Wintertime dryness can affect your skin, hair, respiratory system, and even your furniture! It’s a real issue for a lot of people, especially those of us who live in arid or semiarid climates. In today’s post, I’ll be sharing some simple solutions to the issues of wintertime dryness!
But before we get to those solutions, it’s important to understand why dry air is so problematic! So here’s a quick overview of the problems that dry air can cause, and some of the benefits you can experience by adding more moisture to the air in your home.
The Problem(s) With Dry Air
Having central heating in your home is a convenient way to keep it warm, but it isn’t without its problems! That warm air coming out of your vents is bone-dry, and the more you rely on that warm air to heat your home, the drier all the air in your home becomes.
Being constantly exposed to extra-dry can dry out your skin, leading to itchiness, flakiness, and even painful cracking. (Ouch!) It also contributes to staticky hair, both in humans and animals. Once these issues emerge, it’s really hard to eliminate them without tackling the source of the problem—the overly-dry air!
The Benefits Of Humidity In Your Home
Aside from keeping your skin moisturized and reducing staticky hair issues, there are plenty of other benefits to increasing the humidity in your home. Here are a few examples:
- Improvement of skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis
- Fewer nosebleeds
- Healthier hair
- Less snoring
- Relief from sinus conditions
- Happier and healthier houseplants
- Longer lasting wood floors and furniture
- …and more!
Using a humidifier is a great way to add more moisture to the air in your home. You can find many affordable models online these days, and they’re really easy to operate! It’s important to note that it’s best to use distilled water in any humidifier, to help prevent bacteria from growing in the tank or machine. (And it’s even more important to use distilled water if anyone in your home suffers from allergies!)
Related: How To Clean Your Humidifier, And Why It’s So Important
But even if you don’t want to buy a humidifier right now, there are other ways to add more moisture to the air in your home! Check out these 6 simple ways to humidify your home (without using an actual humidifier).
6 Ways To Add Moisture To The Air Without A Humidifier
1. Hang Your Clothes To Dry
Hang your clothes up to dry on a drying rack, over the back of a chair, or anywhere you have extra space. Your damp clothes will add moisture to the air as it evaporates, and you’ll save energy from not having to run the dryer. (And as an added bonus, it will make your house smell like clean laundry too!)
2. Take A Bath
The next time you finishing a relaxing soak in the tub, don’t drain the water right away. Instead, allow the water to cool off and leave the bathroom door open. The steaming water will add moisture to the air as it cools! (Make sure to put a safety gate in the bathroom doorway to keep small children and pets from falling in the tub!)
3. Cook On Your Stovetop
While cooking in your oven can dry out the air even more, cooking on your stovetop can moisturize the air! It can also warm up your house too (or at least the kitchen.) Simmer a big pot of soup on your stovetop for a few hours to really take advantage of this effect!
4. Put Out Bowls Of Water
Even a bowl or a vase full of water can help humidify your home. Leave them out on a sunny windowsill, and the evaporating water will help add moisture to the air. And if you have a radiator, setting an oven-safe bowl full of water on top of it can be really effective!
5. Get More Houseplants
Ever heard of “transpiration?” It’s the process by which moisture evaporates from the leaves and stems of plants. And transpiration can help increase the humidity in your home! Add a few more houseplants to your living areas for more moisturized air (and plenty of other benefits too—check out the post below for more details!)
Related: The Breathtaking Benefits Of Houseplants
6. Use A Stove Steamer
If you have a wood burning stove, all you need is a cast iron steamer pot to add more moisture to the air! You can find decorative ones like this online, or you can check out your local farm supply store to see what they have to offer. All you have to do is fill the cast iron steamer with water and place it on the top of your stove. As the water heats up, it will produce steam that will moisturize the air!
How do you deal with dry air during the winter?