Once I reached my 50s, all of my skin, started to show the normal signs of aging. We all loose some signs of youth in our skin as we age. However, when you live with Psoriasis, and age, some of those “vanity” features actually create discomfort and pain. When our natural production of collagen slows, our ability to hold moisture in the skin diminishes. While this is normal for all of us, when you live with Psoriasis this can accelerate cracked skin, bleeding skin and horrible itching. When our skin is dry, it is a playground for all the itchy, scratchy and inflamed skin we are all trying to manage.
Bedtime is the best time for a psoriasis night skincare routine. There are some serious advantages to caring for one’s skin over night.
- You are sleeping. Generally under bed sheets and or covers which limits the amount of air circulating around your skin. With proper skin care products, this creates a wonderful environment for healing your skin.
- A Psoriasis night skincare routine that includes jammies, socks, gloves allows for your product to deeply absorb in to your skin. This is the time for deep healing moisturizing and skin repair.
- You are indoors. Your skin is at rest. You aren’t fighting sunlight, environmental chemicals, the elements or any number of things that attack your skin when you leave the house.
I have a daily psoriasis night time skincare routine and a weekly psoriasis night time skincare routine. My daily routine includes my face, hands, elbows, shins and feet. My weekly routine is all of the above with the addition of my scalp.
Daily Nighttime skin care routine
First, we need to start with clean dry skin. Be sure to use appropriate body and facial cleansers. It’s important that all moisturizers be applied to clean dry skin so that they may have the greatest effect. You don’t want dirt and grime also being absorbed in to the skin when we moisturize. Your also want to ensure that the skin, scalp, hair is dry. You don’t want your expensive moisturizers to simply roll off the skin because your skin wasn’t yet dry. Clean, Dry skin is the palette for success!
We are going to work from our feet up our skeleton to the face and scalp. For the feet, I use a plant based Foot Balm. I have a few smaller psoriasis patches on the top of my toes and in the creases of my toes. I also have extremely dry cracking calluses and thick skin on my heal. A nightly Foot Balm does wonders. I really like the Tea Tree infused Foot Balms as they can prevent athletes foot* while they moisturize. For a full blown experience, apply your Foot Balm and put on a pair of wool socks to sleep in. The wool is breathable and washable. This is like turbo charging your Foot Balm!
Moving up the skeleton to my shins and lower legs. These get a healthy dose of a whipped body butter. I apply a very healthy amount to the psoriasis patches on my shins and im sure to smooth the body cream to my ankles and my knees. I happen to have a significant path on both knees and just above the knee on the back of my leg. After I have applied the moisturizer to my legs I put on cotton pajama pants. This keeps air flow moderated but allows for a moisture rich environment for your applied creams.
From the skins to the torso. I have a few random patches of inflamed skin. They too get a healthy dose of the body cream After applying a good healthy layer of moisturized I put on a cotton t-shirt for sleeping in.
On to the elbows, same thing. Healthy dose of body cream to the elbows, hands and arms. I ensure that as much of the product is absorbed as possible before moving on to my face.
The face is its own complex puzzle of moisture and skin care. I start with a night time skin care serum. While I don’t like Retinols specifically, I do like a plant based product that has similar properties. I like bakuchiol serums. My favorite is the Beekman 1802 Dream Booster. Be patient and allow your skin to drink in the bakuchiol serum. This, like retinol, is a night time only product. It’s also important to ensure you wear a sunscreen while these serums are in your routine. Bakuchiol serums are also neutralized in the sunlight. It is suggested that sunscreen persist for a week after last use. I find that Bakuchiol serums are much more gentle on my aging skin. It has never caused a reaction for me. I use it daily.
While I’m waiting the few moments for the Bakuchiol serum to completely absorb, I apply a moisturizing lip balm. This is generally a good idea when you have the air conditioning or the heat running in the house. Both remove all natural humidity from the air.
Now, after the serum has been absorbed, it’s time for the night time moisturizer. Apply generously. This should cover your face, behind your ears, under your jaw, the neck and top of your chest. You should apply directly over all the areas your treated with your serum.
Weekly Nighttime skin care routine
Once a week, I moisturize my scalp. While I always using a moisturizing cleanser for my scalp, I find it helpful to do a deep moisturizing of the scalp. My hair benefits as well, but, it’s mostly a preventative to ensure my psoriasis doesn’t get any worse on my scalp. I use raw organic coconut oil. Raw organic coconut oil, when applied to the scalp, provides a rich deep healing to your dry cracked skin. It is in fact an oil that is a bit greasy. A small amount goes a very long way. I apply generously and with my fingers massage the coconut oil in to my scalp. Keep in mind that coconut oil is a solid at 74 degrees Fahrenheit. If you warm a pea size piece of the coconut oil in your hand before applying, you will notice is break down quickly in to its liquid state. This is ideal for massaging in to the scalp. A cotton beanie does the trick of ensuring you don’t leave coconut oil all over your pillow. This can admittedly be a very messy process, however, the result is amazing and lasting.
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