Five Tips to Take Care of Your Skin in the Winter

Winter can be one of the best times of the year, filled with gorgeous snow cover, fun snow sports, and evenings by the fire with the entire family. This season, however, can also bring about some disappointing effects on the skin. Check out these simple winter skin care tips that will keep your skin feeling healthy and glowing throughout the colder months of the year.

1. Avoid really dry environments

Who wouldn’t want to cozy up next to the heater or a nice fireplace to savor some hot chocolate? But staying indoors in heated air for too long can do some serious damage to the skin. It’s okay if you prefer to keep the heat high, but to counter the effects of this, try to keep humidifiers all around the house to add some moisture back into the dry air. It also wouldn’t hurt to have an extra glass or two of water a day, along with moisturizing your skin on a regular basis.

2. Use the right skin moisturizers

Speaking of moisturizer, this is one of the most critical steps to keeping your skin glowing and healthy throughout the winter months. You’d actually be surprised how so many people don’t pay much heed to this! Natural moisturizers like coconut oil, buttermilk castor oil, and even olive oil will help your skin retain its natural oils and keep it nicely hydrated. Try to avoid products with paraffin, as they will actually dry out your skin even more.

3. Use the right cleanser

You may be accustomed to using an expensive cleanser all year round, but many contain harsh chemicals that do the opposite of nourishing – particularly those with added perfume and alcohol. Go with a gentler, cream-based cleanser that contains glycerine, hyaluronic acid, and ceramides. If you have really oily skin, however, forego the cold cream as it may create more oiliness and stick to something like coconut oil or rosehip oil. It sounds counterintuitive, but just a little bit of oil a day will actually work better with your skin!

4. Don’t take too many hot baths/showers

It can be hard to resist the urge to take long, soothing hot showers when it’s frigid outside. The problem is that your tap water most likely contains some water impurities like chlorine that will not only dry out the skin but could also cause itchiness, irritation, and even eczema. If you’re addicted to your hot showers, it would be a good option to get some sort of water filter, like a simple carbon filter or a reverse osmosis filter system, to get rid of those water impurities. And since hot water evaporates quickly, it can cause the skin to dehydrate and crack up — unless you follow it up immediately with a moisturizer. So make sure to apply moisturizer right after dying yourself off. Oil-based moisturizers are best, as opposed to water-based ones.

5. Drink plenty of water

Most people don’t drink enough water every day, and this is especially true during the winter months when you’re not sweating nearly as much and your body doesn’t demand it. But because low humidity can also cause skin to dehydrate, you still need to drink plenty of water! If you need to mix things up, add fruit to your water or go for some soothing ginger tea with lemon and honey.