How To Keep Your Skin Healthy During Winter

To borrow a line from a TV show that has not aged quite as well as it should have: winter is coming. The bite in the air is real, the days are getting shorter and there’s already festive products on display at your local Target. Winter brings with it a litany of first-world problems, from trouble getting around to trouble keeping warm. None are more frustrating, though, than winter skin issues.

The cold air, the dryness, the snap colds and the chapped lips – all of these things are things we’d happily leave in the past; nonetheless they’re destined to rear their heads once again. Here, then, let’s go through some essential coping methods for keeping your skin clean, clear and healthy during some of the more aggressive months for climate.

Gentle Cleansing Practices for Winter

An easy place to start is with laying the groundwork for better skin over winter. The single best way to do that is through reevaluating how you cleanse your skin at the start and end of every day. You might be accustomed to harsher, more efficient cleansing products; these, though, can strip away natural oils from your skin, contributing to dryness which will only be exacerbated by the cold and the dry air outside.

Instead, try eschewing the alcohol-based formulas in favor of something hydrating; try, also, to avoid fragrance in products. Doing these two things will allow you to focus on products more effective at protecting the skin barrier.

Increase Hydration and Moisturize Effectively

Dryness and dehydration are absolutely the theme for this guide; after all, it’s the cold, dry air that provides the unique challenge of winter for the skin. As such, gentle cleansers are a good start – but you also need to go further with active moisturization.

A richer moisturizer with humectant in its ingredients list – for instance, hyaluronic acid – would be a great investment for bringing life back to your skin. For the uninitiated, humectants effectively grab water from around them, whether from the air itself or by drawing water up from deeper skin layers. Moisturizers will also work better in winter where emollients and occlusives are present to lock in moisture.

Brighten Dull Winter Skin with Targeted Products

The winter climate isn’t just a threat to the hydration of your skin, of course. You can also look forward to a dulling of your trademark glow thanks to a reduction in exposure to sunlight and warm, humid air. Luckily, a targeted approach to this is easy enough, as is bringing back a little life to your complexion. Try skin brightening products that utilize niacinamide, better known as vitamin B3, or licorice root extract, to brighten and smooth your upper skin layers; just make sure these treatments happen between cleansing and moisturization!

Protect Your Skin Barrier by Adjusting Habits

Lastly, there’s a side to skincare that’s often overlooked by guides like this: habit. Your wider habits naturally have a major impact on the health of your skin, from how much water you drink to how long you spend in the shower. The latter is a key thing for winter skincare, where long hot showers – nice as they may be – can strip oils from your skin. Similarly, the winter sun is still the sun! It still poses a UV risk to your skin, perhaps even more so if it is drier and more brittle than usual.