Hi Adrienne,

I used to have extremely dry shins that speckled my dark socks with white
flakes. My socks looked like they had a bad case of dandruff :-). When I
scratched my shins it would create a mini snow storm of dead skin flakes.
Skin lotion didn't help much, so I mostly ignored the problem. I had always
thought this was relatively normal until I cut the gluten and dairy out of
my diet and it cleared up completely (and I later adopted a Paleo diet,
which improved my overall health even more). Now I can't get a single
noticeable flake of skin to come off my shins when I scratch them. This is
just my experience, of course, and your mileage may vary.

If you are still experiencing very dry shins then something is off in your
body. It's not "normal" to have dry shins--at least not if we use
hunter-gatherers as the standard for "normal" instead of the average person
on the Standard American Diet (SAD)--though it's a sufficiently minor
problem that most people do what I used to do and basically ignore it. I
haven't followed this forum closely, so I don't know what you eat. If you've
cut out grains  but are still eating dairy you might want to try cutting out
the dairy. Most people here don't eat grains, but a significant number eat
dairy, so that's why I'm asking about that. 

Good luck,
Paleo Phil


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paleolithic Eating Support List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of The Odd Doll
> Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 11:23 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Paleo Solutions for Dry Shins???
> 
> Hi Adrienne,
> 
> I think that dry shins is fairly normal. I've had them since I was a
> teenager, as
> did some of my friends and acquaintances. I read once in that regard
> that the
> shins have the lowest number of sweat glands per square inch of any
> part of
> the body.
> 
> If you are using a lotion or cream on them, it helps to use it
> immediately after
> bathing, while the skin is still damp. This seals in the moisture and
> helps them
> stay comfortable all day.
> 
> Sorry, no paleo solution.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> Marianne