Winter weather is tough on your skin. Outside, cooler temperatures coupled with plunging humidity levels result in dry air which draws moisture from your skin. Inside, heat and hot showers continue the barrage further stealing the moisture your skin needs. You can counter winter’s effects, reduce itching, redness, cracking, chapping and keep your skin healthy, hydrated, and smooth with these tips to keep your skin glowing all winter long.
Protect Your Skin
Though you are reminded all summer long, it is easy to forget that your skin also needs protection in winter. Temperatures are down in winter, but the sun’s damaging rays can be just as harsh. Apply your favorite safe sunscreen when you’ll be out enjoying bright winter days. On windy, rainy, or even snowy days, you’ll want to wear your gloves and wrap a scarf around your face for protection of exposed areas.
Hydrate Your Skin
Drinking lots of water is easy in summer when the temperatures are hot, but in winter, water gets abandoned in favor of hot beverages like coffee, tea, cocoa, or cider. The thing is your skin needs hydration all year long and winter is no exception. So, enjoy your hot beverages, but keep drinking your water to keep you skin supple and hydrated. You can also get the needed hydration from foods with high water contents. Snack on water laden fruits like melons, apples, citrus fruits, kiwi, and enjoy vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, celery, and squashes.
Add Nutrients, Avoid Toxins
During winter, make sure you are getting the nutrients your skin needs to stay healthy, hydrated, and soft. Vitamin C, found in citrus fruits, kale, strawberries, broccoli and more as well as zinc predominant in shellfish, meat, poultry, legumes, nuts, seeks and the like, help your skin produce the needed elastin and collagen. Omega-3s (flaxseed, chia seed, walnuts, salmon, spinach) provide your skin the nutrients needed to stay supple and smooth all winter long.
Winter skin is more sensitive and fragile, avoid toxins and irritants like rough fabrics (wool comes to mind), harsh detergents and cleaners. Stick with mild cleansers which hydrate. When you cleanse your skin, quickly add sensitive skin moisturizers to seal in much needed moisture.
Wash and Moisturize
In winter, as much as you want a hot shower or bath, you should choose lukewarm water as often as possible. While harder to accomplish in the bath or shower, lukewarm is easier for face and hand washing. Just remember, hot water strips away natural oils that keep skin moisturized.
Whether washing only your hands or your entire body, moisturize your skin immediately while damp to seal in added moisture. Choose a moisturizer with all natural, skin nourishing ingredients in an oil-based formula, without petroleum additives (which dry out winter skin). Look for healthful ingredients like jojoba, lavender, and chamomile. By keeping your favorite moisturizer by the tub, shower, and sinks in your home, you can easily moisturize after you wash.
While on the subject, super dry areas – hands, elbows, feet, and knees – need more moisture than other areas. Try overnight moisturizing with a natural deep moisturizing product for these trouble spots. Once applied, put on cotton gloves and socks to help seal in the needed moisture.
Humidify Your Home
Some home heating systems have humidifiers built in, but if yours doesn’t, consider installing one in your home. You can have a humidifier added to your heating system or add smaller units to the rooms in your home. Humidifiers will add moisture into the air in your home to keep your skin from drying out.
