The Hydration Station
Winter Skin Series
Fall and Winter are my two favorite seasons! However, my skin doesn't so much agree with me...from dry chapped lips and heels to a tightness and flushing of my face in the colder temperatures. So how do we keep our skin balanced during the changing of seasons?
The first thing to address is your home care, your skincare products should change with the weather like your wardrobe does. Imagine if you wore winter sweaters during summer, you would sweat to death!
Your skin is the same way, if you use a lightweight "summer" moisturizer during winter, your skin is going to loose a lot of it's natural hydration through a process called Trans Epidermal Water Loss (TEWL). This leaves you feeling dry, crepe-like skin and tight. When changing your skincare routine your cleanser will more than likely stay the same, your exfoliant might be more based in AHA's (Alph Hydroxy Acids like Glycolic or Lactic) or nourishing scrubs that have a cream base with a seed or nut added. Your "specialty products" like masques and serums will be more focused in giving doses of water to the skin like Laniege Water Sleeping Mask or Kiehl's Overnight Hydrating Mask. Moisturizers will tend to be a little heavier due to the drier season, but don't get over zealous and get the heaviest moisturizer because you feel dehydrated! Chance are you can hydrate through toners, serums or masques without having to get too heavy. Let's look more into exfoliation as a lot of us are missing out on a great opportunity to transform our skin!
Consistency with your skincare routine aids in hydrating skin during seasonal changes
With Winter skin, you want to be exfoliating regularly as this will help stimulate new cells to the surface, allow your serums and treatment products to penetrate deeper and aid in giving you a lovely glow. So what else can you do to treat dehydration in the skin? Well, first we need to understand dehydration: lack of water in the skin, not a lack of oil. Which means heavy moisturizers don't fix dehydration! You need to use something that is going to give your skin a big drink of water, hyaluronic acid is one example of an ingredient that will do this. I recently found a pretty decent and reasonably priced Hyaluronic Serum at Trader Joe’s…no promises it is still there or found everywhere but keep your eyes peeled for good skincare finds!
Drinking loads of water will help, but not if you smoke or live a very stressful lifestyle. These things will also dehydrate your skin. What you say? Stress dehydrates my skin? YES! Stress is the leading culprit behind a lot of skin issues, dehydration being one of them. At Enlighten Bodhi Spa, we have quite a few options when it comes to hydrating treatments. Our Raspberry Peach Tea Facial offers up a lot in the moisture department as well as the aromatic department! The Peach softens skin texture, followed by deep hydration with the yogurt in our Goji Berry Mask to treat even the driest skin types.
If you want to battle the dreaded dehydration, or sensitive winter skin, come in and get a customized facial today! Feel free to bring in your skin care products and discover if you need to make any changes to what you are doing at home.
Till next time, be good to your skin and even better to yourself,
xx eri