Itchy Skin
Causes & Tips
What Causes
Itchy Skin?
- Dry Skin:One of the leading itchy skin causes, especially in colder months. When your skin loses moisture, it can become tight, flaky, and irritated, leading to persistent itching.
- Allergies:Seasonal allergies, food sensitivities, or reactions to certain skincare products can trigger itching. Your skin may react to pollen, dust, or even specific ingredients in soaps or lotions. If you’re experiencing persistent or severe itching, it’s important to seek professional medical advice.
- Skin Conditions:Conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and hives can cause itchy, inflamed skin. These conditions may need special treatment to soothe and repair your skin and provide long‑lasting itchy skin treatment.
- Infections:Fungal infections, bacterial infections, or even viruses like chickenpox can lead to intense itching. It’s important to talk to your doctor about the treatment of these illnesses.
- Environmental Factors:Exposure to harsh weather, such as extreme heat or cold, can make your skin dry and itchy. Similarly, too much sun exposure or chlorinated water can leave your skin feeling irritated.
Itchy skin
at night?
The technical term used for itchy skin at night is nocturnal pruritus, which can be very uncomfortable to deal with – so much so that you can have sleepless nights over it. Causes for itchy skin at night can be split into:
- Natural causes
- Medical causes
Several medical conditions lead to itchy skin at night. However, it’s important to see your GP before you decide this is the cause and try to treat it yourself. The medical conditions include skin diseases (such as eczema), bugs (scabies, lice or bedbugs), kidney disease or liver disease, anaemia, thyroid problems, leukaemia or lymphoma or even nerve disorders.
Your mind can in fact be one of the many itchy skin causes. The feeling of itchy skin at night can intensify because during the day you’re usually busy and more distracted from the sensation, whereas at night your mind can fixate on the itchy feeling, making it seem worse than it is.
For Itchy Skin
There are different ways to help itchy skin, and some simple tips can even be put into practice at home. For an instant itchy skin remedy, we recommend you apply a cool, wet compress to the itchy area. A hand towel with cold water for 5 to 10 minutes can be very effective as a remedy for itchy skin all over.
If your skin tends to be dry, this can also cause itching. In this case, your first step should be to moisturise your skin. We recommend you use a long‑lasting moisturiser or lotion that offers intensive care, such as NIVEA Rich Nourishing Body Lotion.
If your skin is itchy and dry due to over‑exposure to the sun, then we recommend you apply an after‑sun moisturiser with Aloe Vera such as our Moisturising After Sun Lotion. This will provide instant relief and moisturise skin for up to 48 hours.
*Instrumental test, 54 volunteers
The NIVEA Repair & Care Fragrance-Free Body Lotion
for Dry Skin
Discover the NIVEA Repair & Care Fragrance-Free Body Cream, which relieves 5 signs of dry and sensitive skin: dryness, itching, redness, tightness and irritation. With Glycerine, Provitamin B5 and Ceramide, its hypoallergenic formula with a non‑greasy texture soothes feelings of irritation from the very first application, while reinforcing the skin barrier.
Whether you’re dealing with tightness, flakiness or persistent dryness, the NIVEA Repair & Care range works to help restore comfort and resilience and can be part of your daily itchy skin treatment routine.
A word from our expert:
“Several ingredients and treatments are known to help relieve skin itchiness,” explains Marcus Favaro, Lab Manager in Formula Development at NIVEA Body. “Moisturising agents such as Glycerine, Panthenol, Allantoin, Ceramides and Hydrogenated Lecithin work by hydrating the skin and soothing irritation caused by dryness or conditions like eczema.”
