In the winter, you have to protect your skin from the dry conditions left by the lack of humidity, keep it safe from harsh winds and away from cold temperatures. In the summer, you may have to deal with a lack of humidity also, but your main enemy is one large thing: the sun.
Yes, the sun can be a big problem because you cannot exactly escape the very reason we have light on this planet. So what do you do? And why should the sun be your dry skin enemy? Sunlight is healthy, right? The answer to the question about the sun being necessary is both yes and no. Sunlight is a great source of vitamin D, but people who strut about town gloating over their nice dark tan should not be gloating. A tan is not healthy. We are people, not chicken browning in the oven.
In your case of dry skin, you want to keep it as moisturized as possible, and continuously playing about in the sun can strip you of what necessary moisture your skin still has. Grapes are set in the sun to dry and become raisins. It sounds extreme, but over time the sun could easily do this to your skin.
Of course, you are not exactly in a position to turn into a raisin. At most, your skin will become even drier and harder to restore moisture to. The sun not only sucks out your necessary moisture, but it can damage your skin as well (as if damage through drying was not enough). Major damage is done down in the layers of your skin you cannot immediately see. The ultraviolet rays (UV rays) from the sun penetrate your skin down into the layers that contain collagen and elastin fibers.
These elastin fibers are what keeps your skin stretchy and durable. Too much UV damage will lead to a breakdown in these fibers and cause your skin to wrinkle and sag as the years continue to go by. You may not be able to see it now, but you will in the future.
Such skin problems can only add to the dryness you already have to deal with, but for now, you will want to do what you can to keep your skin safe from the sun and remain moisturized when you go out. In that case, how do you keep your skin from drying out when you are in the sun?
Before going out, be sure you have been using a good moisturizer. If you have really dry skin, look for a moisturizer that contains emollients and humectants. These will give your skin extra moisturizer power and have more of an ability to retain the moisture as the day goes by. Second, you will want to be sure to put on a good sunscreen.
Not only will a good sunscreen keep your skin better protected from UV rays, but you can also search the shelves for sunscreens that offer moisturizing power. The number of products in stores that you can choose from now is impressive, each one seeming to have yet one more extra benefit aside from the usual sunscreen protection.
The only way to be completely safe from the skin drying power of the sun is to buy creams or sprays that allow you to appear tanned. This way you can avoid lying in the sun to get that nice browned look. With a simple application that takes a few minutes instead of hours sweating it out under the rays of the sun, you can look as though you have been at the beach all day. You should not have to avoid the sun completely; the sun and the vitamin D it provides helps to keep away the blues and is to a certain extent healthy. If you go outside, just make sure you have the right protection and moisture already in your skin, giving it an extra edge while the sun shines down on you.
