Is your skin driving you crazy with the change in season?

What changes have you made to your routine to combat seasonal dryness causing havoc for your skin?

Unfortunately, winter often brings unwanted seasonal skin changes such as irritated, dry or flaky skin.

As our skin traps in humidity and moisture thanks to its natural oils creating a barrier for protection and hydration, winter’s extreme weather changes impact the skin barrier, weakening it through the decreasing these natural oils, leading to dry skin.

This weakening is often due to a perfect storm of environmental conditions. Overwashing and having hotter, longer showers because its colder outside. Also because its cold outside we spend more time inside with less humidity and exposure to forced heat or air from heating systems which is not always ideal for your skin.

In addition to seasonal changes, genetics and lack of vitamin D can factor into winter dry skin. Some people don’t produce enough filaggrin which plays a significant role in hydrating your skin barrier and when lacking vitamin D the skin can become inflammed, irritated and itchy.

So, what do we recommend??

Limit the length, frequency and temperature of your showers. The heat in the water dries the oils out of your skin and the water itself is also drying for your skin. Remember the warmer the water the drier your skin is going to be.

Apply your moisturiser immediately after showering. Instead of drying your skin completely, pat your skin dry and whilst still moist, apply your serums and moisturiser. The function of moisturisers is to trap in your serums and moisture in the skin so if you apply to skin thats really dry, it’s not going to be that helpful as there is no moisture to trap.

Use fragrance-free products. Fragranced products are more irritating for the skin as they contain micro-irritants and when accumulated eventually cause your skin to dry out, itch and crack.

Don’t over exfoliate. Soap and over exfoliating dry out the oils in your skin and cause damage and premature ageing. Often people see flakiness and think they need to exfoliate more however leads to further drying making the skin even itchier and drier. Exfoliating once or twice a week is more than enough.

Continue to use Sunscreen. Using a physical blocker, containing the active ingredients Zinc Oxide and Titanium dioxide actually repairs and rejuvenates skin, decreasing premature wrinkles, whilst hydrating the skin and providing the skin with essential vitamins and antioxidants.