WINTER-DRY SKIN ISN'T YOUR FAULT. THERE'S A VISCIOUS CYCLE AT WORK

If it feels like your skin has been screaming lately, you’re not alone. Winter months in cold climates can be a recipe for dry, itchy, angry skin. “Xerosis,” if you prefer the scientific term. But figuring out how to keep skin moisturized in the winter can be confusing.

It’s a combination of dry winter air, and the skin that’s right under your nose, your face, and your hands. Actually, it’s covering the surface of your entire body. The uppermost layers of your skin are called the stratum corneum, and they’re kind of like your skin’s shield, protecting what’s inside, while keeping out bad elements from the environment.

Our so-called “shield” of armor, this stratum corneum, is made from about 10-15 micrometers of dead-cell skin. Studies show these outermost layers play an important part in keeping natural moisture inside the skin.

But when the humidity drops, and winter chill creeps in, the outside air is drier. Then, making matters worse, we use radiators and heaters to stay warm inside, drying out those environments, too. Our stratum corneum “shield” starts to dry out, opening up the skin’s natural barrier.

When the stratum corneum gets damaged, natural moisture “leaks out” of the top layers of our skin. “That’s when we start getting itchy, scratchable skin, making matters even worse. And so, the vicious cycle begins.

 

Take a look at the advice, and then go give your skin some relief:

 

KEEP MOISTURE LEVEL UP TO STANDARD

This can be done by using a (fuller) cream with extra moisturizing ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, glycerin, lactic acid and sodium PCA, such as the Comfort+ Face Cream. When you notice that your regular cream is not sufficient in this cold weather? Then use such an extra care product Like the Recovery Serum

 

KEEP SHOWERS SHORT AND TO THE POINT

Do your skin another favor, don’t dilly-dally in the shower! Keep the temperature of your winter showers warm, not hot. When you step out of a hot shower, water evaporates quickly, taking with it some of the moisture on the surface of your skin. That’s why it’s more important to keep showers short and to the point in the cold winter months than in the summer. And applying moisturizer right after showering or bathing will help, because that traps in moisture. It makes a big difference 

 

AVOID ALCOHOL

Ethyl alcohol drys out the skin, so avoid rubbing it on your body. We use moisturizer ingredients like “cetyl alcohol” and lanolin. These fatty alcohols aren’t like traditional drugstore alcohol, and they’re much better for your skin. Face-wipes and makeup removers (yes men do were makeup now and then) are sometimes made with the drying kind (which might just be called “alcohol” or “isopropyl alcohol” on the label) so watch out for it. 
 

ALWAYS USE SPF

Although the sun may not show up now, uv-A radiation is present all year round. Also in the winter. So you do well to protect your skin now with a sunscreen. Of course one that protects both UV-A and UV-B radiation.

 

If you’re just dealing with problem spots like dry elbows, feet, and lips, old-fashioned petroleum jelly can help, too. Products like Vaseline and Aquaphor can really help relieve persistently dry patches. But it’s such a sticky remedy, it’s probably best to wait until the end of the day and slather on a bit before bedtime, or while relaxing at home. Your palms and the bottoms of your feet are especially important zones to pay attention to, because they don’t have the same kinds of “sebacious glands” that lubricate the rest of our skin with a naturally-produced oily secretion called sebum.