Skin Care in Winter

O, wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
~Percy Bysshe Shelley
Winter season can be extremely stressful for our skin due to winds and cold temperatures outside as well as drying-low humidity resulting from heating inside.

What exactly happens to our skin in winter:

• When you are outside, the cold temperatures result in a poor blood circulation in your facial skin. As a result your skin does not get enough nutrients and oxygen and all the healthy, regenerative processes in your skin slow down. As a result, skin looses its healthy color and becomes dull or pale
• When you are inside, your skin is losing its moisture due to the dry environment created by indoor heating. As a result, it feels tight, dry and can start flaking.
• When you shift between the cold outside and the warm and dry inside environments the difference is so big and stressful for your skin that your skin naturally cannot balance itself quickly enough. This results in loss of hydration, irritation, widened capillaries and redness. All of the above mentioned contributes to your skin’s misbalance, stress, sensitivity and dryness.

To keep your skin beautiful and healthy during winter you should:

• help it to restore the protective hydrolipid barrier
• protect and balance your skin
• moisturize, moisturize and again moisturize
• provide protection against UV-light

The first step is to rethink your skin care routine and skin care products you normally use.

1. Go Easier on daily cleansing and alcohol containing skin care in the winter
   Since extreme weather weakens skin’s balance and protective lipid barrier, you need to save your skin the additional stress of an intensive cleansing routine that will only worsen the situation. Choose a lighter non-stripping cleansing solution: cleansing milk or mild foaming cleanser.
   If you are using a tonic with alcohol on a daily basis it is better to stop for winter or substitute it with a non-alcohol toning product. Remember, alcohol strips skin of lipids, natural protective oils and contributes to skin’s dryness and increased sensitivity.
2. Peel Deal:
   If you are a fan of daily peeling products, it is advisable to change your routine for winter and to do a maximum of 2-3 peelings per week. Peeling your skin surface on a daily basis does not let it restore its protective lipid barrier and balance itself. It becomes more susceptible to free radical damage and even to break-outs.
   If you notice that your skin has become very dry, sensitive or even started flaking, exclude moisturizers, serums etc containing peeling ingredients such Retinol, AHAs and Glucosamine.
3. Go Heavier on Moisturizer:
   Moisturizers are mostly based on 3 types of ingredients: humectants, emollients, occlusive (very often emollients have occlusive properties as well).
   Humectants, such as hyaluronic acid or urea, keep our skin moisturized by attracting water to its surface (epidermis). Humectants help to attract moisture from the environment as well as from dermis to epidermis.
   Emollients like petroleum or shea butter soften, soothe the skin, increase its ability to retain moisture and create a protective layer on the skin to prevent it from dehydration.
   Occlusive ingredients in moisturizers provide protective layer on the skin’s surface to prevent it from loosing moisture.
   Humectants-based products are usually recommended for oily and combination skin types, while emollient-based and occlusive-based ones for normal and dry types. However, in winter our skin type often shifts. Oily skin becomes normal, while normal displays signs of being dry, and dry skin becomes very sensitive and often irritated.
   Look for heavier moisturizing products to use in winter with such ingredients as jelly, silicons, evening primrose oil, shea butter, almond oil or revitalising red algae extract which improves hydration of the skin and revitalises the skin by maximising cell metabolism, helping restructure tissue and regenerate collagen. Some skin care specialists suggest using protective emollient-based skin care products for the day and humectants-based at night to help restore your skins’ moisture level.
4. Timing is Important:
   Apply your moisturizer at least 30 minutes to an hour before going outside. This is especially true if your moisturizer is humectants-based or has high water content. If you do not let your moisturizer penetrate and get absorbed by the skin it can freeze into micro ice particles on your skin’s surface or dramatically cool down your skin surface when you go into the cold winter day.
5. Hot Bubbly Escapes:
   It is not recommended to have prolonged hot showers or long hot baths in winter. The fact is that the latter do not add to the moisture level of our skin but on the contrary take away the protecting lipid and fat layers and contribute to skin’s dehydration. When you shower make sure the water is not too hot and use shower milk that contains oils and emollients. If you are a fan of bubble baths as a way to escape the winter blues make sure to add moisturizing oils to the baths and apply a moisturizing body product afterwards.
6. Nobody Cancelled Sun Protection for Winter!
   In winter the sun’s reflective powers on the snow can be higher than on the sand of a beach in the summer. Use sun protection if you walk outside to prevent UV damage and photoaging. We don’t have to remind you but your sun protection should not be lower than 15 SPF, of course.
7. Say No to Chapped Lips and Dry Hands
   Usually lips and hands suffer most during the winter season. Lips get sore and chapped and hands get dry and flaky.For your lips, choose a thicker moisturizer with shea butter, jojoba butter OR avocado oil, annuus( Sunflower) seed oil and apply it every time before going outside as well as before going to bed. Some protective and moisturizing lip care products are available as tinted glosses or balms.
   Take special care of your hands since skin on the hands is thinner than on the rest of the body. In addition, hands are often exposed to stressful or stripping factors like soaps, winds, water etc. And finally, it is a known fact that hands are among the first to show signs of aging. Choose a rich emollient-based hand care product with glicerin, lanolin or mango butter and treat your hands to a mask two times a week.
   What else can you do?
8. Humidify:
   Home or office environments in winter can get very dry due to heating. Your skin starts to feel tight and burning from dehydration. Increase the humidity level indoors by using a humidifier. Alternatively, several house plants can balance out humidity level in the environment.
9. Vitamins and Antioxidants:
   Help your skin to regain its energy and strength in winter by taking an antioxidant supplement. Most important antioxidants for the skin are Vitamin C, B, E, Zink and Magnesium
10. Express Winter Facial:
    Give yourself a mini-facial at home once or twice a week. Cleanse your skin. Use a mild exfoliating product selected for your skin type. Take a soft fluffy towel and soak it in warm water (not hot but not cool either). Add 2-3 drops of an essential aroma oil such as lavender oil to sooth, de-stress and refresh the skin. Press the towel to your face and inhale 3-4 times slowly and deeply to let the oil do its aroma work. This will stimulate blood circulation as well. For a stronger effect you can repeat the procedure one more time. Apply a hydrating and soothing mask or regeneration mask for 10-15 minutes. Make sure the room where you are having your mini-facial is comfortably warm. The mask on your face should not cool down to a level stressful for your skin. Take off the mask and apply your daily moisturizer with massaging movements. Direct the movements from the center of your face outward and a bit upward. Finish up by slightly tapping with your fingertips all over your face. This express facial will stimulate blood circulation, give your skin energy, restore its balance and help it regain its healthy radiance.
11. Stay Active:
    Do not give in to winter blues. Do your daily fitness routine! This keeps you fit and stimulates blood circulation in your whole body and of course your skin.

When winter sets in, instinct tells us to hunker down and crank up the heat. But this quest for warmth brings on another set of problems. Not only does the air outside parch our skin, indoor heating toasts it dry. “As the temperature drops, so does humidity,” says Valori Treloar, M.D., founder of Integrative Dermatology in Newton, Massachusetts, and coauthor of “The Clear Skin Diet.” “So winter air literally sucks moisture from your skin.” Add a penchant for long, hot showers that wash away protective oils, and you’ve got a recipe for dryness and flakes.
Your strategy for a healthy winter glow starts from within. “Irrigate it from the inside,” says “Anti-Aging Therapy” author Ping Zhang, Ph.D., a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner. That means drinking more caffeine-free fluids, including water, fruit juice, and herbal teas. But even the best-nourished skin needs help, and that’s where creams, balms, and oils come in. Packed with the planet’s richest moisturizers and most powerful soothers, these products leave skin radiant and ready for anything winter throws its way.

Face
The problem
Dry, cold air batters your exposed face, causing inflammation, redness, and sensitivity.
Solutions
Use a mild, milky cleanser, since detergents in soap strip skin of protective natural oils, says Treloar. With your skin slightly damp, moisturize with a thick cream at night and a lighter lotion in the morning. Look for facial products with anti-inflammatory herbs like calendula, and avoid ones with alcohol and synthetic preservatives, fragrances, and coloring, as these can cause dryness and irritation. Exfoliate with a natural scrub (like sugar) to slough off dull skin, and use a hydrating mask once or twice a week.

Lips
The problem
Thin skin and lack of oil leaves lips naturally dry and extra vulnerable. Seasonal congestion often forces you to breathe through your mouth, which leads to chapping. Licking your lips when they’re dry makes matters worse, since evaporating saliva can cause cracks.
Solutions
Before going outside or hitting the sack, apply a waxy balm to lock in moisture and protect against evaporation, advises Treloar. By day, use a creamy or oily lip treatment with mainly edible ingredients (since you’ll be ingesting much of what you put on your lips). Avocado, olive, or soybean soften and soothe, while vitamin A-rich shea butter promotes healing.

Body
The problem
Long, hot showers and harsh soaps zap natural moisture that’s already in short supply due to the weather. Heavily perfumed fabric softeners and chemical-laden laundry detergents clinging to your clothes can also aggravate parched skin.
Solutions
Take warm rather than hot showers, and use a mild body wash with soothing ingredients like aloe vera. After patting your skin dry (never rub), apply a thick moisturizer such as shea butter while skin is still damp to seal in moisture. (Edible oils like coconut and organic olive oil work, too.) Use fragrance- and dye-free laundry detergents and avoid fabric softeners. Ease intense itching with a cool compress.

Hands and Feet
The problem
Exposure to the elements, coupled with frequent washing to ward off seasonal germs, leaves hands dry and chapped. Boot-clad feet end up cracked and sore — and the closed environment provides a hospitable place for fungus to grow.
Solutions
Always pat hands dry and apply hand cream after washing them; wear gloves when you do the dishes. For intensive treatment, use heavy creams containing glycerine or shea butter before going to bed to help repair cracks. For feet, try a balm with peppermint or tea tree oil at night to fight fungus, and cover your feet with cotton socks. Zhang also recommends soaking feet in an Epsom salt solution once a week.

Winter Skin Care
Tips for Glowing Winter Skin
Dry air, arctic temperatures and icy unforgiving winds unleash an unholy beating on our tender skin during the Winter months. During the Summer, the climate is such that the air is able to hold more moisture, which to a degree, is absorbed by our skin. Cold air is unable to hold moisture, and that coupled with the drying effects of indoor heating, our skin is unable to replenish itself and begins to feel tight and flakey.

Have no fear, help is near with these simple tips:

Revitalize Your Skin Care Routine
As explained above, climactic conditions during the Winter months are such that your skin will be exposed to dryer, harsher conditions. You will therefore need to alter your skin care regimen to include nourishing and hydrating elements. Your goal is to restore a healthy balance of vitamins, trace elements, and mineral salts to your skin.

Moisturizing Musts
Outside of the information that will follow, perhaps one of the most important moisturizing tips we can give you is to “moisturize from the inside out””. That means, drink lots of water!
Avoid the use of toner and other drying alcohol based products.
Cleanse with a nourishing milky cleanser, and try to avoid soap which may also be drying.
Invest in a good eye cream.
Upgrade to a heavy-duty moisturizer. (with peach milk or hemp oil, soya and rapeseed oil, borege oil, shea butter)
Look into products that contain anti-oxidants like Vitamins A and E to help combat free radicals.
Try adding a little light moisturizer to your foundation to provide added hydration throughout the day.
Apply moisturizers and lotions to the face and body within 3 minutes of stepping out the shower – this practice will assist in trapping water in the upper layers of the skin.
Use products that contain Vitamin E for it’s rich nourishing and healing properties.
Be regimented in moisturizing heals, hands and elbows.
Don’t neglect your lips!
Exfoliation is important throughout the year, but particularly important during the cooler months. Winter exfoliants should be gentle, with the goal of “polishing” the skin to rid it of dead cells and uncover a fresh face that feels smooth and soft.

Body exfoliation can be preformed just before, or during your shower with a mitt or body brush. Not only does this practice remove dead cells, it also stimulates healthy blood flow. Just be careful to keep your showers and baths to a relative temperature as hot water can have an extremely drying effect on your skin.

Exfoliation is recommended at least twice a week.