For those of us that experience cold weather during the wintertime, keeping our skin in good shape and protecting it against the harsh weather is extremely important. From chapped lips to peeling noses, the winter weather has a way of hitting the skin particularly hard. When a simple wash and moisturize isn’t enough anymore, try these simple but effective tips for keeping your hand smooth, healthy, and gorgeous this winter.
1. Exfoliate Away
As with any season, it is increasingly important to buff away the dead and dry skin on your face and body. Doing this will help keep your skin smooth to the touch and super healthy. For your face, try investing in a cleanser that is gentle enough to be used frequently but heavy-duty enough that it gets the job done. For your body, homemade and store bought sugar scrubs work wonders at softening and brightening the skin. In many cases, you can even use them on your mouth to cure a particularly bad case of chapped lips.
2. Don’t Forget To Moisturize
Keeping your body moisturized is just as important as keeping it clean and free of dead skin. If your skin happens to be in particularly rough shape, you may want to forgo fragrance-heavy moisturizers and focus on the heavy duty stuff. Using an overnight moisturizer or moisturizing mask is a fantastic way to keep your face retaining it’s moisture for as long as possible.
3. Humidify
There is a lot of debate on whether or not humidifiers are actually good for head and chest congestion, but as long as the actual humidifier is clean and free of bacteria, it is a great tool to have around for your skin. Having a humidifier around in a dry room helps put moisture back into the air which aids in locking moisture into your skin.
4. Keep That SPF Handy
The common thought that sunscreen only needs to be worn in the summer sun, but your skin can still benefit from a little SPF all year long. While you don’t need as much sunscreen as you would while baking under the sun, investing in a foundation or moisturizer that contains an ample amount of SPF is a great way to go.
5. Protect Your Skin
It’s simple science. Gloves help protect against dry hands, hats seriously help dry scalps, and gloves can help keep your skin safe all winter long. Whether it’s raining, snowing, just plain cold, or a winning combination of the three, your skin will thank you for it.
6. Turn Down Your Water Temperature
Nothing beats relaxing at the end of a long winter day with a nice hot shower. But that shower may be more damaging to your skin than you realize. That hot water strips your body of its natural oils and damages the skin, making it more open to toxins and allergens. Even if only while washing your face, try to keep your water at a cool to lukewarm temperature.