Fall is here and winter is coming. It’s that time of year where most of us get dry skin. Dry skin is due to low humidity at low temperature. To keep your skin soft and supple, you need to moisturize your skin and keep it in. Here are some tips that will help you keep your skin moisturized throughout this cold weather. I’ll mainly focus on products and DIY recipes that will help increase and lock in your skin’s moisture for the winter.
Minimize Hot Showers
I know it’s so tempting to take a long hot shower, especially during cold weathers, but hot water robs the skin of moisture causing dry skin. You should keep your hot showers short, approximately 15 minutes, and try to limit it to one shower per day.
Moisturize After Showering
Most people tend to forget to moisturize after they shower. However, in the fall and winter, this step is a MUST! I recommend using an oil moisturizer. Personally, I love True Blue Spa Moisturizing Oil Spray. For a cheaper alternative, Johnson’s Baby Oil works great too. The reason why I recommend oil is because it will lock in moisture 10 times more than regular body lotion and more readily absorbed into your pores than regular body lotion. True Blue Spa Putting’ On The Spritz Moisturizing Oil contains orange peel and aloe extracts that will soothe and moisturize your skin and the vitamin C & E will help prevent free radical damage. Johnson’s Baby Oil’s main ingredients are aloe vera and vitamin E, which will help moisturize your skin and prevent future skin damage. The additional bonus of using oil over lotion for this fall and winter seasons is that your skin will look super silky and toned—light will reflect off your oiled skin enhancing your features.
However, if you do not have any body oil, my next recommendation would be body cream. Creams for the body tend to be a better moisturizer and are better tolerated by the skin. Most are non-greasy which works well with most skin types and helps the skin maintain moisture. Body creams are particularly useful during the cold because it is easily absorbed by the skin. Body lotion, on the other hand, is generally used for mild cases of dry skin and when moisture is more available like in the summer and spring. I recommend using True Blue Spa Lay It On Thick Intense Moisture Body Cream With Shea Butter. I love this product because the cream makes my skin feel instantly moisturized and it keeps my skin moisturized for a few hours. A cheaper alternative would be any Bath and Body Works Signature Body Cream. My favorite is their Moonlight Path Body Cream, which instantly softens my skin for longer periods of time because the product contains Avocado and Almond oils.
Moisturize Your Hands Throughout The Day
My hands get extremely dry throughout the day. This is because the hands are the most exposed body part and the most susceptible to weather. I recommend The Body Shop Hand Cream in Wild Rose. This hand cream not only even outs your skin tone but it hydrates your hands too. Another hand cream I love using during the cold is L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream that only needs a small application to work wonders on your skin and it’s not greasy.
Stay Hydrated
The weather will externally dry your skin and dehydration will internally dry your skin. Dehydration will make your skin look dull and dry, so drink at least 9 glasses of water per day.
Aloe Vera Mask
Keeping your face hydrated is very important during the summer because your face is the first thing people see. Not to mention, it’s very hard to evenly apply foundation with dry cracked in. Aloe vera is one of the key ingredients in most body oils and creams. The main reason is because aloe vera is extremely moisturizing! Just rub some of the aloe vera gels on your face and neck and wait for it to dry before washing it off with lukewarm water. For super dry skin, add an egg yolk and olive oil to the aloe vera gel, which will instantly rejuvenate dry wrinkled skin.
My favorite blackhead treatment is the lemon mask. Whenever you’re cooking with lemon, rub some lemon juice or leftover lemon pulp on your CLEAN face, especially your problematic areas like your nose and chin. This will clear up your blackhead right up if you apply 2-3 times a day for a few weeks. This mask works because lemon is full of Vitamin C, which helps minimize fine lines, scars, and wrinkles and can stimulate the synthesis of collagen, and Alpha Hydroxy Acid, which naturally exfoliates the skin, penetrates the excess oil production, and treats the acne.
Nose strips or pore strips are the same thing, but for this post I’ll refer to them as nose strips. These strips work wonders on my blackheads. They pull out the huge blackheads so easily and sometimes it even gets the daintier ones. However, the trick is to open your pores before applying the nose strip, so steam your face beforehand. This allows the glue to adhere directly to the blackhead. My favorite nose strips are the Cettua Charcoal Silky and Clear Nose Strips. I’ve found this particular product works better than the Biore Pore Perfect Deep Cleaning Pore Strips, and they’re a lot cheap. Another bonus is the addition ingredient: Charcoal. Charcoal provides excellent absorption of impurities and gives a cool refreshing feeling while the strip is drying.
