Advertisement feature in association with QV Skincare
My name is Jo, I’m 42 years old and I don’t like washing my hands.
Who am I kidding? I don’t like washing full stop. I don’t like getting wet just to get dry again – where’s the logic in that? – and I don’t like how it dries out my skin and makes it feel all overly smooth and dry to touch like I’m some kind of wizened old lady living in the woods in a house of sticks.
*shudders*
I’ve always been the same. The stories of my Dad having to carry me up the stairs to the bath while I screamed ‘don’t make me do it!’ have been retold to me many a time and I very much believe them. Remember a while ago when I wrote about the research around the average number of showers and baths people have a week? Let’s just say there is someone out there washing a LOT to balance me out.
I do try not to be a complete baby about it though – hand washing is important and although I don’t like it, I know I have to do it.
The other thing that I find impacts the health of my skin is stress. The last few months have been stressful ones for sure and stress has a way of showing itself in our bodies doesn’t it? One way it does this for me is by giving me dry, itchy skin in odd places, like my shins. Sometimes I wake myself up in the night savagely attacking my own shins, which is a lovely thought isn’t it?
To summarise then…
Frequent hand washing + life stress = dry skin desperate for some extra care.
Imagine my joy then, both for the moisturising relief and the perfect timing, when QV Skincare got in touch to see if I’d like to try out some of their products.
QV Skincare offers a range of cleansers and moisturisers designed to help manage dry skin conditions. Dermatologically tested, the QV range is suitable for all ages and skin types including sensitive skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. The whole range is also free from common irritants such as soap, colour and fragrance which could irritate the skin.
Hell yes QV Skincare, I need your silky, emollient goodness in my life right now.
(An emollient is just another name for a moisturiser, not some kind of special sub-breed of crime fighting emoji.)
Emollients help to maintain your skin’s natural protective barrier and hydrate your skin and they are a great alternative to products that contain harsh ingredients such as fragrances or colours, especially if your skin is sensitive or prone to dryness. When your skin is dry, the outermost protective barrier is not as strong as it should be. Emollients help to strengthen that barrier, keeping moisture IN but also keeping bad stuff like irritants OUT.
A soap-free wash is perfect for all the hand-washing we’re having to do lately. Soap has a naturally high pH, so when you mix that with the naturally lower pH of the skin it can lead to irritation. Soap-free cleansers on the other hand contain synthetic detergents in place of soap and are pH balanced to help avoid any irritation. Some soap-free cleansers lather just like soap while others do not, but either way they cleanse just as effectively as soap and they don’t dry out the skin in the same way. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I enjoy washing my hands now, but it is nice to not feel like I’m stripping moisture from my skin every time I do it.
You can use soap-free cleansers and moisturising lotions and creams over your whole body, even when your skin is feeling healthy, as part of your regular routine.
My favourite QV Skincare product is definitely the QV Skin Lotion.
My dry skin is fairly low key most of the time so I don’t feel like I need an intensive product like a cream or an ointment, so a lotion is ideal for me. I’ve used lots of body lotions over the years and often find that they leave a sticky residue, or leave me feeling slightly slimy, especially in hot weather.
QV Skin Lotion is so light and easily absorbed, I literally rub it in and it’s gone, like there was nothing there. I know it’s doing good stuff but I don’t have a greasy layer of anything left behind, it soaks in immediately and leaves my skin feeling really soft but not at all sticky.
I’ve also really enjoyed the QV Bath Oil. It made my skin feeling super soft and supple without leaving an oily residue or making the bath slippy. (It has a non-slip formula don’t you know.)
There is something so decadent feeling too about a bath oil isn’t there? I don’t know what it is, but a bath oil feels much more grown up than bubbles. A bath oil makes me imagine a huge copper bath in a room full of fragrant steam, the bath being filled by a manservant of some kind from a large ornate jug. My silken robe drops to the floor as I step into it with long, tanned legs, a glass of champagne in hand.
That’s much nicer than kicking off your dirty pants and sloshing your tea into your bath full of Matey isn’t it?
Overall then, top marks to QV Skincare.
If your hands are feeling the effects of frequent hand washing, or your skin is generally dry and could do with an extra layer of protection, then I definitely recommend giving QV Skincare a go.
