Every season brings its joys and its problems where skin is concerned, however, we all know that Winter is the worst! Think about it. You go from the cold air outside, sometimes with biting wind and rain or snow or sleet even, into a warm dry house. Your cheeks and lips get chapped. You feel tight and dry. Your skin doesn’t know which end is up. 

winter tree

Here are a few ways to prevent your skin from singing the Winter Skin Blues!

Exfoliate! 

I know I say it all the time, but the best way to prevent dry skin in the first place is to exfoliate on a regular basis. I suggest at least 1-2x a week in the Winter, with a good gentle exfoliant. The reason is simple. When you regularly polish off the dead, dry, flaky top layer of skin, the healthier layers come forward. Doesn’t that just make the most sense. Skin sheds. If you shed it faster than it sheds itself, you will never go back to being as dry as you were in the first place. 

Moisturize to lock moisture in! 

The word itself means to add moisture to something or lock moisture in. We suggest using any of our nourishing moisturizers on any part of your body. Balmz is more of a thick salve, while our Oilz+ is treated like more of a lotion. We recommend massaging it onto dampened skin so that the hydration from the water remains on your skin and is locked in by the botanical oils and Shea Butter in the Oilz+. If you use products that draw water in, called humectants, you become even more moisturized and stay that way. We use products that all behave that way. (or we ground them for a week LOL)

Drink water!!

We are made up of about 70% water. So putting water back into our bodies is key to healthy living. Drinking about half your weight in ounces is ideal. The more you are hydrated from the inside, the better for your skin. 

Use sunscreen!

Even though its cold out, the sun still can damage and dry out skin, let alone wind burn. I love tinted moisturizer with sunscreen and mineral makeup dusted on top for the same reason! It’s a minimum of 15 SPF at all times and makes my skin look so even toned and great. It’s an all year staple, but especially great in Winter 

Eat good oils.

Foods like avocados are brilliant in both taste, satiety and great for your skin omega oils.

Sleep!

There’s a real reason people need 7-8 hours of sleep time a night for overall health. Skin feels the same way. While you are asleep your body rejuvenates. It’s hydration rebalances and recovers extra moisture. In this way sleep is a natural moisturizer that can help to smooth out wrinkles on your skin. If you miss out on sleep it can also make your complexion look saggy, sallow and tired.

So those are my go-to tips to avoid the Winter skin hazards. Obviously they are similar to my Summer list :-), however Winter in particular wrecks havoc on skin so taking care of it during this season is key.

What are some of the things you do? What are some of the things you avoid?