Baby, it's cold outside! Winter is upon us, and the elements are as imposing as blazing hot sun is in summer. Beside the winter blues, one of the most common ailments that might attack these days is Cheilitis. Sounds horrid but alas, I'm talking about skin. From babies who suck their thumbs and youngsters who play outdoors to adults dealing with winter, chapped lips, chapped hands, and sometimes cracked fingers are just part of enduring an Indiana winter.

So what's the answer? Although there are a myriad of creams, lotions, and potions on the market today, I've been investigating time-honored remedies. In olden days, goose grease was a common ointment. Others would coat affected skin with glycerin and then wear cotton gloves. I saw a recipe for honey and lard, perfect ingredients for chapped skin. Deer tallow or buffalo fat were other greases applied to hands. One old-timer liked to slather pure butter on the skin, while another mother suggested a poultice of ground oatmeal and butter for her baby's chapped thumb -- completely natural.

Among the herbal remedies I found were applying the paper skin of an onion to sore lips and wrapping large dock leaves around chapped legs. A variety of concoctions were made with chicken fat and parsley, mutton (lamb) tallow and rosewater, buffalo tallow or possum fat, beeswax mixed with resin and tallow or turpentine, and sweet oil to help skin feel soft and encourage healing. Other early recipes included equal parts yellowroot, goldenseal, and elderbark simmered in lard. Folk remedies suggested that washing hands in the first snow of the season would prevent chapping.

So how can we best deal with winter's challenges to skin? Lip balms, lipstick and lip gloss keep lips hydrated. For hands, apply moisturizers before hands are completely dry. Thick creams and beeswax ointments are more effective than lotions. For extra help on hands and feet, clean, exfoliate, moisturize with Vaseline or intense creams, cover with socks or cotton gloves for a healing overnight treatment.

There are perfectly satisfactory natural options as well. Rub lips with slices of cucumber or try aloe vera gel. Applying honey, a natural healer, to lips and following with Vaseline is a good 10-minute regimen. Then remove the excess with a soft, damp cloth. One more treatment possibility is to use 100% pure sweet almond oil and enough sugar to make a paste. Dip a soft brush (toothbrush) and soft scrub your lips. Then apply a lip balm.

For hands and feet try olive oil. You may want to rub apple cider vinegar on them first. Coconut oil is being touted today as healing oil. It goes on greasy but doesn't stay that way, plus it is all natural. Bag balm is also another ointment proclaimed as a cure-all. A mix of grape seed and olive oil, shea butter, and even mayonnaise are still other natural treatments. A good exfoliating scrub for dry hands is petroleum jelly mixed with sugar; rub briskly on hands and then rinse to soften skin.

As we go through these winter paces, we need only to remind ourselves that this cold too will pass and spring will come again. Even now we're gaining minutes of daylight each day so take care and look forward with anticipation.