Now that the summer’s over and the winter is approaching, it’s time to spend more time focusing on your skin.
The winter can be a damaging time for the skin. The cold weather, bacterial environment, and lack of moisture in the atmosphere can all serve to dry it out, causing it to become brittle, chapped, cracked and flaky. It pays, therefore, to start preparing for the inevitable now so that you’re ready once the freezing temperatures and short days finally hit.
What exactly should you be doing to prepare your skin this winter and prevent dryness? Take a look at the following ideas.
Increase Your Use Of Moisturising Soaps
While soaps are great for keeping your body clean, they have the annoying side effect of removing the oils that keep your skin supple. If you use soap too often or you have skin that’s prone to dryness, then you can end up with cracked, itchy and flaky skin, especially in the winter months.
An excellent way to prepare your skin today, therefore, is to avoid traditional soaps and use those that come with moisturising agents, like Dove and Olay. These agents replace your natural skin oils, offering the best of both worlds: excellent personal hygiene and supple skin.
Use Cold Sore Treatments
Cold sores are infections that typically appear around the mouth and dry out the skin. The virus that causes the cold sores damages tissue at the surface and prevents skin from releasing fresh oils to keep itself supple, leading to chapping and cracking.
On a positive note, with the age of the internet you can order cold sore medication direct to your home without the need of visiting GP’s, but always verify you are using a trusted and fully verified UK online pharmacy like Oxford Online Pharmacy, you can get cold sore treatments which help to soothe the skin and fight infection. Cold sore medicines contain docosanol that speeds up the time that it takes the skin to recover around a sore.
Avoid Scratching Dry Skin
While dry skin can become itchy, it’s important not to scratch it. Scratching removes more of the precious oils that makes skin supple and can lead to further pain, redness and discomfort. If you find yourself scratching problem areas in the run-up to winter, try using moisturising agents. Moisturisers usually reduce the urge to itch. If you’re still struggling, try holding a cold pack against particularly itchy spots.
Don’t Use Fabric Softeners
Washing detergents and fabric softeners can have a drying effect on the skin. It’s best, therefore, to avoid the latter and choose fragrance-free washing powders.
Wear Sunscreen In The Winter Too
As the skin ages, it also becomes drier. The cells in the skin are not as able to churn out the oils that make it supple, causing it to become more prone to cracking and flaking. While there’s not an enormous amount that you can do to fight intrinsic ageing, you can protect your skin from other kinds of ageing, like photo-ageing.
Photo-ageing is where the high-energy UV light from the sun penetrates skin cells and damages their internal biological machinery. UV rays contain so much energy that they can smash both DNA stands and the systems cells use to read the DNA. Over time, this damage shows up in the form of ageing, which is why sun-exposed skin can look wrinklier.
The sun emits UV radiation in the winter too, so it’s best to wear sunscreen while outside. If you’re worried about vitamin D, you can supplement 2000 to 4000 IU per day.
Use Petroleum Jelly And Avoid Greasiness
Instead of dealing with dry skin in the middle of winter once it’s had time to develop, many people prefer to begin combating it much earlier in the year by using petroleum jelly on problem areas. Common dry spots include the elbow joint, knuckles, sides of the nose, between the eyebrows, and on the back of the knee.
Petroleum jelly can have a greasy feel and may make your skin look shiny. The trick to preventing this is to rub a small amount between your hands until the greasiness and shininess wear off and then apply to the target area.
Keep Shower Times Down
While long showers are a luxury you might enjoy, most skin experts recommend that you keep them as short as possible. The reason for this, ironically, is the drying effect of water. Hot water and soap strip the skin of natural oils. Scrubbing also removes the top layer of skin that traps moisture. You should, therefore, try to keep your showers to between five and ten minutes to prevent excessive drying of the skin.
How will you protect your skin this winter?
