Help to choosing winter skin care and avoid dry skin

Do you have dry skin in winter? Or is your skin is still oily? How do you best take care of your skin in winter with skin care products?

Author Mads Timmermann

Mads has 14+ years of experience as a skin expert and has written/read this article.

Home / Blog / Guides / Help to choosing winter skin care and avoid dry skin

Avoiding tight and dry skin

It can be frustrating to have dry skin because the skin looks scaly and feels extremely tight, itchy, and irritated.

For some, a change of season is the biggest cause of dry skin, but for others winter does not mean a change in skin type. Make sure to choose the right treatment for your dry skin.


Skin Care for dry skin

There is an incredible amount of advice, opinions, and recommendations for the treatment of skin during the winter season โ€“ and perhaps even more for dry skin.

Unfortunately, many of them not very good โ€“ in fact, many can be harmful to your skin, for dry skin, and can cause a GREAT DEAL of damage if you follow them in winter time.

So make sure you read on. I will help you find the perfect results โ€“ for dry skin, and in relation to so-called winter skin care.

Letโ€™s start with a question:


Should you change your skin care during winter?

For some people, winter changes everything regarding their skin. For others, winter and winter weather cause absolutely no change, so how can it be that some people escape dry, itchy, and dull skin due to cold weather?

It is simply because their skin (and here we are talking about very many people, in fact the majority) has NOT lostย  its ability to stay moisturized and stable.

So this is IMPORTANT! If your skin doesnโ€™t become dry, itchy, and flaky in the winter, then do absolutely nothing to change. Just continue as you have already done.

I repeat: It is important that you do not change anything!

If you suddenly change your skin care in winter to much more moisturizing and oily creams when your skin has shown no sign of a need for this, you are guaranteed to experience that the extra moisture and oil will cause your skin to freak out. Your skin will be oily, shiny, and sticky in appearance, and you could very easily get blockages, pimples, and impurities.

So it is really important that you listen to your skin. If your skin has not asked you to add more moisture โ€“ which it does by being dry, flaky, and tight โ€“ then DO NOT!

Think of it a bit like your diet. If you are not hungry, why eat?

You probably know only too well where the extra food will go โ€“ and what problems extra / unnecessary food does to your weight. right? Same applies to your skin. If your skin does not need moisture, then do not add extra moisture. Continue as you have done so far โ€“ and you will avoid unnecessary problems.

Is your skin dry, itchy, and irritated?

If you notice that your skin in the winter is dry, itchy, tight, and seems irritated, be sure to listen to your it and add extra moisture by changing your creams to more hydrating and moisturizing creams.

RE-Repeats just again:

If you not experience that your skin changes (that you need more moisture), do not switch creams!

If you find that your skin becomes dry, be sure to add more moisture, use more cream, or switch to a more moisturizing cream.

NO MATTER the season!

The above guidelines apply regardless of the season โ€“ not only in the winter. If you experience that your skin in summer becomes oily and shiny, switch to less moisturizing creams.

Visiting other climates, where humidity is extremely high and your skin therefore does not need much moisture but shows signs of being greasy and sticky, you must of course use less moisturizing creams.

In fact, I recommend that you completely forget your calendar when it comes to your skin and your skin type. When it comes to skin type, choose your moisturizer based on what your skin is telling you.

Add moisture and hydration / moisturizing creams for dry skin.

Adding a minimum of moisture to oily skin, but focus instead on using more matting ingredients โ€“ ingredients that will help to absorb moisture and oil from your skin and give you a nice matte finish.


How to prevent dry skin in winter?

Besides changing creams as described above, you can actually help your skin from the inside, which is true whether you have dry skin, oily skin, or whatever skin type you have โ€ฆ think of it as preventing either dry or oily skin โ€ฆ as maintaining or restoring your skinโ€™s external moisture barrier.

The best solution is to provide a variety of vitamins and minerals, which you get from eating a healthful and balanced diet with many antioxidants. Some vegetables have more than others, but overall it can be said that antioxidants are in millions of different kinds of food.

There is not just one type of antioxidant. There are millions, and for the best results, be sure to get all of them, as you do by eating aย  balanced diet.

Just because blueberries contain antioxidants, you donโ€™t have toย  eat only blueberries. You would first of all have a stomach ache, but you would also only cover aย  very small part of your antioxidant needs, because blueberries (even if you eat an enormous amount) have only a small sample of the various antioxidants which you need.

Besides varied and balanced diet, it is also extremely important to haveย  a wide range of antioxidants in your skincare, such as green tea, red tea, white tea, black tea, herbs, vitamin E, vitamin C, and much much more.

Are you thinking: are antioxidants good for fighting wrinkles?

Absolutely correct!

Antioxidants are great to counteract wrinkles, but also to prevent dry skin and help your skinโ€™s outer barrier.

Antioxidants ensure that your skin does not dry out โ€“ so you can perhaps see the connection with dry skin and antioxidants, right? ;-)

Moisturizing ingredients

In addition to antioxidants, your skin also needs moisture-keeping ingredients โ€“ not to be confused with the moisturizing ingredients.

Moisture-keeping ingredients, like the antioxidants, prevent your skin from drying out. The moisturize-keeping ingredients bind the moisture in the skin and antioxidants protect againstย  drying out , and together they help your skin to be smooth, soft, and elastic.

The moisturize-keeping ingredients can be glycerin, hyoleron acid, collagen, and the like.

Cell-repairing ingredients

In addition to many antioxidants and moisturize-keeping ingredients, the last item that rebuilds the skin so it does not dry out โ€“ is cell-repairing ingredients.

These ingredientsย  heal and repair the skin cells that have been damaged by the sun, pollution or simply from natural aging.

One of these cell-repairing ingredients is vitamin A, which is a BRILLIANT mechanic for your skin. Vitamin A heals and repairs skin cells . If a skin cell is completely defective, then Vitamin A assists with the production of a brand-new skin cell โ€“ which will take over for the defective skin cell.

Vitamin A is smart, right? Make sure you have it in your cream!


The basic elements for healthy and gorgeous skin. YEAR AROUND

Every day, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day โ€“ all day and night โ€“ย  your skin needs some very basic and fundamental ingredients to behave optimally and be healthy and gorgeous.

The same way you need a certain amount of water, food, sleep, and exercise for your body to function perfectly.

Letโ€™s look at these basic elements one at a time, so you can check your skin- care products for them โ€“ so you can care for, protect, and treat your skinโ€™s basic needs.

The MAIN one is first!

And this you should be sure to use 365 days a year, always during the day โ€“ whether it is sunny or cloudy.

Use sunscreen! It may well be your day cream that contains sunscreen (ALWAYS UVA and UVB sunscreen, as well as minimum SPF 15).

And you should do this because sun-damaged skin has a poor ability to function optimally. You probably could not run a marathon at your best time if you have the flu. Right? So it is with you skin, so make sure it does not use all its strength to prevent sun damage โ€“ let sunscreen do the work, and your skin can focus on treating your skin cells.

Moisturizers

If you have dry skin, choose a cream that adds much moisture. If you have oily skin, choose a cream that has matting ingredients and minimal moisture.

Use a moisturizer day and night โ€“ i.e., twice a day. For your convenience, make sure your day cream contains sunscreen, so your skin is always optimally protected during the day from the sun and you wonโ€™t need additional sunscreen on your face.

This is importantly: do not think, โ€œI have oily skin, so I will skip the moisturizer.โ€ Despite the name, adding moisture is only a small part of what a moisturizer does. A moisturizer protects your skin through the day and night, adding vitamins and minerals and repairing damage and solving and preventing skin problems.

Therefore, you must of course make sure that your moisturizer contains more than just moisture โ€“ and of course sunscreen (day cream). Your moisturizer should contain a variety of ingredients, which we touched on earlier โ€“ humectant, lots of antioxidants, and several cell-repairing ingredients.

Moreover, it is a good idea that your cream contains calming and reparing ingredients that will help to calm your skin, reduce redness, and so on. It can be an ingredient such as allantoin or aloe vera.

Just saying it, again

Use a cream with the proper moisture level for your skin. If it is winter and you experience dry skin, switch to a cream with more moisture. If itโ€™s summer, autumn, spring, or your momโ€™s birthday and you are experiencing dry skin, switch to a cream with more moisture.

And of course, you should do the opposite โ€“ switch to a cream for oily skin โ€“ if you suddenly find that your skin seems oily and shiny.

Avoid all forms of soap

This simply cannot be said enough! Do not use soap on your skin, as it is extremely drying.

This does not mean that you should not wash your skin. Just be sure to choise a mild cleanser โ€“ obviously without soap.

FORGET scrubs and gloves

Do not ever use creams with scrubbing grains and donโ€™t use facial scrubbing gloves or anything similar, just as you should avoid hemp cloths and the new โ€œsmartโ€ derma-roller.

They are too heavy for the skin. And with scrubs or gloves, you risk scratching the skin, which destroys the skinโ€™s moisture barrier and can create a host of skin problems for you.

Minimize water when you have dry skin

Obviously you need toย  be clean โ€“ and your skin needs to be cleansed of dirt and grime,ย ย  just as your skin needs plenty of water!

But for dry skin, it is not smart to take long baths, lie in the tub, etc., because water will dry out the skin and wash out the vitamins and minerals that are in your skin.

Focus on exfoliation!

But it should NOT be accomplished with a scrubbing glove or similar, but with AHA or BHA acid. And always choose an exfoliation โ€“ AHA or BHA โ€“ that you can use on a daily basis.

A weekly exfoliation is too harsh; you should be able to exfoliate every day.

And why exfoliation?

Because exfoliation with AHA or BHA helps your skinโ€™s natural rejection of dead skin cells, cleaning of skin pores, and acts to firm the skinโ€™s elasticity.

Exfoliation removes all the dead, dry, and dull skin cells and makes room for new, healthy skin cells to come forth โ€“ so you always have beautiful, nice, even skin.

Apply plenty of MOISTURE!

Dry skin obviously needs of moisture. A really good solution to solve dry skin and remove dry areas on the skin is to apply clean, unscented moisture. It may be almond oil, jojoba oil, argan oil, or the like. It is just important to make sure to choose perfume-free, odorless oils.

Use 2-3 drops on 2 or 3 fingers every night before applying your night cream. Spread the oil on the dry areas, so that overnight your skin will absorb huge amounts of moisture.

You do not need to invest in some smart โ€“ and often rather pricey โ€“ serumย ย  that promises to be great for removing dry skin. Ordinary oil is quite fine, it is, after all, 100% moisture.

In the absence of anything better, ordinary canola oil or olive oil can easily be used. The downside here is just that they all have an odd aroma โ€“ not perfume, but โ€œfood-fragrance.โ€ So you will probably prefer to use almond oil, jojoba oil, or argan oil, all of which are fragrance-free.

Product recommendations

Comments

0 replies

Write a comment

โ€‹
โ€‹
โ€‹
โ€‹