Beauty Blog
What is Crepey Skin and How to Fix It

What is Crepey Skin?
Crepe skin is the thin, loose, wrinkled skin that we tend to find on our hands, arms, legs, face and neck as we age. Different from the deepset kind of wrinkles we find on our face, the wrinkles found in crepe skin tend to cover larger parts of our body and give the appearance of thin, fragile skin.What Causes Crepey Skin?
Just as dark spots begin to emerge in our 40's due to sun damage, crepe skin is more prominent in our 40's and beyond due to sun damage as well. It's why you mainly see this skin thinning on the areas of our bodies that have had the most sun exposure. Skin that was unprotected from UVA rays - the "aging" part of sun exposure - will see more of a break down of collagen and elastin. Collagen is what makes your skin look full and youthful, and elastin is what makes your skin look firm and lifted. Over time as you lose that collagen and the elastin breaks down, your skin begins to look sullen and sag. While sun damage is most often the cause, there are other reasons as well, such as rapid weight loss, long term use of tanning beds, and medications.
Can You Reverse Crepe Skin?
As with most issues with the skin, short of plastic surgery and in-office cosmetic treatments, there are temporary things we can do to reduce the appearance of crepe skin. We cannot permanently turn back time, although today is as good a day as any to make sure you are always protecting skin exposed to the sun with sunscreen to prevent other areas of your skin from becoming crepey. Hydration plays a major role in re-plumping the wrinkles of crepe skin and it is one way to see an immediate difference in the appearance of your skin. This is a no-brainer when it comes to our face, but we often forget the rest of our body until we begin to itch, scratch and see flaky skin. A good example of this was when my mom, who is in her late 60's, was at my house one day and complaining about the look of her skin on her arms. Crepey skin covered the top part of her bicep and forearm. I handed her A Girl's Gotta Spa! Energizing Citrus Body Lotion, which is incredibly hydrating with cocoa and shea butter, and olive oil. Her face immediately lit up as she applied it and it seemed to erase the look of her crepey skin. It's not magic or a cure, but because our body lotion is deeply hydrating, it helped to plump her wrinkled skin, giving it a smoother look. Hydration will not reverse sagging skin, but it can help to make it look a bit more firm. In the drier months, depending on where you live (desert year-round, living in the higher elevations, or fall/winter for other regions), you need to take extra care, as skin will be naturally more depleted of moisture than usual exascerbating the look of crepey skin. Additionally, as we age and enter that "mature skin" category, our skin naturally loses oils due to hormones, leaving it drier than our youth. I highly recommend applying body lotion twice per day (during your morning and evening beauty routine to make it easier) for it to be most effective. In summary, sunscreen and lotion are our biggest assets to treating crepe skin, as well as preventing it in the future. Subscribe to A Girl’s Gotta Spa! beauty blog. Watch our reviews on YouTube, see our pins on Pinterest and check us out on Instagram. Got a Kindle? We’re on Kindle too! Or check out our natural bath and body line!How to Prevent Dry, Chapped Skin
Cold weather is known to be harsh to our skin. If there is any truth to the combination of things to make the "perfect storm," the colder months seem to know how to brew that recipe perfectly.
Freezing temps, gusty winds, and dry air can do damage to our skin in an instant. All that hard work that you've done throughout the warmer months can easily go right out the window once colder weather hits.
The good news? There are things you can be proactive with in order to help prevent dry, chapped skin.
How to Prevent Dry, Chapped Skin
Shea Butter
Any type of lotion with the word "butter" in its name has to be good, right? Shea butter has some amazing benefits, such as restoring skin's elasticity and being a fnatastic emollient. Not only does it help to moisturize already dry skin, but it can also be used to help create a nice barrier for your already chapped skin (in case you are reading this after the fact!)
Many people tend to use shea butter at night and lather up the areas of their body that need a bit of extra care. This is mainly because shea butter alone tends to be greasy. But any A Girl's Gotta Spa! reader knows, our body lotion with shea butter (and cocoa butter) is non-greasy and can be used day or night without worry.
Cocoa Butter
Cocoa butter is known as a healthy fat since the main component of it is coconut oil. Since it's high in fat, it can help to create a barrier for your skin, much like shea butter, that can keep it feeling baby smooth all winter long.
One cocoa butter tip? If the heels of your feet are dry and cracking, exfoliate them first (we make a great body scrub) and then apply lotion. Sloughing off the dead skin preps the affected area to better absorb the nourishing ingredients from the lotion.
After just a few times of doing this, your heels will be totally transformed! While there may be many cocoa butter lotions available to help bring back the moisture and glow to your skin, don't forget that there are things that you can also do in your everyday life that can also help to prevent your skin from becoming dry and chapped as well.
What Can You Do In Your Daily Life To Help Keep Your Skin Moisturized?
Believe it or not, there are some things within your control to keeping your skin happy and healthy! Take a step back and implement some of these suggestions on how you can treat your skin and your body better during the harsh, colder months.- Turn down the temperature when taking a shower.
- Try to limit lotions and body washes that have a million "fillers."
When reading the label on your lotion, do you need a PhD and magnifying glass to read the extensive list of ingredients? Keep it simple and look for a lotion and body wash with ingredients you understand. Always look at those first two lines of ingredients - that's what your product contains the most of.
I hope these tips will help you with your dry skin woes this season!
Liquid Skin Salve for Dry Skin Relief


Dry Skin Solutions for Women Over 40
Sponsored by AmLactin Skin Care
We all know that getting older comes with pros and cons. Older and wiser (that's a definite), knowing who you are and what you want... and then all those lovely skin issues. Dark spots, wrinkles, and other fun skin ailments like eczema, psoriasis, and Keratosis Pilaris are exacerbated by dry skin. So what are those of us with aging skin to do? According to data from a 2015 national online survey of over one thousand U.S. women over the age of 18: Nearly two-thirds of U.S. women report that the older they get, the more difficult it is to keep their skin moisturized. (Yes, this is me.) U.S. women feel an average of six years older when their skin is dry and dull. (Ugh, me again.) 56% of women report being just as concerned about the signs of aging from the neck down as they are about the signs of aging on the face. (Truth.) Can you also relate to those statistics? I recently tried out AmLactin Skin Care's line of products that have been trusted by dermatologists for over 20 years. With its unique combination of exfoliating alpha-hydroxy acids and hydrating humectants, AmLactin moisturizers smooth away roughness to reveal smooth, healthy-looking skin. In this video I discuss AmLactin Ultra Hydrating Body Cream for my Keratosis Pilaris (a skin issue that I'm often embarrassed by), AmLactin Foot Cream, Moisturizing Body Lotion and my absolute fave, Cerapeutic Restoring Body Lotion. AmLactin products are non-greasy, fragrance free and work as an exfoliating + hydrating lotion.
- Visit AmLactin’s website and look at each product.
- In the comments section below, tell me how your skin has changed over the years AND provide a link to the AmLactin product you’d most like to try by August 24, 2016 at 11:59pm EST.
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Bolden Butter Mint Shea Oil Review

Healthy Habits #AveenoDailyChallenge #Sponsored
I partnered with AVEENO® on this post. All opinions are 100% my own. I’m participating in the #AveenoDailyChallenge for three weeks.


Prevent Dry Cracked Hands - Try This
One of the worst offenders of dry or dehydrated skin is when it comes to cracked skin on your hands. So painful and it feels like a neverending cycle of trying to keep germs at bay with repeated handwashing, which totally dries you out, and then moisturizing to try to combat the dry skin.
A few years ago I learned this simple trick you can do at home that really helps to get rid of the dry skin and hydrate it leaving those cracked, painful hands behind.
What You'll Need:
A bowl Hot water (but not scalding)
4 paper towels
1 cotton towel
Plastic wrap
Scrub
Lotion
How- To:
- Pre-cut plastic wrap in a large enough section that it would cover a 13x9 dish (do this twice) and place to the side.
- Fill a bowl with hot water and putting it aside.
- Break off 4 paper towels all as one, but then split in two (so that you have two sections that are two paper towels connected.) Place them in the bowl of water.
- Over the sink apply an exfoliating scrub, like A Girl's Gotta Spa! Salt Scrub, to dry hands. Be sure to massage the scrub thoroughly getting in between fingers and paying attention to the cuticle area, too.
- Rinse.
- Before drying hands, remove the two sections of paper towel from the bowl and ring out the water and lay them flat on the counter.
- Use the cotton towel to pat hands dry, leaving them slightly damp.
- Applying an uber hydrating lotion, like A Girl's Gotta Spa! Energizing Citrus Body Lotion, to your hands generously (as in, more than you would typically apply to hands.)
- Wrap one hand in one section of warm paper towel and then wrap with the section of plastic wrap. For your remaining hand, you'll need to enlist some help to do the same for this hand.
- Relax and wait 3-5 minutes, then unwrap and if hands are still damp, gently pat dry.
Sometimes I apply a little more lotion once I've unwrapped my hands. It really depends on how bad your hands are.
Repeat this twice weekly until you see a marked improvement in your hands. In between this DIY hand pampering, always apply your lotion as you normally would.
I can say I always notice a difference after the first time I do it, but I've had friends who are mechanics or work in construction that the cracking is really bad and while they notice some definite softening and hydration right away, it takes repeat treatments before the cracking completely resolves.
Benefits of Olive Fruit Oil for Dry Skin
Being part Italian, olive oil was always a staple growing up in my childhood home. As a child, I never knew the health benefits my parents and grandparents were passing on to me, all I knew is that it added delicious flavor to my food.
Once I began to work in beauty, I was mesmerized by all of its benefits to skin, as well. Olive fruit oil is high in Vitamin E, which we all know is fantastic for its anti-aging properties. It's high in oleic acid and is a good skin cell regenerator. It works to attract external moisture to the skin, while still permitting the skin to properly release sweat, shed dead skin and release sebum.
Olive oil is rich in antioxidants like Vitamin E, but also includes vitamin A, polyphenols, phytosterols and avenasterol. Antioxidants work to neutralize free radicals and combat environmental pollutants and aggressors that we all deal with daily.
These antioxidants have the natural ability to stimulate cells and return skin to a firmer, smoother, and healthier state. In order to craft the best lotion for dry skin, olive oil is one of the main ingredients in A Girl's Gotta Spa! ® Body Lotions. This natural moisturizer will keep your skin hydrated and nourished. I've long been using soaps, lotions and body washes with olive oil and have seen for myself the profound affect it can have to keep skin healthy. If you use skin or body care products with olive oil, rest assured, you will kiss dry, itchy skin goodbye!