6 Ways to Make Your Skin Look Amazing — Even in the Winter

Itchy hands? Rub in coconut oil.

Gently massaging coconut oil into your hands twice daily can cut dryness, itching, redness and even cracking by as much as 68 percent in three days, plus it destroys 95 percent of the staph bacteria that worsen hand rashes, three studies suggest. Explains dermatologist Lillian Lopez, MD, coconut oil contains an antibacterial compound (lauric acid) that calms inflammation, blocks moisture loss, and speeds healing.

Cracked feet? Massage in aloe vera.

Moisturizing winter-weary feet twice daily with aloe vera cream can cut dryness by 82 percent, plus help heal cracks in half the time, Swedish researchers say. Thanks goes to aloe compounds (acemannan and glucomannan) that soften, moisturize and promote healing when skin’s epidermal layer is damaged. Tip: For best results, gently buff calloused areas to remove dead skin cells before moisturizing.

Rashy scalp? Scrub with lavender oil.

If scalp itching and shoulder flakes are driving you mad, lavender oil can help! According to a study in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, this fragrant plant extract can tamp down itching and flaking in as little as three days. Explains study co-author Monica Zuzarte, PhD, lavender oil reduces scalp irritation, plus it kills the yeast that cause flaky dandruff.

Simply add 15 drops of lavender essential oil to a dollop of your regular shampoo and massage into your scalp for two minutes.

Flaky face? Dab on sea buckthorn oil.

Feel like your usual moisturizer isn’t doing enough these days? To the rescue: sea buckthorn oil. Turkish researchers say dabbing a few drops onto damaged facial skin at bedtime can reduce redness, prevent flaking and encourage healing in as little as 48 hours. The credit goes to sea buckthorn’s palmitoleic acid — a rare building block of healthy skin cells.

Dehydrated? Sip some hot cocoa.

Sipping 14 ounces of hot cocoa daily can increase skin hydration and reduce irritation and redness by 30 percent. That’s because compounds (flavonoids) in this winter warmer boost the flow of healing, nutrient-rich blood to winter-weary skin cells.

Dry-air acne? Try juniper berry oil.

Dilute a drop of juniper berry oil in a carrier oil and dab on pimply areas twice daily, and you’ll cut your risk of breakouts by 67 percent. Juniper berries contain natural antibiotics that knock out acne-forming bacteria.

This article originally appeared in our print magazine.