What should be worn with an extremely dry skin?

Written in partnership with Dr. Clarence De BELILOVSKY, dermatologist & member of the Mustela experts' circle.

Choose the right clothes To feel comfortable, your child needs to start by wearing comfortable clothes. Care must be taken from birth onwards to ensure daily comfort and extremely dry skin symptoms.

All clothing - t-shirts, trousers, tops, dresses, sleepsuits, etc. - must be soft and not too warm.

Anything that irritates the skin or makes your child sweat will create itchiness which is best avoided for extremely dry skin.

So it’s better to:

- Choose fabrics which are pleasant to the touch, smooth and pliable. Cotton, linen, silk, and hemp are ideal because they are thin and let the air through.

- Avoid itchy fabrics like wool. Even if it is the most natural of fabrics and the best for warmth, its texture can be rough and irritate your child’s skin.

- Avoid synthetic fabrics like polyester or acrylic. Even if they feel soft and cuddly, they do not absorb sweat and don’t let the skin breathe. Lastly, to help minimize irritation or hot flushes, avoid turtlenecks and choose loose-fitting clothes.

Clothes washing So how can you make sure that your child is warm enough in winter without wearing wool for instance? Don’t hesitate to layer clothes. A bodysuit or thermal underwear, a thick cotton t-shirt, a velvet vest… use your imagination to mix and match and reduce your child’s itchiness! Should you use a special washing powder? Not really. It is the rinsing that is important.

A good washing program should ensure this.

If in doubt, it is better to be safe than sorry and run the cycle again before taking the laundry out of the machine.

And even if you are lucky enough to be able to dry clothes outside, you should still hang your child’s clothes inside to avoid getting pollen on the fabric.