I have eczema on my face and sometime experience periods with really flaky skin. It can be really annoying to deal with and hard to know what you should do with it. Should I apply lotion or exfoliate it off? Here’s a guide on what to do with flaky skin.
Firstly, don’t peel it off. That will pull off healthy skin as well! I know, flaky skin is annoying and looks disturbing, but I’ve found the best thing to do is just to apply lotion and moisturizer. This will soothe your skin and smooth flaky bits to not stick out of your skin.
My usually process is to apply a little bit of CeraVe moisturizer, then a oil based protection like coconut oil or Vaseline, and finally reapply CeraVe moisturizer again. Oil based products provide protection on top of your skin. Your skin naturally has fats called sebum to help create a barrier, but some skin do not produce enough sebum. This is why supplementing with oil based protection is useful. However, oil based products can stick flaky skin and make it easier to flake off, which we don’t want! That’s why I find it useful to apply CeraVe moisturizer before and after applying oil based protections. CeraVe moisturizer also includes ceramides, which make up 50% of your skin and are important in keeping your skin strong and healthy. Other oil based products I’ve heard are good include shea butter, jojoba oil and rosehip oil, but I have not tried them yet.
Another useful tip is to take cold showers to reduce inflammation. Afterwards, when you are drying yourself off, dry yourself off by dabbing yourself. Don’t rub the towel into the peeling areas. In addition to showers try avoiding overwashing your face. I used to also wash my face in the morning with water, but it would dry out my skin. Instead you can dab it with a slight damp towel.
To reduce flaky skin in the future, it is important to understand the root cause. I have eczema, which is an autoimmune disease. My skin experience transepidermal water loss, so it can dry out easily and create flaky skin. Two other common cause of dry skin are cold weather,which can pull out water from the skin, and overexfoliating, which can wipe away healthy skin cells and natural oil protection. Also be sure you are staying well hydrated and drink lots of water!
Hopefully these tips can help you deal with flaky skin in the future. Keep calm and moisturize on!