Get Your Skin Summer Ready

June is well underway, and we’re finally seeing some nice hot summery days here in Nova Scotia. The first of which were back at the start of May when I was road tripping to Moncton. During the trip I wore a sundress and shorts and realized just how sad my skin was looking. Number one, I’m so pale I nearly glow in the dark at the best of times, and secondly my skin was so so dry and scaly I looked part reptilian! Clearly some summer skin prep was in order before shorts and sundresses became a mainstay in my wardrobe!

I’ve written numerous times in the past about my dry, itchy skin. I’ve read numerous times that there is a correlation between fibromyalgia and itchy skin, but I don’t really know if that is my issue, or if I just plainly have chronic dry skin. This past winter I had been using a shea butter on my legs because it is thick and moisturizing. While I really enjoy shea butter, but I do find it takes quite a long time to absorb, and since I normally moisturize just before going to bed I fear some of my moisturizer was treating my sheets more than it was treating my legs.

Fortunately for me, just prior to my trip I had received a trio of products from Intega Skin Sciences’ Ureadin line to try out on my dry, itchy skin to help me get my skin summer ready and looking it’s best!

The three products I received were:

Podos: A hydrating gel moisturizer for your feet that repairs and hydrates dry and cracked feet, with the first results noticeable in as few as three days! It uses ingredients like shea butter to help improve roughness. It also exfoliates with lactic acid and provides intense hydration for 24 hours without leaving a greasy texture on your feet.

Ultra10 Lotion: This is their maximum strength, intense hydration lotion which repairs and hydrates very dry and flaky skin. It helps to relieve itching and irritation, provides intense hydration and protects the skin’s moisture barrier and can be used to aid in the reduction of scaling, roughness, redness and cracking.

Lotion Spray: A spray lotion suitable for all skin types, which absorbs instantly keeping your skin smooth and moisturized all day long. This is a light lotion with the HydroISDIN system, hydrating and protecting your skin while providing an antioxidant effect (learn more about the HydroISDIN system on their website)

Because my skin was so parched, I started out by diving into the Ultra10 Lotion. While at first glance you’d expect any lotion with a name like “Ultra10” to be really thick, this isn’t. You know how some lotions are so thick it seems like they take forever to absorb? This isn’t like that at all. When you pump it into your hand you can tell that it’s different from your run of the mill drugstore body lotion. It feels more like an oil lotion if that makes sense. It absorbs really quickly and while you certainly can feel you’ve applied lotion, it doesn’t leave a lotion-y film on your legs. Have you ever put lotion on, then scratched your leg and ended up with a bunch of the lotion under your fingernail? No? Just me? Well it’s annoying, and Ultra10 does not do that.

I immediately felt a difference on my skin, and after only a couple days the scaliness went away and I was left with my still super-glow-in-the-dark-white skin, but at least it once again looked like human skin and not that of a lizard!

Once I’d crossed the initial hurdle of dryness, I started using the Ultra10 just at night, and using the Lotion Spray in the mornings/after my bath or shower. Because it is lighter and absorbs even more quickly, it is great for when you are in a hurry, and I absolutely love lotion spray like this because you can turn them upside down and any direction you need to apply them. So super handy. This is my go-to for post bath/shower because I find thicker lotions have a more difficult time absorbing into my skin when it has just been exposed to water, and this absorbs quickly.

I wish I were able to get a decent before and after shot for you, but because a lot of the difference is in how my skin feels, and less in how it looks, it’s hard to capture that in a photo. In person the skin on my legs especially is so much more hydrated in appearance, and feels so much better (no more constant itch), but you’ll just have to take my word for that.

The Podos might be my favourite of the three products. As I mentioned above, it’s a hydrating gel oil and comes in this tube with a tiny little applicator. Basically you apply it to your feet and rub it in, then apply a bit more to the extra dry, tough or cracked areas. I have a pretty thick callus on the side of my big toes from all the lateral movement I do teaching classes and dancing. When the Podos arrived, I stopped using any other foot creams, lotions, scrubs, (including my pumice stone)  to see how this would compare.

A few days after I started using it I noticed one night in the tub the side of my toe (where the callus is) looked a little odd, I rubbed my finger on it and a piece of the callus FELL RIGHT OFF. What!? I checked the other side, and was able to easily remove another piece just by rubbing my thumb once or twice along the side of my foot. Since then, that happened yet again. And while I certainly still have a callus on both of my big toes, they are each a lot smaller than they once were. I knew that  Podos was suppose to boost exfoliation, but I wasn’t expecting that kind of results! The thing with calluses is, while in my case they are necessary, they can also be painful, so removing even part of them has made my feet so much more comfortable. And that is something I’ve found difficult to accomplish with all my other potions and lotions.

I did get before an afters of my feet, so below I’m showing you the side of my toe(s) before, an after, and a second after which was taken immediately after I’d applied Podos. I don’t like it when you can clearly tell in an after photo that the person has just put moisturizer on because I don’t feel it paints a “real” picture of the condition of the skin, so I decided to show your my feet both ways.

I apologize that the lighting is clearly different between the before and after shots. I took them in the same place with the same camera settings to try and create the same lighting, but obviously the afters were taken on a sunnier day. But hopefully you can still tell that my feet are clearly looking a lot better in the afters!

What you may not know about me is I am really not a fan of looking at feet. Like I refused to wear sandals for a good 10+ years because I hated looking at feet. And I still don’t want anyone to touch me with their feet, ick. Anyway, because of that I really try to keep my feet in the best condition I can – all considered. Knowing that, and knowing that I have exclusively used the Podos for over a month now, it should tell you that I really like this product and am happy with how it has been helping my feet! Over the past month I’ve moved from sneakers to sandals in day-to-day wear, and I’m so pleased that the Podos helped me get my feet sandal ready!

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Learn more about Ureadin prodcuts by Intega visit http://integaskin.com or http://www.isdin.com.

They are still preparing to launch their online shop, but in the meantime you are able to contact them regarding purchases directly through their website (http://integaskin.com/isdin/ )

If you are having problems with dry, itchy skin, or dry cracked feet and want to feel comfortable and confident in your skin all summer long, I hope you’ll check out Ureadin and the whole line of products from Intega. I’m certainly going to be sticking to these products all summer long!

Disclosure: I am part of the Intega Influencer Campaign and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.