As the seasons change your skin may experience changes such as dryness and flaking skin, dull complexion or even irritation. If you do experience these changes it is a sign that your skin care should change alongside the seasons.
Why does this happen with colder weather?
TEWL is the amount of water vapor evaporating from the surface of the skin. In healthy skin, TEWL is directly proportional to skin hydration
While TEWL is a process that your skin naturally regulates, certain factors that can damage the skin’s barrier function can also affect TEWL levels. Circumstances such as injury, low-humidity weather conditions and topically applied products that dry out the skin can impact TEWL.
So what can you do?
When the seasons change and become colder we tend to have the heating on in our homes and cars and workplaces. We may have longer, hotter baths/showers and we transition from being outside to being inside and all these factors contribute to hydration leaving our skin and we can feel tight and dry. Much like we will layer up on our clothing in the colder months we want to layer our skin care.
With our clothes we will layer with tops, jackets, scarfs and hats and with our skin care we want to layer with Humectant (draws water- hydrating) and occlusive ( moisturiser to lock in moisture) products such as mists, oils, balms and moisturisers.
Mists:
CosMedix Mystic – My favourite mist! Spritex BEFORE you use a hydrating serum, before and/or after you moisturise and can use throughout the day even over make up. This will draw hydration to your skin.
Facial Oils;
Remedy Oil and Apothaka Rejuvenating Oil – Think of your oil as sealing the hydration in. Apply a few drops after you moisturise. Both these options smell Devine and are a dream to ova sin your skin care routine
Moisturisers;
Switching to a heavier moisturiser may also be needed for your skin over the next few months. An Over the counter product I like is the Weleda Skin Food.
Also love the Obagi Luxe and Skin Better Hydration Boost (with a little oil over the top of course)
Lips;
CosMedix Lip Mask – packed with nourishing ingredients to help with dry, cracked lips.
Colder months tend to lead to less water intake and more comfort foods. Diet wise aim to eat the rainbow. Load up on healthy fats. This is essential for hydration and regulating oil production in your skin.
Healthy fats are your oily fish, eggs, Olive Oil Avocados chia seeds and walnuts. Also ensure you have protein with every meal- Your collagen and elastin are proteins! Having enough protein in your diet will help with the structure and function of your skin barrier. Seeds and nuts, fish eggs and meat are all sources of protein.
Keep your fluid intake the same as the summer months- Its common to drink less as its colder outside. You can negate this by drinking warm drinks such as your herbal teas.
Check your Vitamin D levels. Its common for the majority of us living in Scotland to be deficient and its a supplement I take year round.
We want to ensure our barrier is well supported at this time. TEWL is a natural process but in colder months it will be higher.
Layering is an important element for your skin barrier through the next few months, so get your layers on and get your skin comfy for winter.