Fight dry skin this winter with these winter skin care tips.
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The winter blahs can affect more than just your mood, they can also impact the appearance and texture of skin. Gone is that luminous glow brought on by the warm days of summer; skin seems to have dried out, leaving it looking and feeling lacklustre. Which is why it's important to have a skin-saving action plan for when the barometer drops. ELLECanada.com checked in with four of Canada’s top dermatologists for their winter weather skin tips.
The importance of exfoliation
Just as our activity levels slow as the weather turns cold, so too does the rate our skin cells regenerate.
"It's one of the many reasons our skin can look greyed in the winter," says Dr. Julia Carroll, a consulting dermatologist to Vaseline. "In order to renew our natural glow, we need to exfoliate our skin gently with a soft cloth or scrub. This will help rid our epidermis' top layer of old, dead cells."
Heal skin through hydration
One of the reasons skin looks so lacklustre in the winter is because it naturally dries out as the barometer drops. Blame it on a number of factors, from furnaces (which remove all signs of humidity from a home's air) to our natural inclination to drink less water (we're less thirsty because we sweat less). So it’s important to prevent further epidermal dehydration and to moisturize with thick body creams.
It comes down to changing how you bathe and shower, says Dr. Sandy Skotnicki, Medical Director of the Bay Dermatology Centre (baydermatologycentre.com) in Toronto. "Spend no more than 10 to 15 minutes bathing and turn the temperature down." Skotnicki also recommends using soaps made for sensitive skin (they contain easy-on-the epidermis ingredients and are less apt to dry it out).
"Pat the skin dry after cleaning," adds Skotnicki. "And moisturize daily with a lipid/ceramide body cream." Ceramides are molecules that naturally appear in the skin and prevent dehydration.
Get all the products you need to protect your skin this winter here.
More ways to soothe and protect your skin on the next page ...
