The HuffPost Fix: A Dermatologist's Drugstore Picks

Edited & produced: Nick Towery

Producer, creator & host: Michele Wissot

The days may be shorter.

But that doesn't mean bad skin won't be noticed. Between the layers of clothing, heated indoors, and cold winds, winter can wreck havoc on your face.

So when Susan Kline, a Dermatologist PA and owner of Delivering Beauty, revealed that the best defense to winter skin is available at local drugstores, we got her to tell us what most of her colleagues really rely on.

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Here's a list of picks for your morning and night skin care routine.

A.M. ROUTINE

FACE

1) Wash face with Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser under warm water.

2) Apply cream to face. Yes, cream should always be used during winter. No, you won't break out if you use a gentle one like Cetaphil Fragrance Free Moisturizing Cream or CeraVe Moisturizing Cream .

3) Add a glow using Jergens Natural Glow Face Moisturizer. 4) Those suffering from the redness around the nose should use Purple Redness Reducing Moisturizer with SPF 30 .

BODY

1) Wash with Dove Sensitive Skin Unscented Soap.

2) Men and women should always shave with Aveeno Shave Gel and use a double blade razor like a Gillette Sensor Excel Razor. Just remember sharing means switching the blade after you use it.

3) Always apply body cream right after your shower. She loves AmLactin Moisturizing Cream.

DAYTIME

She recommends stashing the following in your bag or desk drawer.

Hands: Use Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream.

Lips: Aquaphor Healing Ointment.

P.M. ROUTINUE

Face

1) For those wearing make-up, use Andrea EyeQ's Eye Make-up Remover Pads in the oil-free formula.

2) Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser.

3) Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream, Fragrance Free or CeraVe Moisturizing Cream.

4) Worried about wrinkles? Apply some Neutrogena Anti-Oxidant Age Reverse Night Cream.

4) Blemishes, be gone! Use a dab of Clean & Clear Persa-Gel. To get the redness down, apply Cortaid Hydrocortisone-- but only twice, at most.

Comments

[Charity]

actually, if we're talking recommendations, i ran across the website not long ago for "don't go to the cosmetics counter without this book" by paula begoun.

she compares drugstore buys to department store buys. she also researches what goes into the products. she has her own beauty product line, too but i skipped all that.

i was looking for a new moisturizer, among other things, and printed out a few of her recommendations. six of them have checked out and i now use them (three different types of facial products, a drugstore brow tamer, a mascara, and the best of all, a mascara base for my flimsy non-existent eye lashes.)

i didn't have much idea who she was but she makes a lot of sense, does her research, and i have been pleasantly surprised with what i bought based on her recommendations. that doesn't happen every day!

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[shaygo]

i can't believe that a dermatologist would promote using lotions and creams that are loaded with parabens -- and why would someone put lotion on their skin that is known to bleach out fabric??

i'm with the bag balm, all-natural product crowd.

[sugarpharm]

Great tips. Cetaphil cleaner and moisturizer are inexpensive products but work great. I also love the Neutrogena hand cream she mentions.

[midtown]

One caveat: stay away from anything with mineral oil in it. When I was in college in NJ, I read a Johnson & Johnson report (J&J was just down the road) about the effect of mineral oil on babies' skin. It robs vitamins, literally leaches them out of the skin. This was an internal J&J report, not meant for public consumption.

Ditto, dont ever use any product with mineral oil on your eyes. Produces wrinkles over the long haul.

The reason why companies put mineral oil in their products is because they dont want to spend the dough on lanolin. And they have everyone bamboozled into thinking that 'lanolin is just too heavy for delicate skin'. Nonsense.

ANOTHER TIP: I saw a woman in her 60s having a pedicure who had the youngest looking skin on her feet and legs, hands and face, that I have ever seen in my life. EVER. She also had an incredible tan. I asked her what fake tan stuff she used because it was such a lovely color. She said the tan was real, she lived on a yacht in the Bahamas half of the year, and never stayed out of the sun. I said then how in God's name can you have skin like that, if you live in the sun? (Her face was wrinkleless, BTW.) She used drugstore aloe vera GEL -- must be gel- and 32,000 unit Vitamin E bottles, and mixed them in her hands. She said you can never rub vitamin E on your skin because its too sticky, but that aloe vera gel breaks it up. She told me it was her only skin regimen, face and body. She said in a pinch she would use 28,000 unit Vitamin E but that 32,000 unit was better. Made a believer out of me.

[elleanee]

I'd like to know what the ingredients are before I put things on my skin. Many of those national brand items I probably wouldn't trust until I read the small print.

I recommend that instead of using Dove soap, get some Dr. Bonner's natural soaps from your health food store. They smell great, they have good things in them, and they didn't test them on animals. They're also not expensive.

[nadine1024]

Epsom Salts are also used for constipation. This is good information and while everyone believes they've got the best around--these picks are great universal finds. So much so, I forwarded to my tribes.

[wagadog]

Um. Can this dermatologist visit the local feed store? Agway or Callahans, for example.

Hoofmaker's hoof conditioner is just about the best hand cream and nail hardener around, and Bag Balm is terrific for any particularly dry patches. Both are meant for animals, but that's why they're a lot cheaper than the drugstore or (god forbid) department store packaged varieties of the same substances.

And then there's the Epsom Salts that are a lot cheaper in agricultural quantities. My mom makes her own soap, shampoo and conditioner -- much cheaper and greener.

All you get at the drugstore that you can't get at the hardware store or feed store is the packaging. Go there once for the packaging and then keep refilling them with your own stuff.

Soap is soap, girls. Lanolin, Aloe and Olive oil are all cheaper by the gallon. Fewer carcinogens, too.

[hoodie]

Coconut oil. If I can't eat it, I don't put it on my skin. Exfoliate with baking soda. I am pushing 50 and skin looks in my 30's...gotta try it!

[msbear]

These picks are great! Susan sounds super trustworthy and I've actually been told the same great things about Aveeno and Amlactin from my Dermatologist. And I just LOVE that you wrote about something that you can find so easily at your local drugstore. Perfect time of year for this post too. Loving your videos - easy to follow and so entertaining. Thanks...

[poorotis]

Hair conditioner is a perfect shaving cream.

[Forest]

Years ago a dermatologist told me to prevent dry skin by using Cetaphil cleanser and lotion and toss everything else. It worked.

[isis]

Got to go with the Bert's Bees fans on this one. Or Kiss My Face products.

[elleng]

And all this will cost???

[SophieNYC]

Another great post. Thanks for the tips(especially when it's so cold in New York). Just one suggestion, i love your posts but the picture/sound quality is a bit fuzzy...can't the Huffington Post make it better??

[aigeanta]

Walgreens has a good selection of Burt's Bees, which are organic beauty products. I'm so leary of using anything that's not organic these days because they're all full of hormone-influencing chemicals.