Keep Your Skin Happy This Winter
1. Take shorter showers - a long, hot shower on a cold day is the best - until you realize what it does to your skin. Between the hot water and soap, your skin’s natural oils literally wash down the drain. Keep the warm water and your time to 15 minutes max. Also use a mild body wash that won’t strip your skin.
2. Fight chapped lips - use a healing ointment like Aquaphor on your lips. If that doesn’t work do the trick, check the label on your toothpaste and lip balm. Ingredients like fluoride, menthol, and cinnamates can lead to irritation around the mouth. During the winter months, temporarily switching to a natural fluoride-free toothpaste.
3. Swap in a gentle cleanser - most foaming face washes are laced with detergents that can strip your skin in winter. It’s best to use a mild, non-sudsing cleanser with glycerin
4. Change your oil - facial oils are hot right now, but they can be too greasy for some skin type. Try an oil based lotion or serum instead. For maximum moisture, layer it underneath your day and night creams.
5. Slather on sunscreen
6. Get the red out - your cheeks get pink and irritated because cold temp dilate capillaries. If the skin on your face tends to be sensitive, use a heavy duty cream that contains ceramides. To hide the flush, brush on high pigment makeup powder.
7. Do a laundry check - does your skin feel crazy itchy? Your clothes may be the culprit. Fragrances, preservatives and brightening chemicals in detergents can aggravate already sensitive skin. Switch to an allergen free detergent, avoid fabric softener and run clothes through the rinse cycle twice.
8. Hydrate while you sleep - you lose a ton of moisture at night, and indoor heat just sucks away even more. To get your beauty rest, set up a humidifier to help pump water back into the air. And don’t forget to apply moisturizer before you call it a night.
9. Smooth things over - use a scrub once a week. Exfoliating is essential in the winter. When dead skin cells build up, they make your skin rough and keep the good stuff, such as moisturizers, from penetrating. Your best bet is a sugar based formula or lactic acid exfoliant.
10. Use a heavy duty lotion
11. Don’t forget your hands - keep tubes of extra hydrating dimethicone based hand cream with you.
