Winter skin.

Ever feel like a reptile? Scaly skin? Peeling heels? Cracked thumbs? Sore nostrils? Itchy scalp? The list goes on and on.

The main reason for our reptilian outer skin of course would be "winter skin", when there simply isn't enough moisture in the air to adequately saturate our skin cells. They dry up and we look like we've been baked in an oven all winter.

We can do things to help rectify the problem of dry winter skin.

Having a humidifier on your furnace is one step in the right direction. We don't have one!

Another thing would be getting some nice water-based cream for the occasion. (Lauralea, who sells Avon, has some pretty handy-dandy remedies for the "winter scalies"....is that a word????)

One of the old ways to enhance smooth and supple skin is oatmeal. I've never used it myself as I've always tended to eat the stuff, but they say it is great to smear over ones face. You'll just have to try it yourself, as I most likely won't be giving you any first-hand info in that regard....

My Aunt C. makes some wonderful cream with lanolin, egg whites and water. You have to beat the dickens out of it first until it gets all smooth and creamy like. Good stuff. If it gets too warm though, it smells like an old buffalo, kinda' musty like (ask the girls I work with!!)....and we don't want to be walking around the office smelling like an old buffalo, do we??? So you have to use it when it's fresh. Great for cracked heels and thumbs.

Petroleum jelly - the ever-handy Vaseline, is great not only for taking make-up off, but it keeps your lips very soft.....dab some (on your lips) at bedtime..........preferably after the smooching and stuff or you'll hear from dear husband...."Oh, yuk! What did you put on your lips???!!!", and his lips will just slide off your lips and the mood will be gone.........don't laugh...I know about these things!

If your skin gets very itchy, have a bath with a bushel of baking soda. Now that's even good for the itch in shingles.

Don't sit on heat registers.....like our cats and dogs end up doing. See how they end up scratching themselves.....and we don't want to go around scratching ourselves like that, do we!

Ya, those are some good old remedies. But if you're anything like me, you'll not do any of them and you'll just wait for spring as you scratch your way through winter. Letter openers are good scratchers as well as pens, rulers or anything pointy.

Cheer up. New skin should arrive shortly.