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This time of year is pretty common for people here in the US to have fairly dry skin.  Its wintertime, we are inside more and probably are being exposed to things like indoor heating, etc.  Hydrating and moisturizing are the best ways to combat it.  Ive also started using St. Ives Naturally Soothing Lotion with Oatmeal and Shea Butter, which has helped me with that scaly itchy flaky skin deal.

ps. Congrats on your DS   I hope everything is going well for you and you are recovering nicely

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If you want some seriously good moisturizer try Eucerin. I was turned on to it a few years ago after getting a bunch of free samples from my dermatologist. Best thing is that you don't need a prescription. It's OTC. I buy it at Target or Walgreens. You can even get sample sizes at both places to see if you like it before you invest in a big bottle.

http://www.eucerinus.com/products/all-eucerin-products.html

Hey Mindy we do have body shops here:
Edina Southdale Shopping Center 6601 France Avenue South Space 2516 Phone: 952-929-1530

Bloomington Mall of America 148 West Market Phone: 952-858-9752

St. Paul Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport Lindbergh Terminal 4300 Glumack Dr Phone: 612-727-1712

Another favorite of mine is bath and body works. The body creames are soo good I just love them for when my skin gets all dry and crackly this time of year. I know our winters up here do skin no favors.

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Dry skin couldnt help there. I drip dry after showers so it keeps my skin from getting really dry.

Scars - raw honey. It inhibits bacterial growth and also minimizes keloid scaring. Just put a layer on and leave it.

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Its a little trick I've learned over the years.

Started with show horses and has worked with people and other pets.

Completely natural, nothing to crazy but great for its healing and anti bacterial properties.

Doctors will recommend euricin (spelling?) cream and lubiderm.  A lot of Bath and Body works lotions have artificial fragrance oils, rather than the essential oil, which can be drying to the skin.  Before I knew this, I purchased a whole bunch of lotions because they had a nice price point.  I used them all winter long, and my skin never was soft.  I don't buy their products anymore.

I do buy the mango body scrub at The Body Shop.  After I soap up and rinse in the shower, I put that on my skin, while my skin is still wet, rinse off, and you wil see the water bubble on the oil.  The scrub is oil based.  I towel off when I get out of the shower, and I am set for the day.  The nice thing about having a little oil on my skin, is that I avoid that static electricity that I get from a lot of my shirts this time of the year.  I hate having my shirts stick to me when I take off my winter coat!!!!

The body scrub at The Body Shop, is for very dry skin.  The scrubs for dry skin don't work as well.

Alternatively, you can buy a cheap olive oil and put that on your skin in the shower after you have washed. 

I have Hashimoto's so even before the DS I had skin so dry it would peel. Talk about ugly. I tried a variety of products and I did lots of research and I found out the best moisturizer is pure shea butter, organic and unrefined. I figured I needed the strong stuff and not the lotions that have a small percentage of shea in it so I ordered some pure shea butter. It is heavy and waxy and works better than anything I have ever tried. I refuse to use the drugstore or specialty store products as they contain carcinogens like parabens and lauryl sulfate (or is it sulfite?) Not sure of the spellilng but there are all kinds of nasty ingredients in the drugstore creams and lotions and I know I don't want that crap in my body. Even Mederma has methylparabens so I won't use it. Google these ingredients and you will see what I mean. The shea butter has to be organic and most importantly, unrefined because the refining removes some of the vital nutrients. I put it on after a shower and I don't towel off because it absorbs way better when you put it on while you are still damp.

I like Nicoles idea of using raw honey. It is the propolis in the honey that works as such a fantastic antibacterial. That's why there's never any kind of bacterial or fungal outbreak in bee hives/combs.