As the weather changes, so should your skincare routine. Harsher and colder temperatures can dry your skin and leave you feeling brittle and chapped. However, you can take charge of your skin’s health and vitality with simple, natural home remedies and practices.
This winter, upgrade your skincare routine for better comfort and a brighter glow.
How Does Cold Weather Affect Your Skin?
Though it may look like a tundra outside, your winter skin can be its own desert of dry and cracked textures. A combination of cold temperatures and low humidity leaves no natural moisture in the air for your body to absorb.
Your skin is not ready for the sudden drop in moisture and cannot accommodate the change as winter begins. Without proper care, the dry skin could gain a red and itchy exterior.
The danger is not just outside, though. Unlike the natural humidity of summer days, indoor heating systems do not introduce moisture to the air. The immediate temperature changes from the harsh, freezing outdoors to the hot and dry inside also irritate and inflame the skin.
No one wants uncomfortable and irritated skin, but there are easy ways to nurture your features into wellness. Here’s how to care for your skin from fall to spring.
1. Moisturize Daily
One of the best ways to fight dryness is through moisturizing daily. Quality moisturizers form a protective barrier on your skin that can handle sudden temperature and humidity drops. Strengthening your skin with daily moisturizers also reduces the risk of windburn or irritation from cold weather.
People with both oily and dry skin should use moisturizer as it balances moisture levels, cutting down on blemishes and marks. When looking for a quality moisturizer to support your skin, look for cream-based and fragrance-free brands. The cream base is lighter, does not clog pores and traps much-needed moisture.
For a natural way to moisturize needy skin, try at-home remedies like sunflower seed oil or coconut oil. These options can cheaply and efficiently bring life into dry, chapped skin.
2. Care for Dryness
Cleaning is crucial to rejuvenating skin that comes into contact with germs and harsh winds in the winter. However, if done incorrectly, you could scrub away at a natural moisture-trapping barrier. Wash your limbs and torso daily with soap and water. These areas of your body are not as sensitive as the hands or face and usually can be cleansed as usual.
For those sensitive areas facing freezing temperatures throughout the day, the care needs to be more specialized. There are a few types of skin that categorize how your face traps or releases moisture — dry, oily, combination sensitive and acne-prone. Oily, acne-prone and combination skin types can research ways to reduce their oil production year-round, but dry skin is at particular risk in the winter.
Dry and sensitive skin often appears rough and red as it does not have the proper sebum levels to moisturize. People with sensitive or dry skin should gently exfoliate and cleanse so they start to reintroduce a natural barrier that can hold moisture.
3. Wash and Moisturize Your Hands
When it comes to skincare, don’t forget about your hands. Washing your hands is even more important during winter, as it helps protect you against colds and flu. Germs can live on your hands for up to 3 hours, so washing consistently is crucial.
However, constant hand washing combined with cold temperatures can lead to dry, cracked skin. Keep a gentle, moisturizing hand lotion with you wherever you go. Apply it after washing your hands, as well as before bed so your skin can soak it in overnight.
It is also important to use sunscreen on your hands, just as you use it on your face. Hands often become wrinkled and discolored faster than other areas, because many people don’t think about using SPF on their hands. Aloe is perfect for soothing and restoring your hands post-summer, as well as any other areas you may have gotten sunburned.
4. Exfoliate Effectively
The hydroxy acids inside many exfoliators dissolve dead skin cells, but this can also be damaging to sensitive skin. With this colder weather, you want to be more careful with the harshness of the ingredients in your products.
Explore homemade remedies and natural brands focusing on rejuvenating the skin with gentle ingredients. For example, DIY body scrubs can use at-home items to unclog pores and smooth skin. Windburn casts a burning redness across your face and hands, but the exfoliating power of ingredients like charcoal in these scrubs works to soothe and mask these damages.
Don’t forget about your lips. They need just as much care in the winter. To exfoliate, try using a toothbrush to gently brush away dead skin.
4. Transform Your Living Space
Another at-home change that improves the healthiness and appearance of your face and hands is the installation of a humidifier. These machines cast a thin mist across the air that moisturizes indoor spaces. When you are not getting vital moisture from the cold, unforgiving weather or the heating systems, humidifiers reintroduce the appropriate level for your skin.
5. Bundle Up
The proper clothing can save your skin the trouble of dry and harsh exposure. Some people find gloves inconvenient and clunky, but they keep your hands toasty and protected from windburn or dangers like frostbite.
Your neck is another part of your skin that needs protection in the winter. Wear a scarf to protect it and your face from the elements. Covering the face completely from snow or wind damage is hard, so try to limit your time outside in these cold months.
Rejuvenating Your Skin
Saving your skin from the cold can be as easy as looking through your medicine cabinet for everyday ingredients. Stay clear of harsh elements, create spaces that circulate moisture and always remember to moisturize and clean effectively for your skin type.
Avoid red, chapped and uncomfortable noses and fingers by treating your skin right this winter.
You might also like
Leave a reply