Winter can be pretty harsh on the skin, even if you don’t have a naturally dry complexion. There isn’t as much moisture in the air during the colder months of the year, which means your skin will be significantly drier. If your skin is too dry, it will start to bleed and crack. Chances are you’re also using the heat in your home more in the winter, which further robs your skin of moisture. You can also make your skin drier when you take hot baths or showers in the winter.
Adding moisture to your skin and using a quality face wash can be helpful temporarily, but you’ll need to do more to provide long-term care for your skin and keep your complexion looking its best. Here are some helpful suggestions for maintaining a youthful complexion even in harsh winter conditions.
Don’t Use Hot Water
When you’re washing your face or body, use lukewarm water. If the water is too hot, it will strip your skin of natural oils. Since the air is already very dry in the winter, the small amount of oil that you have in your skin could be taken away by washing with water that is too warm. Lukewarm water helps to balance the moisture levels in your skin and opens up your pores enough for moisturizer to be truly effective.
Moisturize Often
As soon as you get out of the shower or bathtub or wash your face, be sure to moisturize. During the winter, your skin will dry out very quickly, so it’s best to apply moisturizer when your skin is still damp from cleansing.
When you moisturize the skin before it dries completely, you’re sealing moisture in, which reduces redness and peeling. It may also be helpful to have your moisturizer handy right near the bathtub so you won’t forget to apply lotion to your face and body immediately.
Moisturizers that contain skin conditioning ingredients like vitamin E or aloe vera are also helpful in the winter, since they make the skin softer and help prevent fine lines and wrinkles. You may also want to try a moisturizer that contains coconut oil, since this can be used on both the body and face. Coconut oil also has the ability to lock in moisture and has antimicrobial properties that can reduce breakouts.
Protect Your Skin
In addition to using a cream-based cleanser and moisturizer for your skin, remember to protect your face and the rest of your skin when you’re out in the cold weather. Remember that you still need to wear sunscreen even though its winter, since the sun is still shining and your complexion could still be affected by UV rays. Your sunscreen should also include extra moisturizing ingredients like avocado or sunflower oils, as well as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide to keep your skin from being damaged by the sun.
Hydrate From the Inside Out
Get a humidifier for your home so that you can fill the home with moisture and keep your skin from becoming too dry. It’s also very important to drink lots of water in the winter time, even though you may not feel the need to drink as much.
The winter season is usually when people like to enjoy hot drinks like tea and hot chocolate, and this can deprive your skin of moisture. Drink a little warm water with a splash of lemon to cleanse the skin internally and keep your body hydrated.
Of course, you can also drink cool or room temperature water with a slice of lemon or cucumber to flush impurities from the skin and give you a healthy glow even in rough weather conditions.
Moisturize Overnight
Finally, you’ll have a better chance of keeping moisture in your skin if you apply moisturizer before going to bed and leave it on while you sleep. This works for your face as well as your hands and feet and other areas that are difficult to moisturize, such as elbows and knees.
Lotions and facial moisturizers that include keratin and aloe are great choices, or you can make your own body moisturizer with coconut oil and a few drops of your favorite essential oil. If you wear gloves or socks after moisturizing, you can lock in moisture for longer periods of time.
About Rochkirstin Santos-Sioco
Health and technology freak. Food and lifestyle blogger with a large appetite for food and travel.
I find that moisturizing before bed really helps my skin soak it up as I sleep. Hydrating is also so important! Nothing feels right in my body (including my skin) if I don’t drink enough water.
Staying moisturized and hydrated for our skin is truly crucial.. we dun hv winter in my country, but moisturized is equally important, too!
Great tips here, I learned a few new tricks. I particularly liked the advice to use lukewarm water, that was really interesting to read.
Keeping my skin moisurized all year is a priority for me. I find that hydrated skin just behaves better.
The tip about using lukewarm water can’t be more true, hot water really messes it up and you have to be neutral in accordance to the weather. Though the part about using sunscreen even at winter never really crossed my mind, that’s a good advice!
These are really useful tips. In the winter I change my face cream to a greasy cream that can protect against frost.
It’s crucial to keep skin hydrated and moisturised… wonderful and useful tips..
I may don’t really experience winter since I’m from a tropical country, but moisturizer is really a help as well. Thank you so much for sharing such a detailed post. I truly appreciate it.
In winter weather skin needs some extra tender loving care so there is a need of such skincare routine. I like this article so much. Thanks for sharing.