October's sunny days highlight crystal blue skies and mid-seventy-degree highs.  Its crisp evening air is ideal for sleeping.  Perfect weather?  Maybe for fall fashion, but certainly not for beauty!    

As summer's stronghold on frizzy hair and sticky clothing slips away, noticeably missing is humidity's main (if only) beauty benefit:  glistening, vibrant skin.  It's a fact:  dry air brings dry skin.  And, although trees shedding their glorious, colorful leaves may be beautiful, flakes cascading from dry skin are not!  Arm yourself with the best topical products for your skin from Dr. Yagoda's monthly Top Ten Picks (but don't forget that topicals only cover up damage), and count on BeautyScoop to  correct and repair damage from within.      

8 SKINteresting Facts about Dry Skin, 2011 

1. It affects nearly 200 million people in the Americas and Caribbean alone, and approximately 1.75 billion people world wide.
2. It bothers 30% of adolescents with acne, 40% of healthy individuals under age 40, 75% of people over age 65, and nearly everyone over the age of 80.
3. Dry skin is exacerbated by harsh environmental conditions.
4. It is triggered by common beauty regimens such as routine hair coloring, straightening and perming, and regular manicures.
5. It is associated with certain physiologic and medical conditions such as menopause, HIV disease, thyroid disorders, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis and polycystic ovary disease.      
6. It is easy easy to confuse dry skin (tight skin with tiny pores) with dehydrated skin (dull and flaky).
7. Skin is usually driest on the lower legs, arms and sides of the abdomen.
8. An estimated 14 billion dollars will be spent on remedies by consumers in the year 2014.