What’s the best skin care routine for dry skin?

Dry skin is a challenge that oily skinned people yearn for. Never being shiny, hardly ever breaking out and having microscopic pores – these are the benefits of having dry sky. But dry skin comes with cons too, like itchiness, redness, flakiness and a tendency to wrinkle-up too soon.

If you pulled the dry skin straw out of the genetic lucky dip, you’ll be well-aware of the problems that come with skin that isn’t good at emolliating itself. Dry skin is caused by under-active oil glands and sometimes it indicates you’re low in vitamin D.

Characteristics of dry sky

Dry skin is often a little on the sensitive side; it takes offense easily and has a low tolerance for artificial ingredients. Unless it’s carefully looked after, dry skin can feel tight – like you’ve squeezed into a face (and potentially a body) that’s one size too small. It can also feel rough to touch and look dull (matte taken to extremes).

At its worst, dry skin lacks elasticity and has a papery feeling. As the years roll by, it’s really good at acquiring lots of fine lines.   

Dealing with dry skin

Moving to a natural skin care regime, which you could (in theory) eat, could make a big difference to how your dry skin behaves. After a few weeks, you might even give yourself the ‘hydrated skin’ tag. Wouldn’t that be great!

Potentially, you’ll also perk up your bank account – natural skincare made with edible ingredients is often significantly cheaper than products made by pharmacists for global brands.

In New Zealand, Okana is making waves in the natural skincare sector. Our founder, Vibs Amin, was inspired to create her own skincare products because she couldn’t find anything exactly right for her skin. By using natural ingredients, she created a range that is literally good enough to eat.

Here’s Okana’s recommended daily routine for dry skin.

Morning

• - Rise and shine with a not-too-hot shower. Use Okana apple juice foaming cleanser to gently clean your skin. Made with just seven natural ingredients, it won’t strip away valuable skin oils.
• - Twice a week, swap the apple juice cleanser for Okana bamboo bead face scrub. It’s possible you’ve been avoiding exfoliator, because you have dry skin, but it’s essential for removing dead skin cells and helping your skin to find its glow.  
• - Get skin pH back to its happy place with a mist of cucumber and lettuce toner.
• - Apply vegetable garden day moisturiser while your face is still damp from toner. This will help to seal in hydration.
• - If your skin is feeling tighter than usual, wait five minutes and apply another thin layer of moisturiser. Have breakfast before you apply makeup, to let the moisturiser really sink in.

Evening

• - As early as you can after getting home from work, double cleanse your face, so that you can give your skin a longer break from makeup.
• - Begin with Okana mango and apricot cleanser, which is made with three types of oil (apricot kernel, macadamia and rapeseed). This gentle-but-effective cleanser will dissolve makeup, sweat and airborne pollutants. To remove it, we recommend warm water and a soft wash cloth.
• - Follow with a second cleanse using Okana apple juice foaming cleanser. This ensures your skin is truly clean, but not in a nasty tight-feeling way.
• - Tone with mist toner, to restore optimum pH.
• - While your skin is still damp, apply Okana berry blend natural night moisturiser all over your face and neck. Don’t forget your eye area (Okana moisturisers are OK around your eyes, because we don’t use any harsh ingredients). Wait five minutes, then add a second layer of night moisturiser.

Two-mask weekly facial

Treat yourself to a thorough-but-gentle facial in the weekend. There are some excellent ingredients in your fridge for creating a replenishing home spa routine.

• - Begin with a gentle steam over a bowl of hot (almost boiling) water. Throw in a handful of mint leaves if you have some in the garden. Put a towel over your head to create a tent - 10 minutes will do the trick.
• - Give yourself the equivalent of a gentle lactic acid peel with natural yoghurt. Pat your skin dry after the steam, then paint yoghurt over your face and neck. Relax for about 20 minutes. Rinse off.
• - Apply a second mask of mashed avocado, banana and a teaspoon of natural honey. Relax for about 15 minutes. Rinse off.
• - Tone and moisturise, then skip makeup for the day if you can. Don’t forget some sunscreen!