Winter Woes

The holiday season is festive and fun. Christmas shopping, hearty meals, twinkling lights, and merry parties are a few signs of the cheerful season. The holidays also mark the onset of winter. And with winter comes new skin woes, most notably dry skin. My terribly sensitive skin has been screaming for mercy as winter has set in and sapped all the moisture from it. No amount of water (or gingerbread lattes) has restored my skin to its former dewy self. Just as your provide your body with extra layers of clothing to keep yourself warm, your skin will also be thanking you if you provide an extra barrier between you and the moisture-sucking cold weather.
Drench your body in lotion as many times as you can throughout the day. The intensity of your lotion depends on just how dry your skin feels. I demand an intense hydrator, but others of you will fare will with a lighter formula. To further increase the intensity of your lotion, you can mix a bit of body oil into a few pumps of lotion.
Body oil is my best friend all year, but it is particularly useful in the dry winter months. In addition to being able to mix it in with your lotion, body oil can serve other hydrating purposes on its own. You can use it as a barrier between your skin and hot water when you shower by rubbing it into your skin before you hop in the shower. You can also rub it on after you use the shower, although for all practical purposes you will have to pat some of it off as you towel dry. If you have the time, however, rub it in after a shower, throw on your robe, and relax while it soaks into your skin. It’s an ultra-hydrating experience your skin will thank you for. My favorite body oil for its price and quality is Neutrogena Body Oil (found at any drugstore). More expensive ones do exist, but I find this one works quite well.
Another important step in protecting your skin is exfoliation. Although dry skin may feel irritated during exfoliation, the exfoliant works to get rid of all that dull, dry skin and reveal a fresh new layer of skin underneath. My favorite exfoliant is The Body Shop’s Cocoa Butter Body Scrub ($16) for its delicious smell and soft feel. I find some exfoliants to be too aggressive, irritating even the most minor shaving nick, but The Body Shop’s formula is gentler on skin. Only use exfoliants approximately twice a week so you don’t aggravate your skin.
Of course, the products you use to hydrate your body won’t work well to hydrate your face. Dry facial skin can lead to acne, blotchiness or irritability. If your face is responding negatively to the cold weather, you must increase the moisture to your face as well. One way to do this is to use a weekly hydrating face mask. The most professional results at home can be found with MD Skincare Intense Hydra Mask. The $60 kit comes with six applications, effectively making each mask cost $10 (that’s two venti lattes ladies). The gentle formula hydrates for a week, and it effectively got rid of the irritability that was causing mini-breakouts around my face due to the chilly weather. Even after one application, I had a decidedly anti-fashion friend comment on how good my skin looked.
And since your skin absorbs most of its moisture at night, be sure to be using an uber-rich moisturizer each and every night like Origins Night-A-Mins. Your skin will thank you for it.
Other areas of your body that seem especially prone to dryness in the winter months include hands and lips. Your hands can be easily addressed throughout the day with a travel bottle of lotion in your purse or at your desk. For more intense hydration, buy an intense moisturizer (like Eucerin). After applying it, toss on some spa gloves and spend the night with them on. If, like me, you end up pulling the gloves off in the middle of the night or you just don’t want to wear gloves all night, this trick can work to some degree if used for a shorter amount of time. I toss mine on while I catch up on reality TV. Putting lotion on before you toss on your mittens for your morning commute is also an effective way to trap more moisture.
Cuticles and lips can be addressed with one tiny pot of pure shea butter found at L’Occitane. I will swear by this stuff, and L’Occitane also carries a fantastic product called Nail and Cuticle Cream which cures hangnails more quickly than any product I have ever seen.
Armed with these tips, you are certain to survive the winter months with skin glowing brightly.