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Been looking up techniques for getting rid of dry, flaky skin, but I'm overwhelmed with all these options should I be dry brushing, using lotion, chemical exfoliates, loofahs, sponges, wash cloths, moisturizer? What are the best techniques/products in terms of health, safety, affordability, quality, speed, etc?

If your skin isn't particularly oily or spot prone; exfoliating, cleansing, and moisturising once a day (in that order) should be all you need. You can do it when you shave to a large extent (assuming it's on your face).

What are the best techniques?

Use colder water. Showering and washing your face/hands with hot/warm water tends to dry out your skin more (don't know the physics/chemistry behind it). Just try to lower the temperature if possible and dry/flaky/itchy skin should improve. This won't solve all problems but is a cheap and easy start. It'll take a few days until your skin adjusts to the new regular conditions. Do that in addition to the other tips.

Correct what I said before to doing the exfoliating twice a week, and the rest daily.

Moisturise a lot,

moisturise before bed, expect to have to change your pillowcase really frequently, if you don't have to your not putting on enough

it doesn't need to be fancy stuff, basic E45 cream is what you're looking for

I think moisturizer is what you need. My elbows and knuckles get pretty bad.

My skin cracks and splits during the winter, and while some people swear by O'Keefe's, it just makes my hands feel like I set them on fire.

I think it was Garnier's 7-day moisturizer that I eventually settled on... going to need a new bottle with winter around the corner. It advertised that if you used it for 7 days, you would then only need to use it once a week? I wound up using it every couple of days, but it worked really well.

In particular, I hate the greasy, slimy feel that most moisturizers give me, and this one didn't do that. Maybe a little, but very little. Quite tolerable.

Moisturize, but not with lotion.
Ointments or creams are best. Cortizone for your face and other sensitive areas.
Lotions tend to have alcohol in them and that is bad.

Don't use fragment soaps, and stay away from harsh soaps.

Don't shower every day, try every other day. It may seem bad at first but your body will adjust to not having to quickly replenish oils.

I recommend just the basic Aveeno, its a good moisturizer and it doesn't have a pervasive fragrance. I even use it for chapped lips, as chapstick tends to make me lick my lips even more while the Aveeno actually penetrates and moistens without leaving much of a film. Doesn't help that most chapstick is flavored

And if you don't want to/can't/shouldn't avoid showering every day what you can do is just skip soap every other day. That will remove less oils than using soap all the time so its a good compromise for anybody who needs to shower everyday because of odor, but doesn't want to damage your skin.

Corn Huskers Lotion, that stuff works miracles. I work with a lot of chemicals that have my skin so dry and cracked it bleeds even when wearing protective gloves. A few days of corn huskers and it's back in amazing shape, if I would remember to use it regularly I wouldn't get to the raw bleeding stage. It works much better than all the other ones brands and aloe based stuff I've tried.

I get dry skin on my face after showering but splashing cold water on it a couple of times in the morning takes care of it for the rest of the day.