Living With Eczema In the Winter Time

Take quick, cool showers. You don't want to sit in a bathtub because it will dehydrate your skin more. You want to use a mild soap, preferably a moisturizing soap. There are also body washes now that have petrolatum in them, and when you use a puff to apply the body wash, it will coat you with sort of a lipid barrier, and that may be helpful for a lot of people.
When people come out of the shower, they should pat, not rub themselves dry with a towel, and then they can start out with an over-the-counter moisturizer. I also tell people when they get undressed to go to sleep, put moisturizer on again. And for bad hands, I tell people to keep a tube of moisturizer in their pockets.

People with dry skin should look for moisturizers that contain lactic acid, which is a humectant that draws moisture into the skin. There are over-the-counter products with lower concentrations of glycolic acid, which acts as an exfoliant, and moisturizers that contain urea, another humectant. Urea may help for badly dry skin, especially on cracked heels in the wintertime.

You want to look for ones that say "for heavy use" or "for body use" because the facial moisturizers typically have less petrolatum in them, so that people won't break out on their face. On your body, you care less about breakouts. You want something heavier. The best moisturizer, though we don't like it because it's not very cosmetically appealing, is something like Vaseline (petrolatum). It is very moisturizing, but it's very greasy.

Unless you are dehydrated, excessive drinking of water is not going to help dry skin. And unless you are deficient in some sort of essential fatty acid, eating certain types of fats is also not going to moisturize your skin.

One thing that can make a lot of people who have eczema and dry skin itch more in the wintertime is wearing wool or wool-like products. They're better off with cotton and cotton-like products, which breathe more.