So dry I want to cry! or scream.. or something.

[Rosa Harris]

First off, I have extremely dry skin and hair. Not just the 'i have dry skin' but the 'i have been to the dermatologist and their products did not even help' dry skin and hair. Te hair is baby fine wavy 'mixed hair'. The commercial products I have found work best for me are very rich ethnic products and most of these are not rich/greasy and heavy as I would like.

If I use any soap/shampoo at all I end up with terrible itching fits to the point of not being able to get to sleep and it takes about 3 days to get things back to normal- oiled and hydrated enough.

Currently I am using Panteen's naturals co-wash when absolutely needed and their leave in for straitened hair tho my hair is 100 percent natural. It might sound weird as can be but I am also using Burt's Bees Coconut foot creme on the really itchy spots when needed.

It is THOSE spots I am stressing about. The skin is so fragile that if I itch it will cause it to break out and form thick scaly gross scabs that itch even more. This is scalp, skin, anywhere! The foot creme works better than anything I have ever found but it has lanolin in it and I don't cherish the idea of putting sheep sebum on me! Yes! I did an overnight oil soak last night in foot creme and it was heavenly. But now that I have washed it out everything is starting to feel tight and itchy again!

Any advice or ideas on slathering this skin and scalp and hair in something highly natural would be wonderful. I really like DIY recepies but so far everything is really on the light side.

[Wosie]

Oh... Dearie, we seem to have similar issues, although my hair is coarse. I've been hospitalized a few times, and the only thing I ever got from dermatologists were cortisones and stingy lotions with carbamide (still better than cortisones...). I'm sick and tired of cortisones and I'm also trying a more natural approach these days. Washing my hair is a pain, but stretching washes doesn't work either. When I wash my hair, my scalp gets very dry, so naturally it starts to itch. When I leave it be and don't wash it, it gets itchy due to the sebum (after just half a day or so). If I wash with the CO method I just want to itch my scalp off. So I understand you and your plea for help.

Now, what have you tried? What did the dermatologists prescribe for you and what did you use? Did it work at all? Did they tell you whether you have seborrheic dermatitis on your scalp, or if it's something else? Have you taken allergy tests? Feel free to send a VM or a PM if you ever want to talk, I'll be here.

[MadeiraD]

Coconut and avocado oil, it also sounds like you're dehydrated try drinking more water

[Nadine <3]

As far as lotions go, burts bees foot cream is great. I rub that into my really dry spots from time to time and it does work well! I like all of their lotions a lot, those really help! I think the biggest help for me is I just stopped using body washes. My skin is so dry that I don't need it. I don't stink at all either. Every so often I use a little bit for my lady bits, esp in the hot summer month when I just don't feel very fresh. Otherwise I just use a loofa to remove dead skin, no soap.

For your hair, overnight olive oil soaks and only washing it every 4 days did wonders for mine!

Good luck, I know how horrible dry skin can be.

[kaydana]

Have you tried shea butter? Just pure shea butter, not a shea butter lotion or anything like that. It's my holy grail for skin care (especially when it's doing that fun tight, cracked and itchy thing). If you want to play potions, melt it and whip it as it cools, it makes it easier to apply.

[BrendaLoan]

Have you checked you thyroid? Dry hair and skin are often symptoms of hypothyroidism

[bunnylake]

Try Shea Moisture products for hair. The moisture retention shampoo is one of the gentlest and most moisturizing shampoos I've ever tried.
My husband has extremely dry, blotchy, itchy and painful skin as well. No dermatologist has been able to help him. On a whim I made him a cream and it actually works. He says he has tried prescription creams and everything in the store, and only my cream actually helps his skin! Unfortunately I don't have the measurements for the ingredients I use. I just toy with it until the consistency is right. Here it what I use:
Cocoa butter
Coconut oil
Hemp seed oil
Rose hip oil
Calendula oil
Avocado oil

The cocoa butter is solid, so I heat it until it's liquid. I add in the other oils and refrigerate it so it becomes solid again. It's it's too hard I warm it up again and add more oils.

[Anje]

Well, I love SMTs for dry hair, but that is admittedly normal dry, not pathologicly dry. Still, there's a link in my sig if you want to give it a try.

You're probably way ahead of me here, but you've got humidifiers running all over, right? Might as well make sure you're not losing more moisture to the environment than necessary. I've found Eucerin good for keeping dry spots from going to full blown eczema and getting to the point where I need steroid creams. Best wishes!

[ReneeG]

Have you tried castor oil? Its a very thick and heavy (slightly sticky if not diluted with a lighter oil!) that might give you a good moisturizing barrier. I've used it on my face and it definitely moisturized the dry areas well and felt soft and dewy the rest of the day. Although I've never had it as bad as it sounds like you do, I have really sensitive hormonally imbalanced skin naturally due to a hormonal condition I have, so I've had periods with just heavily irritated (red and flaky) and dry skin, and the castor oil really really helped with that. Might be worth a try? I used it in my hair by itself and it was just too heavy, but I have medium-fine hair. It was pretty hard to get out (2 full washing/conditionings), so if you're needing something that will moisturize and stay put it might be good for you. Also, diluted with olive or coconut or any of the other oils mentioned above it might be helpful too.

As far as commercial products, as noted above I have nasty crazy skin, and after years of trying to find something that would help my face I found "Paula's Choice" skin care line. After personal research on them, I've tried over a dozen of their skin care products and they seem to work REALLY well for my dry, and my oily, and my sensitive, and my broken out skin, both on my face and body. Their website has a very comprehensive list of all the ingredients in every product, and what each ingredient does, as well as a guarantee of no fragrances or proven irritants. I'm not trying to sell it or anything, just speaking from personal experience, because they worked better than anything I've ever found at a drugstore or in expensive cosmetic skin care lines.

I wish you the best of luck! Hopefully you can find something that helps. Keep us updated!

[Crumpet]

HUGS!!

Sounds terrible. One of my best friends had this problem and its not easy. I would second the 'Paula's Choice' recommendation -- I haven't used these products for dry skin, but for other things and they worked.

The other product I would recommend is Aquaphor. A dermatologist friend recommended it to me for a persistent terrible dry patch I had. The consistency is kind of like vaseline but it packs a serious punch and its great for irritated or healing skin also.

As for hair, I'm not sure what to recommend that others haven't already.