The human body is capable of many different extremes. What was once an oil-covered teenage face can become dry, cracked and even bloody later in life. Dry skin is a condition that effects millions of people all over the world, and when you take into account the number of folks that have seasonal dry skin, the numbers jump even higher. But what is dry skin exactly, and how can you treat it properly?

Dry skin occurs when your body does not make enough sebum. Sebum is the natural oil your body secretes every day. When you are a teenager and your skin is constantly oily, your body was making too much sebum. Dry skin is the absence of that vital oil, and the causes can be a number of different things.

Before we look at causes, let us make sure that you do, in fact, have dry skin. The biggest marker of dry skin is the appearance. It can appear to be very tight over the body, especially on the hands, and especially on the knuckles. There can be fine cracks in the skin that appear white. In extreme cases, the cracks that appear in dry skin can actually bleed. If your dry skin condition is this bad, you should seek the advice of a doctor or skin care professional right away.

For the rest of us, dry skin is a bother. It can make wearing most clothes uncomfortable and it can cause itching and irritation all over the body. Two of the most prominent causes of chronic dry skin are heredity and diet. Just like oily skin, dry skin can be genetic. But compensation can be made with diet and skin creams/applications to lessen the impact of dry skin.

Nutritional problems can lead to dry skin, too. Usually, you are not getting enough vitamins and minerals in your diet. Try taking a multi-vitamin every day if you feel you aren’t getting the proper nutrition in your diet. This cause is most common in people who are constantly on the go and feel they do not have time to eat a healthy diet.

The weather can play havoc with your skin and for many people, this is the most likely cause of dry skin. The dry winters of the northern US states can cause dry skin in almost everyone. But the calendar does not have to read winter time for you to get dry skin. Too much exposure to the sun can sap your skin of all of its vital oils exactly the same way a stiff winter wind can. In these cases, a regular regimen of moisturizing soaps and lotions rich in vitamin E and aloe are recommended.

For some women, using too much cosmetics, or not the right cosmetics for their skin type can cause dry skin. This is even more pronounced if you have a job that requires things like face paint or some kind of unnatural skin covering. This cycle can be impossible to break since you are required to use this substance every time you work. The best thing you can do for yourself is to try to switch to a non-skin drying makeup and use moisturizing soaps and lotions when you can.

Finally, a hidden cause of dry skin for some people is a thyroid that is not working properly. This can actually be a symptom of a much larger problem. If you have other signs of a under-producing thyroid, seek medical attention right away since complications can occur based on your body not producing enough hormones.

Finding an all-inclusive cure for dry skin may be impossible, but once you are able to pinpoint the cause, there are many different ways to battle this problem.