Keeping Your Skin Hydrated in Winter: 8 Expert Tips
Keeping your skin hydrated and healthy in these months with harsh, cold, winter air can be a hard thing to do! Freezing temperatures and dry air can make your skin feel tight, itchy, and flaky but they can also highlight certain fine lines, wrinkles, and pigmentation because your skin is so dry.
Follow these expert hydration tips to ensure your skin stays soft, healthy, youthful, and glowing all year round.
Stop Showering with Hot Water
Switch from hot water to warm or room-temperature water! Showering or bathing in hot water is severely dehydrating for your skin. Hot water disrupts your skin’s barrier and strips your skin of natural sebum, leaving it unable to moisturize and soften itself. If you can reduce the heat of your water, we can save your skin from feeling itchy, sensitive, or flaky.
scrub me secret: If you can handle the cold, giving yourself a cold rinse at the end of your shower can give your skin and hair some major benefits. A cold rinse yields shinier hair, firmer feeling skin, and a more even complexion.
2. Layer Collagen Boost & Hydration Products
Serums made with peptides and other ingredients that help boost and strengthen your collagen (like mushroom extracts) help your skin feel firm, resilient, and “bouncy”. This type of serum layered with a serum that infuses your skin cells with hydration to soften and plump is perfect for curing dry, dehydrated, wrinkled skin. My facial clients always ask me what’s something they can change about their skincare routine in the winter and I think adding a hyaluronic acid, peptide, or collagen boost serum is a great idea. Chances are you already are using one or 2 of these items, then you can just add one more!
My favorite combination is layering hyaluronic acid serum with Josh Rosebrook Bioidentical Collagen Serum, followed by a peptide serum. Then I apply hydrating SPF.
3. Use a Hydrating Toner or Face Mist - Reduce Your Use of Astringent Toner
So what is the difference between a hydrating toner and an astringent toner? An astringent toner has oil control ingredients like witch hazel, salicylic acid, or willow bark. A hydrating toner may contain ingredients like aloe, water, rose water, or hyaluronic acid; ingredients meant to add hydration molecules to your skin cells.
Using a hydrating toner daily instead of an astringent toner can turn your skin from dry and sensitive to soft and calm. Even oily skin types can benefit from a hydrating toner, it can balance and soothe your skin after cleansing and/or exfoliating while also helping your skin feel refreshed.
Side note: There is another category of toners that have chemical exfoliants like glycolic acid, lactic acid, and malic acid, to name a few. These are not necessarily toners in my opinion, but they are marketed as such so we will live with it. These liquid exfoliants are helpful for softening the skin but if you overuse them, especially in the winter, your skin can become chapped and red. Be aware of the ingredients of your skincare so you know when and how often to use it.
Questions about which order to use your skincare items? This blog post is your guide to layering products!
4. Physically Exfoliate Face & Body 1-2x a Week
Physical exfoliation is when you use something like a scrub or scrubbing tool to buff away dead skin cells and create circulation in your skin tissues. This type of exfoliation is helpful during the winter months because it not only takes away dead and dry skin cells but also brings more oxygen and blood flow to your skin’s tissues. This is rejuvenating and softening for your skin and helps your hydrating skincare products absorb better. Only exfoliate 1-2x a week for best results and to avoid over-exfoliation and skin damage.
For physical facial exfoliation, you’ll want to use something that doesn’t cause damage; this would be a very fine-grained facial scrub or a silicon facial scrubber. I like to exfoliate my face in the evening, after double cleansing, before applying serums and moisturizers.
Body exfoliation can be a little bit more aggressive than your face. I love using body scrub gloves to dry brush my skin before showering or entering a sauna. You can also physically exfoliate your body using a body scrub or soap bar with added exfoliants.
scrub me secret: another tip I have for combating dry skin on your body is to use a soap made with nutrient-rich oils and other ingredients that condition your skin. I would also recommend using a soap or body wash that doesn’t have perfume or artificial fragrance as those ingredients can also dry out your skin.
5. Drink Electrolytes with Skin Benefits
Electrolytes are minerals that help your body regulate hydration and send it to the areas you need it most, keeping you more hydrated than just drinking water alone. For better hydration, I think we should all have a serving of electrolytes daily with your normal water intake. Minerals found in sea salt are the main source of electrolytes in the electrolyte powders I like to drink. These minerals are naturally derived and, when ingested properly and in the right amounts, have great benefits for your bodies.
The specific electrolyte I prefer also contains ceramides for shiner stronger hair and stronger skin plus hyaluronic acid for increased moisture. I also like to choose an electrolyte powder or drink that does not have processed sugars.
6. Protect Exposed Skin from Winter Air
When the air is cold and has low humidity levels, it steals hydration and moisture from your skin. We can hydrate internally and externally and give your skin a lot of moisture but sometimes the air is so harsh that it chaps and dries out the healthiest and most moisturized skin.
You can give your skin an extra layer of defense by using a multipurpose balm to coat extra dry or sensitive areas like the nose, hands, tops of cheeks, or anywhere you please. You would use a multipurpose balm over all your other skincare like serums, lotion, and SPF. Another option for defending skin against the winter air is applying a moisturizing facial balm underneath your SPF. Facial balms are made with oils and butter that coat your skin with a layer of moisture, this is an excellent choice for dry or aging skin types.
7. Use Shea on Your Body
Shea butter is a plant-derived ingredient that is rich in vitamin E and antioxidants. Shea butter is both a humectant and an emollient ingredient, meaning it helps lock moisture into the skin and draw more hydration to the skin cells. This makes it perfect for treating and curing dry skin. Much better than a lotion that will leave your skin feeling soothed or soft only for a short time.
scrub me secret: so many shea body butters are out on the market. Make sure to look for items that are free of artificial fragrances and perfumes. I like to choose items with minimal ingredients that I can recognize and understand the purpose of. This way I ensure my body is absorbing the best ingredients.
8. Drink Bone Broth
Bone broth is one of my go-to items to drink for glowing skin. Bone broth contains collagen, amino acids, and other nutrients that are essential for repairing your skin’s tissues and keeping it firm and strong. Incorporating nutrient-rich items in your daily diet helps your skin cells and tissues to be healthy and strong so it is not as easily damaged by the winter weather.
Skin hydrating products mentioned in the blog
scrub me secret: If you are an in-person customer of mine or a member of my email list you might already know this but I’m moving to Colorado this year. I know I will be using ALL of these skin hydration tips because Colorado can be super dry! I’m looking forward to bringing all my skincare items and expertise to the city of Boulder to help everyone there feel moisturized, healthy, and glowing!
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