Soothing my dry, itchy legs.

Oatmeal baths. Seriously! I suffer from severely dry skin on my legs during the winter. When I say dry, I mean scaly, fishy looking skin that sheds in flakes. Gross, I know. I would lay awake at all hours of the night scratching my legs raw until they bled. And, getting in the shower to next morning was miserable, because the sores I had caused to myself would burn as the warm water touched them. I've tried a many  different types of lotions, but the only eased the itch for a few hours before I had to reapply more. Applying lotion isn't so bad, but having to do it two or three times a day is sort of inconvenient.

Please someone tell me I'm not the only one turning into a fish!

Anyways, a dermatologist came into work one day and we somehow got on the subject of dry skin. She told me about the magic behind the oatmeal bath.

You can prepare your oatmeal bath two ways:
1. Fill a coffee filter or a tea filter full of plain (not instant!) oatmeal. Tie it up at the top, and toss into your running bath with 1 cup of milk. (Yes, I said milk! Just do it, you won't be sorry!)

2. Put the oatmeal into a food processor and grind into a very, very fine powder or buy oatmeal powder. Just pour it into your bath with the milk.

(Optional) You can add lavender if you would like!

I've noticed a HUGE difference in my skin. I still use lotion after getting out of the tub, but my need to apply lotion is much, much less. I also don't have that gross ashy look going for my legs anymore. If you're like me, I try to only wash my hair every other day so oatmeal baths are perfect on the days when I don't need to wash my hair. I can clean my body and moisturize it!