Ojalá mi piel no se secara tanto en invierno, porque el frío me molesta mucho.

Ojalá expresses a strong wish or hope. In this sentence, it means something like I wish or if only.

So:

• Ojalá mi piel no se secara tanto... = I wish my skin didn’t get so dry...

It is a very common word in Spanish for expressing wishes, and it usually triggers the subjunctive.

Because ojalá is followed by the subjunctive when you are expressing a wish.

Here, secara is the imperfect subjunctive of secarse.

Spanish uses the subjunctive after ojalá because the speaker is not stating a fact; they are expressing something desired, imagined, or contrary to reality.

Compare:

• Mi piel se seca mucho en invierno. = My skin gets very dry in winter.
  → factual statement, so indicative
• Ojalá mi piel no se secara tanto en invierno. = I wish my skin didn’t get so dry in winter.
  → wish, so subjunctive

This is a very common question.

After ojalá, Spanish often uses:

• present subjunctive for a hope seen as possible or future-oriented
  
  • Ojalá mi piel no se seque tanto este invierno.
  • I hope my skin doesn’t get so dry this winter.
• imperfect subjunctive for a wish that feels more hypothetical, less likely, or contrary to the current reality
  
  • Ojalá mi piel no se secara tanto en invierno.
  • I wish my skin didn’t get so dry in winter.

In your sentence, the speaker is talking about an ongoing problem and wishing reality were different. That is why the imperfect subjunctive fits well.

This is similar to English, where we also often use a past form for unreal wishes:

• I wish my skin didn’t get so dry.

Even though the meaning is about the present, the past form signals unreality.

In this sentence, the relevant verb is secarse.

• secar = to dry something
• secarse = to become dry / to dry out

Examples:

• El sol seca la ropa. = The sun dries the clothes.
• La piel se seca en invierno. = Skin gets dry in winter.

So mi piel no se secara means my skin wouldn’t get so dry.

The se here is important because the skin is not drying something else; it is itself becoming dry.

The se is part of the pronominal verb secarse.

Without se, secar is usually transitive:

• El aire seca la piel. = The air dries the skin.

With se, it means the subject itself becomes dry:

• La piel se seca. = The skin gets dry.

So:

• mi piel no se secara = my skin wouldn’t get so dry

This is one of many Spanish verbs that often change meaning when used with se.

Because tanto modifies the verb phrase, not an adjective or adverb directly.

Here:

• se secara tanto = would get so dry / would dry out so much

Use tan before adjectives or adverbs:

• tan seca = so dry
• tan rápidamente = so quickly

Use tanto with verbs to mean so much:

• Llueve tanto. = It rains so much.
• Me molesta tanto. = It bothers me so much.

In your sentence, the idea is my skin wouldn’t dry out so much, so tanto is correct.

Not naturally in this context.

If you want to talk about your skin becoming dry, Spanish normally uses secarse, not just secar.

So the natural options are:

• Ojalá mi piel no se seque tanto...
• Ojalá mi piel no se secara tanto...

Using mi piel no seque tanto without se would sound odd because secar usually means to dry something, not to become dry.

Mi piel is the normal, neutral way to say my skin.

Spanish usually prefers the possessive adjective before the noun:

• mi piel
• mi mano
• mi casa

La piel mía is grammatically possible in some contexts, but it is much less neutral and usually sounds emphatic or contrastive.

Also, notice that mi does not change for masculine/feminine:

• mi piel
• mi brazo

It only changes for number:

• mi piel
• mis manos

In Spanish, seasons are often used without the definite article after en, especially when speaking generally.

So:

• en invierno = in winter
• en verano = in summer

This is very natural when talking about general habits or repeated situations.

You may also hear en el invierno, but en invierno is more common and more neutral here.

Because this part gives a reason the speaker considers factual:

• porque el frío me molesta mucho = because the cold bothers me a lot

This is not a wish or doubt; it is presented as a real fact. So Spanish uses the indicative:

• molesta = present indicative

The subjunctive appears in the first part because of ojalá, but the reason clause after porque stays in the indicative because it describes something real.

Spanish often expresses this idea with the thing causing the discomfort as the subject:

• El frío me molesta.
  • literally: The cold bothers me

Structure:

• el frío = subject
• me = indirect object pronoun, to me
• molesta = bothers

This is a very common Spanish pattern:

• El ruido me molesta. = The noise bothers me.
• La luz me molesta. = The light bothers me.

In English, we often prefer:

• The cold bothers me
• I’m very bothered by the cold
• The cold really irritates me

But the Spanish structure is completely normal.

Because Spanish normally uses an object pronoun with verbs like molestar, gustar, interesar, etc.

So:

• me molesta = it bothers me
• te molesta = it bothers you
• le molesta = it bothers him/her/you

You can add a mí for emphasis or contrast:

• A mí me molesta mucho el frío, pero a mi hermano no.
  = The cold bothers me a lot, but not my brother.

In your sentence, there is no need for emphasis, so me molesta mucho is the natural form.

Yes, possibly, depending on the nuance.

• secarse = to get dry
• resecarse = to get very dry / dried out

So:

• Ojalá mi piel no se secara tanto... = neutral and very natural
• Ojalá mi piel no se resecara tanto... = more specifically I wish my skin didn’t get so dried out

If the speaker wants to stress uncomfortable dryness, resecarse is often a very good choice.

Both are correct forms of the imperfect subjunctive:

• secara
• secase

In modern Spanish, especially in everyday speech, the -ra form is much more common:

• Ojalá mi piel no se secara tanto...

The -se form is also correct, but it can sound more formal, literary, or less common depending on the speaker and region:

• Ojalá mi piel no se secase tanto...

In Spain, both are understood perfectly, but secara is the more usual choice here.

Yes, that would be ungrammatical after ojalá.

After ojalá, you need the subjunctive, not the indicative:

• ❌ Ojalá mi piel no está...
• ✅ Ojalá mi piel no esté...
• ✅ Ojalá mi piel no se secara tanto...

Also, estar seca and secarse are slightly different in focus:

• estar seca = to be dry, describing the state
• secarse = to become dry / get dry, describing the process or tendency

So if you wanted a version with estar, you might say:

• Ojalá mi piel no estuviera tan seca en invierno.
  = I wish my skin weren’t so dry in winter.

That is a little different from:

• Ojalá mi piel no se secara tanto en invierno.
  = I wish my skin didn’t get so dry in winter.

Yes. In normal usage, el frío can refer to:

• the cold
• cold weather
• cold temperatures

So here it naturally means that cold conditions are very unpleasant for the speaker.

Spanish often uses el + adjective/noun in a broad, general way:

• el calor = heat / hot weather
• el frío = cold / cold weather

So the phrase is not limited to the abstract concept of cold; it can refer to the actual weather conditions in winter.