Winter is the season of dry skin, which is why it's important to know how to treat it before it gets worse. There are more answers to this problem than to just " drink water". There is a difference between dehydrated skin and dry skin. Obviously hydration is the first key answer, but to keep your skin healthy, you must be using the right products, and living the right lifestyle.
The ingredients in your skincare are one of the first things you will want to look at. These ingredients need to be moisturizing, replenishing, and healing. Ceramides are a great ingredient to look for, as they naturally occur in the skin and keep your water barrier working. Softening your skin and improving barrier function, ceramides will be your bestfriend. Another ingredient that treats dry
skin are emollients. These are functional and performance ingredients, meaning they are going to help keep other ingredients on your skin, as well as protect your skin barrier. Make sure you select the correct emollient though, as they can be comedogenic (pore clogging). Some safe emollients are mineral oils, fatty acids, and fatty esters. One last type of ingredient to consider are humectants. These ingredients bring and keep water on the surface of the skin. Humectants are probably the ones you have heard of, such as aloe vera, glycerin, and hyaluronic acid.
Now that we have looked into some beneficial products, it's time to look at lifestyle and how it can impact our skin. What we put into our bodies and surround ourselves with can always be reflected by our skin. Anything going wrong internally will show up outwardly on our skin. Drinking too much alcohol or caffeine can cause dehydration, which causes dry skin. Anything that is working your kidneys too hard will contribute to dry skin. Adaptogenic herbs can help combat the stress on kidneys, such as ashwaganda and magnolia. Using sunscreen everyday is vital to keeping your skin hydrated, even during the winter. This will ensure you're protecting your skin from further damage, and that your skincare can have the room to actually work during the day! Smoking can cause asphyxiated skin due to there being a lack of oxygen, making your skin appear dull. There are plenty of internal and external factors to pay attention to when it comes to your skin being dry.
Homecare is extremely important to your skin health, but there are plenty of treatments your esthetician can provide to help boost your results and keep your skin in good health where it may not be possible to do at home. Microdermabrasion is an awesome service to book, as it provides a nice exfoliation, helping with the texture that dry skin can create. Removing all the dead skin laying on your skin will help your products penetrate better. Getting a dermaplane can also help remove dead skin, along with vellus hair if you're looking for more improvement in texture, but it's not recommended for acne prone skin. Enzyme treatments are wonderful for dry skin, as they exfoliate while boosting hydration. Keeping up with these services every four to six weeks will provide an enhancement to your results from your homecare.
Dry skin during the winter can be really frustrating when you do so much to make it go away, and it just doesn't. With these tips you learned today, the war against winter dry skin is a battle won easy. Remember to be consistent, be mindful of what's around your skin, and stay hydrated!
Here are some products I use on and recommend for my clients to treat dry skin.
