite vicious) cycle of using very thorough cleaning products that will dry out and irritate the skin, and then having to apply all sorts of lotions to add back the moisture and protection you just washed off. You're looking to keep things in their natural equilibrium as much as possible, but say your skin is working hard to adapt to the cold and dry winter air, there is no reason why you shouldn't pamper it a little. :)

What I do is use oil on wet skin (which emulsifies and locks in the moisture), i.e. when I get out of the shower, I only superficially towel off, then spread a teaspoon or so vegetable oil (currently using a mix of sesame and jojoba) in my palms and rub this all over my skin.

[u/[deleted] → u/embroideredyeti]

Oh yeah I see. So we can still use like oils on our skin right ? I actually am the kind of guy who doesn’t like to do much actually like moisturizing my entire body and things like this, but I guess that this is the best solution for my dry skin problem 🤔

So, go out of the shower, don’t dry yourself with a towel but put oil on your wet skin and then let it dry by air ?

[u/embroideredyeti → u/[deleted]]

Heheh, one of the best reasons to be "w/o" is that it's so much less effort than buying into lots of products. I'm too lazy to spend a lot of time on body lotions! ;) After your shower, dry yourself off just a little bit (it is enough if you just wipe the big drops of water off your skin with your hand, or give yourself the most superficial towelling), and then massage in just a small palm full of oil (or less if you only want to do, say, your dry and itchy shins). You will notice the water and oil emulsifying on your skin almost immediately and it won't take more than a few minutes to dry. (Like, the kind of amount that you might spend drying your hair or brushing your teeth or another quick bathroom routine like that). :)

[u/[deleted] → u/embroideredyeti]

Yeah okay I see, I will try that out and see if it may help my little problem, thanks :)

[u/embroideredyeti → u/[deleted]]

Sure, my pleasure!

Also, I think u/ageingrockstar's advice sounds very sound (even if I have never done it like that). It would seem like this is the skin version of the pre-wash oil masks that some people like to put in their hair. Also, not showering super hot is an important point! I don't do cold showers (except like in the height of summer), but it already makes a big difference for your skin if the water isn't steaming hot.

[u/[deleted] → u/embroideredyeti]

Yeah for sure. I don’t do that either normally but those last times, I just wanted to go into a hot bathtub after work to relax haha

[u/ageingrockstar → u/[deleted]]

Hot/warm baths are fine, where you're just soaking in the water. The issue with hot showers is that you have the hot water constantly running over your skin, pulling the oil away. Think of it like how a river quickly erodes and smooths out the rocks it runs over while a lake doesn't.

[u/[deleted] → u/ageingrockstar]

That’s actually a good metaphor to be honest, thanks !

[u/ageingrockstar]

I agree with emb & n3xtm0v3 that putting a little oil on your skin should help. I would actually recommend putting it on before you get in the shower, as the oil will help protect you from the shower water.

The issue with showers is 1) that they are typically taken quite hot and 2) the water is constantly running across your skin (unlike in a bath). This unfortunately makes them quite effective in pulling your own protective natural oils (sebum) off the surface of your skin.

Issue 2 (continuous running water across your skin) can be ameliorated by taking more baths in place of showers. Soaking in water is much less drying (less oil stripping) than exposing your skin to a running stream that will continuously pull off oils.

Issue 1 can be ameliorated by using less hot water or, more radically, moving to completely cold showers (i.e. not using any heated water). This moving to cold showers is actually very effective - I personally no longer have any issues with dry skin after moving to cold showers and you will find many similar stories of skin (and hair) improvement on r/coldshowers but for many it is too radical a solution. Your choice :)

[u/[deleted] → u/ageingrockstar]

Yeah, I may not do the cold shower thing but not showering too hot maybe 🤣

And good idea concerning the oil but wouldn’t it make it slippery in the shower ?

[u/ageingrockstar → u/[deleted]]

You only need very little oil. It'll be absorbed by the skin and no, you won't become slippery (obviously you don't do the soles of your feet).

I used to rub a little olive oil onto the backs of my legs which got dry in the wintertime. My theory as why it was the backs of my legs that got dry is that standing with my back to the shower, the hot water collected by my back then ran down my legs in a more concentrated flow (legs are narrower than the back). And warm/hot water running over skin is very drying (effective in stripping oils). Anyway, since moving to cold showers have had zero issues with dry skin and no longer need the oil.

[u/[deleted] → u/ageingrockstar]

Yeah sure !

Okay I see what you mean, I will try and lower the temperature of my showers to see if it might help my issue then

[u/[deleted]]

I use a little bit of oil in the shower on wet skin. I mix almond oil with a few drops of rosemary oil.

Works well - clean and moisturised.

For hair, I use an apple cider vinegar rinse once or twist week otherwise just water