If you have dry skin, you already know that you need dry skin care tips that actually work. Not only is dry skin uncomfortable with its tightness, but it's also embarrassing when your skin is flaking and looks rough. However, many causes of dry skin are not due to problems with your skin or the way that you take care of it. According to Skin Care Campaign's website, somewhere between fifteen and twenty percent of a general practitioner's patient load comes from skin diseases that have nothing to do with the patient's ability to care for their skin. Does this sound like you?

Possible causes of dry skin

The truth is that dry skin care is generally a reactionary process. You feel tightness, you itch ? you try to find something to make these feelings go away. However, knowing the causes of your dry skin can help to make the proper choices or seek medical attention when needed. Dry skin can be caused by the following things:

?Eczema ? This skin irritation is a condition in which the skin does not perform its necessary duties of protecting the skin's elasticity and ability to block out bacteria and other irritants. This leads to cracking and peeling of the skin, however, the cause is not generally agreed upon.

?Psoriasis ? This is another condition in which the skin is unable to turn over cells in an appropriate manner, leading to dryness and flakiness of the skin's appearance and feel. Again, the cause for this is unknown.

?Contact dermatitis ? This can include a wide range of causes, making it difficult to narrow down the exact irritant. This condition occurs when you touch something and then your skin reacts to it. You might have an adverse reaction that causes a serious medical reaction or you may just notice itching and dryness. This can also be a short term affliction or one that is longer term. Common irritants are: poison ivy, poison oak, sumac, chemicals, toxins, etc.

?Environmental conditions ? Others find that blowing winds or lowered humidity conditions can also lead to dry skin, typically in the cooler months.

?Lack of moisture in the body ? When someone does not drink enough water, they can also suffer from dry skin. Of course, there are some medical conditions in which the body is more prone to dehydration and thus dry skin conditions.

?Heredity ? And then there are some that suffer from dry skin because that's just how their skin reacts when it's in the world.

Symptoms of dry skin and diagnosing your skin's condition

Dry skin seems to be fairly simple enough to diagnose. The common symptoms are:

?Callouses
?Dryness
?Flakiness
?Cracks and fissures in skin
?Redness
?Chapped skin
?Soreness
?Raw feeling
?Tightness

To determine whether or not you need dry skin care, you can look for these signs or you can also do a test to see what kind of skin you have.

Start by washing your face as you normally do in the morning, patting it down with a towel when you are done. But instead of applying any other lotions that you normally would, wait for about twenty minutes. When you are done, look at your skin and see where the dry patches are. If you do not see any, chances are good that you don't have dry skin. But if you have dryness and flakiness in areas, you will need to work on dry skin care options.

Caring for this dry skin

Of course, the main concern that women and men with dry skin have is how to treat it. With more than one in four people reporting dry skin, it's imperative to create a full plan of attack against the irritating dryness and possible infection from itching and scratching.

Here are some simple steps that you can use when devising a dry skin care routine:

?Drink more water each day
?Make sure to eat a balanced diet that includes some healthy fats
?Wash the face only twice a day
?Use gentle, soap free cleansers
?Wash with warm water, never hot
?Apply a moisturiser to slightly damp skin immediately after washing to seal in moisture
?Try a night time moisturiser to help with severe dryness
?For the body, apply a thick emollient to the skin before bed as well as immediately following a bath when your skin is still damp
?Try water based moisturisers at first, switching to oil based lotions when they aren't working

However, if these basic steps aren't helping your dry skin, you may want to talk to your general practitioner about prescriptions that might be able to help you. You might also have an underlying medication condition that is being indicated by your dry skin ? and that will need to be addressed by more than just dry skin care.