Beauty
Why body skin gets so dry in Dubai and how to fix it
Body skin dries out in Dubai because of desalinated water, year-round air conditioning and strong sun. Swap your foaming wash for a balm or cream cleanser, moisturise on damp skin within a few minutes, wear SPF on exposed skin, and give it three weeks.
Body skin gets dry in Dubai because three things hit it at once: desalinated water that is not soft, air conditioning that runs all year, and a sun that is strong even on ordinary days. The fix is three swaps. Change your foaming shower gel for a balm, oil or cream cleanser. Put cream on while your skin is still damp, within a few minutes of stepping out. Wear SPF on whatever is exposed. Then give it three weeks, because barrier repair is slow and the change shows up gradually.
Why does body skin get so dry in Dubai?
Start with the water. Dubai's tap water is sea water that has been desalinated and had minerals added back, and DEWA tests it every day, so it is clean and safe. But it is not soft water. The usual explanation for the tight, squeaky feeling after a shower is that the minerals react with foaming cleansers and leave a faint film that stops skin holding on to water. Whatever the chemistry, the experience is the same in most buildings: skin that feels fine elsewhere goes rough and itchy here.
Then the air conditioning. Most of us live and work in cold, dry, recycled air for ten months of the year, and it pulls water out of skin all day without you noticing. Add a sun that burns in twenty minutes in summer and leaves the chest, shoulders and forearms dull and uneven over the years. And add the summer habits that make it worse: long showers after the beach, pool chlorine, and hot water because the cold tap runs warm from July to September anyway.
What should you change first?
Your body wash. It is the biggest lever and the one people touch last. A foaming gel that squeaks is stripping the oils your skin needs, and in this water it leaves the most residue. Swap it for a balm, an oil or a cream cleanser. You want something that feels slightly too gentle, with glycerin, ceramides, shea or plant oils on the label, and fragrance-free if your skin is reactive.
Next, the shower itself. The American Academy of Dermatology suggests five to ten minutes in warm, not hot, water, and patting rather than rubbing dry. The long hot shower after a day out feels wonderful and undoes everything. Warm and short wins.
How do you moisturise so it actually lasts?
Timing matters more than the product. Apply cream while your skin is still damp, within a few minutes of getting out. You are trapping water that is already there, not adding it from a bottle. Pat yourself half dry, then apply. If you towel off completely and moisturise twenty minutes later, most of the benefit is gone.
Choose a cream, or an ointment at night, rather than a lotion. Lotions are mostly water and evaporate before lunch in an office. Look for glycerin, ceramides, shea butter, petrolatum or lactic acid. For rough patches on elbows, knees and shins, a cream with urea softens the scaly texture instead of sitting on top of it. Keep a hand cream at your desk and in the car, because hands get washed, sanitised and sun-exposed more than anything else.
Do you need SPF on your body?
Yes, on ordinary days, not only beach days. Sun damage on the chest, shoulders, forearms and the backs of the hands is what makes body skin look crepey and patchy over time, and it happens on the school run and the walk from the car park. If your arms are out, they need a broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher. Keep a body sunscreen by the front door rather than in the bathroom so you actually use it, and pick a fluid or spray for large areas. Remember that UVA comes through car windows, so a long drive counts too.
Should you exfoliate dry skin?
Once or twice a week, and gently. More than that and you are scrubbing off the barrier you are trying to rebuild. A body lotion or wash with lactic or glycolic acid is kinder than a gritty scrub and handles the bumpy texture on the backs of the arms far better. Always follow it with cream on damp skin, and skip it on any day you have been in the sun.
What I actually use
The product I shared on Instagram in August is the Elemis Pro-Collagen Body Cleansing Balm, through Sephora Middle East. It is a thick balm in a tub rather than a gel in a bottle. You scoop a little out, it goes milky as you work it over wet skin, and it rinses without leaving your skin tight. That texture is the whole point for Dubai water: it cleans without the squeak. It is expensive for a body wash, so treat it as the thing that converts you to the balm format, then decide whether you stay with it or find a cheaper balm cleanser that behaves the same way.
The other body product in my record this summer is L'Occitane's Hair and Body Mist, which I tried at a yoga morning for International Yoga Day in June. It is a scent, not skincare, and I mention it only because it is the kind of thing that tempts you to skip the cream. It does not replace it.
Disclosure: Elemis gifted this and L'Occitane invited me. My opinion is my own.
Mistakes I see
- Hot showers in August because the cold tap is warm anyway. Run it as cool as the building allows.
- Lotion on bone-dry skin twenty minutes after the shower. That is most of the money wasted.
- Scrubbing bumpy upper arms with a loofah. It makes them redder, not smoother.
- Body SPF only at the beach. The damage is happening on Tuesday, not Saturday.
- Heavily fragranced body butter on skin that is already itchy. Fragrance-free until it calms down.
- Judging the routine after four days. It takes three weeks.
A routine that fits real life
Every day: a warm, short shower with a balm or cream cleanser, pat half dry, cream within a few minutes, SPF on anything the sun will see. Once or twice a week: a lactic or glycolic body product, then cream. Once a month if you can: a proper body treatment, which I cover in my guide to the best spas in Dubai. For the face, the same hydrate-do-not-strip logic runs through my skincare routine for the Dubai climate.
Give it three weeks before you judge it. If your skin is still cracked, bleeding or itchy after that, see a dermatologist, because dry skin that does not respond to basic care is sometimes something else.
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