Skin Salvation

Don’t blush. With three solid months of winter behind us, no one will blame you for having the skin of a cranky crocodile. “When the temperature drops and the relative humidity decreases, the upper layers of your skin lose a large amount of water,” explains dermatologist Jerome Z. Litt, MD, in his book, Your Skin From A to Z. And because the moisture in deeper layers can’t work its way up to the surface, the result is “scales” and flakes on skin’s top layer.

Skin isn’t safe indoors either. “The lower humidity is aggravated by artificial heat, which, in addition to warming the air, dries it,” writes Litt. That dry, heated air sucks moisture out of everything—including skin. At the end of winter, as humidity rises and we stop turning up the heat, skin will slowly return to normal. But why wait? This is the ideal time to jettison your usual products and try something new. To get you started, we went searching for body care companies offering organic, pure products—an approach that’s sensible no matter what your skin type.

“Most people have some kind of sensitivity,” says Los Angeles–based dermatologist Debra B. Luftman, MD. “The more preservatives and perfumes a product contains, the greater the possibility that it will irritate skin.”

The people who make the following products list the ingredients on either the package or their websites. All of these companies are also committed to making the planet a better place—whether by supporting fair trade or by urging consumers to recycle used shampoo bottles—and their products are cruelty-free. Which means that even your inner reptile will feel well cared for.