For some people winter changes everything about how their skin looks and feels while for others nothing changes. So why do some people escape the cold with nary a sign of dry, itchy, or dull skin? Because their skin has the ability to retain healthy water levels which keeps the top layers soft and satiny smooth. If your skin doesnt act this way on its own, then what you absolutely must use are products containing skin-repairing ingredients that prevent moisture loss and enhance skins natural ability to stay smooth, glowing, and soft. How to Prevent Winter Dryness In order to win the battle winter weather can wage against your skin, you have to put back into skin what it is missing: antioxidants, skin-repairing ingredients, and cell-communicating ingredients. That requires brilliantly formulated products we will recommend in the steps below. You also must stop doing things that abuse your skin and further destroy its ability to be vital and radiant. Those bad habits will only make seasonal dryness worse, resulting in dry, flaky, downright uncomfortable skin. Every day and night, season to season, your skin requires certain basics to defend against any environmental conditions. Heres what you need to do: Wear sunscreen 365 days a year no matter how warm or cold, or whether the sun is shining or not: Sun-damaged skin has minimal ability to function normally so it can look luminous and silken. The damage leads to a host of problems that keep your skin from looking its best. Apply a well-formulated moisturizer: If youre struggling with dryness, use a moisturizer that is filled to the brim with antioxidants to fight environmental damage. It should also contain ingredients that help keep water in skin, anti-inflammatory ingredients to reduce irritation, and cell-communicating ingredients to help skin produce normal skin cells. You must use a moisturizer appropriate for your skin type: A lotion or cream is best for dry skin, a serum or gel for combination skin, and a liquid (think toner) for oily skin. If you have oily skin that gets drier during winter months, definitely consider a lotion or lightweight cream for the dry areas. Avoid soap, use only gentle cleansers: This habit cannot be stressed enough. Never use a cleanser that is harsher on your skin than the weather outside, and that includes from the neck down. Do not scrub skin; you cant scour away dryness. Scrubbing creates tiny tears on the surface of skin impairing its ability to keep water where it needs to be. Avoid soaking in the bathtub, Jacuzzi, or taking long showers: As wonderful as a leisurely bath or shower feels, too much water is bad for skin. Inundating skin with water breaks down the substances that keep skin cells intact. Keep showers or baths short, especially during the winter. After bathing or showering, apply a body moisturizer as soon as you can: Skin is more vulnerable after it is clean (water and even gentle cleansers can remove some amount of the essential substances that keep your skin soft and smooth). The sooner you get a moisturizer on, the better. It will help keep any moisture on the surface of skin from escaping into the environment. Exfoliate: A well-formulated AHA or BHA exfoliant can help facilitate normal skin cell turnover and that makes the surface of skin and the lower layers behave beautifully as they should. Helping skin do what it should do year-round (turn over the top layer and replace it with newer, smoother cells that can better protect skin) is a great way to prevent dryness and dull skin. Dont forget your lips: Lips are the least capable of staying smooth and soft when the air becomes dry. They lack the oils and skin structure the rest of the face has and, as a result, are far more vulnerable to the effects of dry air. During the day and night be sure to put an emollient lip gloss or lip balm on your lips. It absolutely should not contain any irritating ingredients such as peppermint or menthol which makes dry lips worse. And by the way, your lips dont adapt or become addicted to lip balms or Chapstick®. The need to keep reapplying is because the ones you chose didnt work all that well in the first place (and of course lip balms do wear away, necessitating occasional reapplication). For dry skin on your hands, apply and reapply moisturizer: The thicker the better! Because hands are subject to intense cleansing agents all day long they struggle the most with dry skin. You must be diligent about applying and reapplying moisturizer every time you wash your hands. Dont forget to keep a moisturizer in your purse, at your desk, and in every bathroom in your home. For hands thicker, extremely emollient moisturizers work best; during the day it needs to also include sunscreen. ~PC
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 17:24:55 +0000