When the temperature drops, my skin goes nutso. I've heard people complain about their skin getting super greasy during the summer time, but that's never really happened to me. My skin is sobonkers in the winter time, it gets super dry and so it overproduces natural oils and then I just start breaking out in zits–it's an unfortunate situation I have learned to handle.
No one deserves to go through this, and now my misery is your windfall cause I'm going to share my advice on how to avoid a total apocalypse for your skin this winter.
First and foremost, it's super important to moisturize! But before you break out the body butters, you have to exfoliate and get all the dead skin that's been building up on your body all winter off. It's gross, but we all shave less (a natural exfoliation) in the winter and tend to use more emollient cleansers, so it's good to get all those dead layers sloughed away.
Once you have a bunch of lotions lined up and have gently exfoliated your skin, there are some tried and true rules you have to live by in order to avoid scaly skin in the near future:
- Avoid long, hot baths. Even if your freezing your booty off, don't indulge in a hot tub bath, it actually really dries your skin out, even though it feels good while your in the water.
- Pay special attention to your hands and feet! Our extremities take the brunt of the abuse during the winter, so we have to be extra careful to care for them unless you want cracked hands and feet.
- Buy a humidifier. This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to save your skin. A humidifier will add moisture to the air in your house and help you stay hydrated while you sleep.
- Avoid peels and chemicals in the winter months. Don't over stimulate your skin or you may start seeing your acne flare up!
- Drink tons of water and save your skin from the inside out.
- Don't forget the sunscreen! Just because it's gloomy or cold outside doesn't mean that dangerous UV rays aren't beating down, so don't forget to protect your skin from the sun at all times.
If you have dry, scaly patches or chronic conditions, go see a specialist ASAP, but if not–these easy tips should keep you and your skin in tip-top shape until the warmer months roll around again.
Image via claytonjscott.com/flickr
