The solution that this Vogue Scandinavia editor – and victim of debilitatingly dry skin – swears by is both simple and affordable
This is the worst time of year. Not on account of the dropping temperatures or the growing darkness but on account of the dryness. Every year around mid-October, the great dryness begins. My legs grow red and itchy and, if I don’t remind myself to stop, I’ll scratch until I break the skin. For as long as I can remember, autumn has brought with it unbearable dryness – on my legs, especially.
Over the years, with the guidance of my dermatologist father, I have tried everything to alleviate my affliction. Expensive creams and serums, scrubs to remove the dry skin, more creams. Taking steps to make my apartment more humid (I think I made that one up – it didn’t work). If things get bad I’ll turn to hydrocortisone cream (sometimes over-the-counter, other times something stronger) but I don’t like to use it all time and it always feels a bit wrong to cover the entire lower half of my body in something so ‘medical’.
I’ve had various degrees of success, but nothing that’s really worked. Until this season. And to my surprise my godsend didn’t come from the pharmacy or the beauty section at NK, but rather the grocery store: coconut oil.
To my surprise my godsend didn’t come from the pharmacy or the beauty section at NK, but rather the grocery store
I discovered the miracle oil via my manicurist, who suggested I slather it on my hands in the weeks leading up to my wedding to keep them looking fresh and moisturised on my big day. I was intrigued. She told me that it would work on other things, too – dry skin, redness, itchy spots. Come winter, when the great itch began, the coconut oil (I bought organic, because why not) was already sitting in my bathroom, leftover from the wedding (my nails and hands were flawless, by the way). So one day, fresh out of the shower, I grabbed a big glob of the stuff, rubbed it between my hands to remove some of the chunkiness and slathered it all over my legs. I hadn’t even consulted Google to see if it was a good idea.
And to my surprise, readers, it worked. The results were almost immediate – by the evening my legs were noticeably more moisturised. Almost impossibly so. Apparently it’s the saturated fats and amino acids that help to protect the skin’s defensive barrier. I’ve been using the oil every other day ever since and I have never been less dry and less itchy in my life (no exaggeration).
I am not a doctor (just the daughter of one), nor a beauty expert. But I am someone who has suffered debilitatingly dry skin my entire life and have finally found the solution that works for me. Combined with my other dry-season saviour, Skin Food, which I use on my face every day, my entire moisturising routine now costs about €12.