Can I ask a dumb question?

[Natasha]

I'm trying to understand the difference on the skin between dry heat and humid heat/ or air.
Example:
Is it better for your skin to live in Arizona or Texas ..say Houston?
Thanks.

 

[jbd]

ask a "dumb" question if you don't mind getting a dumb answer

My observations over the years are that two things are really bad for your skin. Too much sun and smoking. According to my old chemistry professor another bad thing for skin which mostly affects women is the use of all the creams and lotions etc etc that are used to moisturize your skin. As I recall he said that it eventually degrades your bodies natural ability to hydrate the skin. His recommendation was to keep yourself well hydrated with good old plain water.

Also there was something about the moisturizing creams and lotions over hydrating the cells to the point that they got baggy without the lotions etc.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

As you know the body sweats (glistens for you ladies) to cool itself. In dry heat that sweat evaporates very quickly thus providing a very efficient cooling mechanism. In higher dry heat and long exposure you can end up with salt crystals on the skin and salt stains on your shirts. This is not a problem in Houston.

In wet sticky heat (Houston) the sweat does not evaporate. You just end up sitcky wet. I don't know that one is better for the skin than the other.

I imagine dry heat would dry the skin. It gets really dry in North Texas in the winter, coupled with the dry air inside from an electric heater, and my daughters skin gets extremely dry and chapped.

TwoBit

 

[Dee]

Natasha once bubbled...
I'm trying to understand the difference on the skin between dry heat and humid heat/ or air.
Example:
Is it better for your skin to live in Arizona or Texas ..say Houston?
Thanks.

Let's take this to the kitchen.....

In Arizona, your skin is going to bake and dehydrate just like a piece of jerky....dry, tough and wrinkled.

In Houston, your skin is going to steam and sweat just like a plump link of sausage....moist, soft and smooth.

You're gonna like it here....really!

 

[wreckchick]

After spending 5 weeks in Belize last summer, 4 weeks in the interior where the humidity exceeds that of my lovely Ohio and I would put a wager on it being more humid than Houston, my skin looked better than it probably ever has.

I vote humid.

Rachel

 

[raviepoo]

I had a job several years ago that had me spending several months (a week at a time) in Arizona. That was the year I was introduced to moisturizer. I had never needed it before, but in Arizon, my skin fell right off of my body.

My skin always does MUCH better in humid air. If I take a trip to a warm, wet, dive resort in the middle of winter, I can put the shea butter away until after I return to the dry, heated indoor air of NY.

 

[The Chairman]

as a good ol' Florida Steam Bath, followed by a refreshing dunk in the springs to wash all of the grime off. Sumthin' in spring water just makes your hair and skin feel great too!!! :tease:

 

[ScubaTexan]

biscuit7 once bubbled...
After spending 5 weeks in Belize last summer, 4 weeks in the interior where the humidity exceeds that of my lovely Ohio and I would put a wager on it being more humid than Houston, my skin looked better than it probably ever has.

I've never been anywhere that was more humid than Houston...not even Cozumel.

 

[Epinephelus]

According to all the Docs I've ever asked over the years, the humidity is a distant second to the sun. There are plenty of youngsters (anyone under 50) around here (LA.. Lower Alabama.. Florida panhandle) who're virtual prunes from their teenage "professional" suntanning episodes, and the humidity here is at least as high as Houston. (COZ ain't even in the same league with the SE U.S.)
Given the same sun exposure, I'd bet a more humid atmosphere would be better - but the big deal is to forego the "deep" tan and stay out of the direct sunlight as much as possible.
Personally, I prefer loose fitting longsleeve white cotton shirts and long white cotton trousers to any kind of sunscreen.
E. itajara

 

[mikeh]

Is it better for your skin to live in Arizona or Texas ..say Houston?

Since one must live within one's skin, it is obviously better to live in Arizona. Here, we understand that water belongs on or under the ground, as opposed to floating in the air, or worse, falling from it. Houston however has it backwards, most of the moisture is to be found -above- the ground where we, as divers, understand it to be utterly useless. This frustration with all that useless moisture leads to discomfort and depression. No one should have to live like that, not even Texans..