Can you take any vitamins for dry skin?

[SteveO]

I try to keep her away from the dishes in winter; her fingers also crack and bleed, poor thing. She wears rubber gloves when she does them when I'm not around. We are in KC. It can get very dry here in winter. We have a room humidifier but it's not heated. We use that additive stuff specially made for humidifiers (probably toxic!) to retard mold/mildew in it. I'll have to check out the warming humidifiers.

She will often put on lotion or oil right after a shower or in shower. Oil is usually Neutro-gena body oil or else just Vit E oil. I think that helps. We don't use commercial soaps at all. Yeah, Kiss My Face is pretty good stuff. I will focus on the shea butter soaps, though, good thought. We always have a lotta' nuts around (including me), ha.

She takes a multi-vitamin, I think it is energy-focused. Costco brand. She's vegetarain, so I probably won't have much luck with the fish oil pills, doh! But good suggestion. I'll try to get her on flax.

Gas heated home. We have a home humidifier as well, but it doesn't help a whole lot.

Good ideas, thanks, all.

[Doc]

SteveO wrote: She's vegetarain...

That's very likely a big part of the problem.

There are fatty acids that are hard to get in a diet lacking meat and they help to maintain skin-health.

Note that dry skin is potentially a sign of hypothyroidism, which is a common malady of vegetarians. Make sure she gets tested when she has her regular doctor-visit.

[guitarist]

SteveO,

I live in Seattle. It's dewy wet moist all the time. Great for the skin. When I travel to the southwest, to go to Las Vegas for a three-day holiday, for example, I'm always shocked at how dry the air is. Within 24 hours my feet are cracking and nearly bleeding, my sinuses are dried out and I'm vulnerable to any opportunistic bug that might be circulating, and my hands hurt. Dry skin is not an easy thing to manage. I always forget this when I travel, that not all regions are as moist and pleasant as the Pacific NW.

That's why I'm inclined to think region is a key factor. I've never met anyone with dry skin problems around here. Except for a few months in the winter, when air is artificially warmed, abnormally dry inside homes. Then the skin loses it's moist advantage. I feel dry and itchy after a shower, and my sinuses are uncomfortable. But this is only when it's cold outside and the house needs the furnace running at night.

I'm not familiar with the humidity levels in KC, but I imagine it's not as soggy as it is in the NW. It sounds like others in your region might be combating similar symptoms.

I've never met a vegetarian that is opposed to fish oil or cod liver oil in tablet form, this is a first. Flax seed oil is nearly identical, if that helps. Good luck!

[decocritter]

Just started with the Borage for dry skin, and the Shi kai lotion is pretty good but it burns a little (alcohol I think).

I react to most soaps and lotions, coconut oil seems to be best for me.