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Instead of Over-moisturizing, Increase Your Exfoliation.

When the heat is on in the house and the air is cold outside, your skin will be depleted of its natural moisture, leaving your skin feeling tight and dry. People tend to load on the extra moisturizer to compensate for the dryness. This will not always solve the problem of dry skin. If you’re dry, tight and flakey, it means that you have dry skin cell build-up on the surface of the skin. So rather than putting on extra cream to re-hydrate dead, dry skin cells, try increasing your exfoliation with a gentle facial scrub to remove the dry skin cells so that when your cream goes on, it hydrates the new cells rather than the dry cells.

Stay Hydrated but Don't Go Overboard

Many people believe if they drink more water, they'll hydrate skin. But I've read time and time again that this is a myth and you simply cannot moisturize skin from the inside out.

That said, a small study recently published by the University of Hamburg, suggests people who drink relatively little water could see a significant benefit in skin hydration if they started drinking nine eight-ounce glasses of water per day. What does this mean? Probably that dehydration does affect skin, but a normally hydrated person isn't going to see major benefits by drinking even more water.

Invest in a Humidifier

Furnaces rob air of moisture, leaving very little humidity in the air. I once read that your skin needs more than 30 percent humidity to stay properly moisturized. A room heated by a furnace can have as little as 10 % moisture. In the winter, consider sleeping with a humidifier in your bedroom. Keep doors closed so the moist air doesn't escape the room.

Keep Water Lukewarm, Not Hot

Hot water robs skin of moisture causing dry skin, so it's best to shower in lukewarm water. If you can't bear this rule, try to keep your warm showers short and try showering only once per day. This also means skipping the hot tubs in winter. The hot, hot temperature, combined with drying chemicals, is torture on dry skin.

The same rule applies to hand-washing: Wash hands in lukewarm water, never hot, if your skin turns red, then it is simply too hot.