My mother's people have a saying that the best time to find out if a woman is truly beautiful is during the harmattan season, because you'll get to see her real skin/true beauty.
Happy new month guys! It's that time of the year again when we begin to think of how best to stop our skin from drying out and breaking. You might find this post helpful if you plan on coming to Nigeria/west Africa between November-February.
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People in other parts of the world go through winter, West Africans go through the dry and most times unforgiving harmattan. Regardless, the dry season as it is generally called is my favourite season. From dry skin to dusty looking skin to severe cases of broken skin with sores, if you have lived/live in Nigeria then you most likely have a harmattan skin story.
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People in other parts of the world go through winter, West Africans go through the dry and most times unforgiving harmattan. Regardless, the dry season as it is generally called is my favourite season. From dry skin to dusty looking skin to severe cases of broken skin with sores, if you have lived/live in Nigeria then you most likely have a harmattan skin story.
To prepare your skin for this period, it's best you review your beauty regimen and find out what works best for you, and check in with your dermatologist if you have sensitive skin.
Moisturisers help to water dry skin. I recommend products from these brands because I have tried them myself: Palmers, Nivea, Dove, Clinique, E45 (which is VERY expensive here in Nigeria), Revlon, La Familia and Vaseline because I've used them. My current favourite is Nourishing secrets glowing ritual by Dove, it is AMAZING (this is not sponsored but if you're reading this from Dove I'm open for collaborations hit me up).
Also, regular Petroleum jellies are okay for locking in moisture.
Oils: I love oils like shea butter, coconut oil, and olive oil. If avocado, and almond oils are readily available to you by all means go for them because they're GREAT (they're very pricey here in Nigeria). Also, there's this oil my people in southern, and eastern Nigeria make from the kernel of palm fruits it's called ude aki loosely translated as the palm kernel nut cream/oil. It's hard to come across the original one these days, and has a VERY STRONG smell. It has been used for ages by Nigerian women during the harmattan before the introduction of modern day creams and oils as we know.
A skincare routine I used in boarding school was mixing a very good oil with my moisturiser, and applying it on my body (I still do this).
I am not a skincare specialist. The recommendations I made above are based on my personal experience over the years. Also, this is not a sponsored post.
Thank you so much for your constant support here on the blog and on my Instagram account. We've hit the 600 benchmark on Twitter (@lilyofnigeria).
What are your thoughts on this post? What are your go to moisturisers and body oils for cold weather?
All my love,
Alexandra for Lily of Nigeria.
2 Comments
Your skin looks great!! I have combination skin and get dry patched around my mouth/chin area and im sooo scared of using oils hahaha :p
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xoxo <3
Thank you Jessy. Oils can be helpful, but I understand why they might scare you. Have you tried using coconut oil? It's wonderful and might help you get rid of those dry patches. If you want to discuss this some more shoot me an email. Thabk you for stopping by my blog, see you soon at yours!
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