Winter Skin Series: December
“If you wouldn’t wear a tank top in winter, why would you keep your summer moisturizer all year long? It’s your skin’s sweater.”
It is brisk this time of year, and our skin takes the brunt of it! Do you notice that your skin gets really dry? So dry that it can look scaly like the picture to the left? Well don’t fret, I am here to tell you that no you are not aging before your eyes, your skin is just suffering the Winter Dry Skin Blues. Dry air both outdoors and inside overly dry our skin out.
Dehydrated skin has a crepe-like look to it, making it look older or aged. Keeping your skincare routine up to date with what’s going on in the weather around you will help not only the appearance of dry skin, but also will aid in overall body health. Your skin is your first layer of defense from the outside world, so put a sweater on it already!
What is it about winter that dries us out so bad? Firstly, during winter month the arctic temperatures reigns supreme. No matter how oily your skin is or how much water you drink, cold weather dries skin out. Think chapped lips while skiing, or frost bitten skin in any movie about winter months (my personal favorite being that scene in The Shining when Jack Nicholson’s character is frozen to death). The other extreme from the weather outside, is the weather inside. We crank up the heaters, light fireplaces and do anything we can to get warmer. Artificial heat draws water out of the air, drying us out topically resulting in dry skin. Fireplaces can cause other issues than dryness, more like what particles get into the air, those particles can get on your skin and create issues like irritation and damages to your acid mantle. Another thing we change when the weather is cold outside is the water temprature we use. Using too hot of water dries out your skin topically, so make sure you’re using tepid or room temprature water more often than extra hot water.
Everything in life Iis about balance, and the same is true for your choices when it comes to body care, skin care and what you put in your body. This blog won’t magically transform your life to one of balance and ease, but it may help keep your skin balanced until the sun comes out again.
Choosing skincare with ingredients that nourish, hydrate or support the flora and fauna of your skin’s upper layers are going to be key during colder, winter months. These 5 ingredients are not only helpful to treat weather stressed skin, but also dry skin in general.
Shea Butter
This odd little nut is kinda well known for it’s hydrating and skin soothing properties. Did you also know that it is anti-inflammatory? That makes this a gem for winter skin as it can hydrate and calm down irritation. Great for the whole body, you can commonly find this ingredient in facial moisturizer formulations. I don’t really recommend making your own moisturizer with this as it can be too heavy for the wrong skin, sometimes its ok to trust the scientists who are making your skincare.
Aloe Vera
Great for a more oilier skin type, this ingredient has numerous properties, even being called “the plant of immortality” by the Ancient Egyptians. This ingredient is fast-absorbing and doesn’t leave skin with a greasy feel after. You can either use a product with this in the formulation, or use the juice straight from the plant itself. This is somethig I recommend for sunburns along with coconut oil as it is so great for calming irritation. Some of it’s other benefits: it can help treat acne and fight aging, and who doesn’t want that?!
Ceramides
Like many skincare ingredients, this one is also naturally created in our skin. In skin care formulations however, these are derived from plant or synthetically made. Essential for preventing water loss, this ingredient is great for keeping hydration in the epidermis. In your skin, they function as building blocks for your epidermis, helping to hold skin cells together, creating a plump surface. In an ingredient list, this might be listed as “ceramide” or just “CER” possibly with a number following it.
“As A. W. Johnson states in his research paper published in Dermatologic Therapy, there are four essential components to fundamental skincare: cleansing with mild surfactants and lipid depositions, protecting from UV damage, hydrating with humectants and replenishing the skin with skin lipids, one of which are ceramides.”
Oatmeal
Not just for breakfast, this ingredient is loaded with benefits for your winter skincare needs! Naturally containing polysaccharides which are responsible for our skin’s natural ability to hydrate and retain water, oatmeal was made for treating your body inside and out! You’ll also find Vitamin E and other nutrients that help fight of free radical damage, and Zinc which is beneficial not only for sun damage but also speeds up healing a pimple. A natural skin lightener too, you can see why oatmeal is loved in skincare for every season.
Coconut Oil
Great anytime of the year, this can be super beneficial to those of us who get really dry, red areas around the nose folds. I see this a lot, especially this time of year with how often we rub or blow our noses. The skin around the nose fold is really delicate and can tear easily. Protect this delicate skin by applying a little bit of fractionated coconut oil (‘fractionated’ means it won’t harden back up if the temperature cools). Also a great makeup remover, apply a little to a cotton ball and watch even your most stubborn makeup erase from your face. Not always great as a full face moisturizer for every skin, keep in mind for an oilier or more blackhead-prone skin types.
Check out my Pinterest Board Skincare for more ideas on DIY skincare and tips!
“People who always go outside the comfort of their homes and into their offices are precarious to skin chapping during this cold winter weather. So, they are the ones who need the best skincare products the most. People whose skins are flaking, frizzy, sticky and oily because of the harsh temperatures need these products too.”
Every one needs body care! We have skin on our bodies, and we need to care for that! This also seems to be a common conversation I have with new clients, are you applying lotion to the rest of your body from the neck down, or just your face? Rumor has it you can tell a persons true age by their neck and hands, as this skin ages apparently without us noticing. The main reason being we aren’t treating this skin nearly as much as we do our face, arms and legs. Just keep in mind that your skin has many functions, and some of those functions won’t work properly if we aren’t treating the skin topically and internally. A good diet partnered with a great body skin care regimen is all we need to stay in balance, for the most part.
To treat your body skin, try using hydrating cleansers instead of stripping foaming cleansers. I love a good body wash with Shea in it for my drier skin, followed by a spritz of body toner (alcohol free of course) and then topped with a Shea Body Butter/Cream and maybe even Body Oil. My personal favorites are Farmhouse Fresh, they have an amazing array of body creams and their body oil is quick absorbing so it won’t ruin your clothes, leaves a hydrating layer of protection, locking your moisturizer in. As mentioned above, Shea Butter is an amazing ingredient for dry winter skin.
Another simple hack is for dry hands and feet. Start by giving them a good scrub in the shower, and then apply your foot/hand lotion (there is a reason there is a specific one for hands and feet, use accordingly) and then sport some fuzzy winter socks on your feet and/or cotton mittens on your hands to seal in the moisture. You can opt to sleep with the mitten/socks on as well, my feet like to be free so this option doesn’t work for me! I am sure I have said this before, but I keep body and hand lotion in every room of my house so that I never miss an opportunity to hydrate my alligator skin. Keeping things “handy” means you will see it and more than likely use it. It’s that old adage “out of sight, out of mind”, keep these things in sight so you use them!
Exfoliation is key to keeping your skin hydrated. By removing the dead skin, you are allowing your moisturizer to actually penetrate and hydrate skin, not just the dead stuff on top that you didn’t want anyway. This applies to your whole body! Don’t just exfoliate your face and wonder why the rest of your skin doesn’t have that lovely glow to it. You can use scrubs or chemical exfoliants like lactic acid, glycolic acid or fruit enzymes to polish your skin.
Another amazing side to exfoliation is aiding with lymphatic drainage, which if you didn’t know, is responsible for keeping you healthy. Lymph helps to move toxins and debris out of our body, by dry brushing you are assisting this process and helping to clear out toxins. Try dry brushing weekly and see if you notice a difference in your skin and overall body feel. There is so much I can say about lymphatic drainage, so I am sure there will be future blogs going more into depth on it!
With this being the last month of the year, and a New Year fast approaching, a lot of us are looking to detox and refresh. Take that attitude with you when it comes to your body care and you might find a new joy in these processes knowing what they are doing for you. There is a whole lot more to this so to read on about exfoliation check out my Back to Basics: Cleansing and Exfoliating blog for all the tricks and tips.
I hope that these few tips to help you this during these colder months in keeping you fresh and bright for the New Year! Next month our Winter Skin Care Series will discuss essential oils and how to keep up good habits like washing your face twice a day!
Till next time, be good to your skin and even better to yourself,
xx eri