Colder weather means dryer air, drier air means drier skin. It’s a vicious cycle we must learn to live with. So how do we cope? Here’s some tips to help your skin survive the cold winter months.
1. Run a humidifier
If you don’t have one, a good humidifier is an excellent investment not only for your skin but your overall health. Running a humidifier will help add the moisture back into the air, this especially helpful for anyone who suffers with allergies because the dry air can make it difficult to breathe and cause coughing and increased mucus production.
2. Drink water
Many of us already have a hard time drinking enough water throughout the day, unfortunately, this gets worse during the winter months. When it’s hot, we feel the moisture leaving our bodies through sweat, and a nice cold glass of water is an obvious way to cool down and stay hydrated. But in the winter, we don’t feel that moisture loss, so we don’t hydrate as often as we should. When drinking water (not coffee, juice, etc.) a good rule of thumb is to drink half your body weight (in pounds) in ounces, and add 12oz of water per 30 mins of physical activity to maintain proper hydration.
3. Take cooler showers
Don’t shoot the messenger! I know this is a hard one, but it’s true, hot showers pull moisture from the skin. Now I’m not saying take an ice cold shower, but finishing a nice warm shower with cooler water can help your prevent your skin from loosing too much moisture.
4. Apply moisturizers immediately after cleansing The best time to apply moisturizer is immediately after showering and hand washing. You want to apply the moisturizer on damp, not wet, skin. You will feel a very noticeable difference as the moisturizer easily absorbs into the skin when the pores are still open and your skin is nice and damp.
5. EXFOLIATE!!!
Your skin constantly renews itself, meaning new skin is made all the time. Exfoliating helps remove the dead skin that can clog pores, making it harder for moisturizers to work effectively and causes skin to look dingy. There’s many ways to exfoliate from clay masks and sugar scrubs to just your basic loofa.
Have you tried any of these tips before? Did you notice any improvements? Got anything to add to this list? Let us know!