Taking Care of Your Skin in Cold Weather
Everyone who has lived in an extremely cold climate can attest to the havoc that it can wreak on the skin. No one wants to age unnecessarily quickly or have their skin looking less than its best. Cold weather can do just that and be more of a hazard to the skin than summer because everyone knows to use sunscreen. What are the causes and remedies for cold weather skin care problems?
Guilty culprits of cold weather skin crimes include:
- Interior heating — most interior heating methods lower humidity levels significantly, this includes your car interior, and your skin loses moisture to the dry surrounding air.
- Winter winds — cold wind has two significant negative effects. The temperature can actually cause damage to surface capillaries in the skin. The more air that moves past your skin, the more moisture that air sucks out of your skin.
- Dietary changes — cold weather is not conducive to over-flowing produce stalls that supply most people with the bulk of the anti-oxidants and phyto-nutrients that defend skin from free radical and rebuild the cells.
Remedies against the ravages of cold weather include:
- To counteract the problems related to interior heating:
- Increase water consumption.
- Change to a richer moisturizer.
- Add a humidifier to your home or office.
- Add more plants to your home or office (they give off water vapor).
- To fight the damage of chilling winds:
- Increase water consumption.
- Cover you face with your scarf even if you are warm enough.
- Focus on your lips — they lack oil glands and need special attention like an emollient rich lip balm applied multiple times daily.
- To give your body the tools it needs:
- Increase water consumption — while important year round, it is especially important in the cold weather, thus the repetition.
- Eat what are termed “sticky” vegetables and real soup made with meat or fish stock. These supply the building blocks your body needs to make hyaluronic acid.
- Get as many fresh fruits, vegetables and green tea into your diet as possible — when you can not take a supplement with anti-oxidants so you skin can fight free radicals.
Cold weather can damage even the most pristine of complexions. A little forethought and planning can help your body to nurture your skin cells as much as possible. Extra care with the products you use, adding creams with more emollients and applying them more frequently will pay off. When you are thinking of winter skin, do not forget your hands. Exposure and sliding in and out of gloves can damage not only the skin, but also the cuticles. Indulge in a rich hand cream and perhaps even a warm, soothing paraffin treatment. Knowing your skin looks great will help you to battle the bad weather blahs.