Brittany Lauro | Editor-in-Chief –
The unwelcome beep-beep from your alarm clock begins to radiate through your quiet room in the early hours of the frigid morning. Your feet hesitantly make their way to the bitter-cold tile as you reluctantly leave the warmth of your bed. You walk over to the mirror, take a look, and so it begins: the endless battle between you and your dry, lifeless skin brought on by winter weather.
It is no secret that when the weather turns from warm and delightful to cold and frightful, our skin changes with it.
“Winter is definitely brutal on the skin,” explains Jennifer Graham, an esthetician of 15 years and owner of The Apothecary Newport located on Memorial Boulevard in Newport. “Between the wind, the temperature and the low humidity, skin takes a beating and gets chapped, cracked, and flaky.”
These winter flakes (the ones not made of snow) are a direct result of low humidity in the air. According to Consumer Reports on Health, the dryness of the air depends on its humidity, which plummets from an average of 70 percent to 20 percent indoors during the wintertime. The result is flaky skin about as unwelcome as that light-up reindeer sweater you got for Christmas last year.
So you pop the tops of beauty balms, pump endless convenience store lotions, dip your fingers into countless jars of crèmes, but nothing cures the flakes or the frustration. Waving your white flag, you rub on the closest lotion from your militia of moisturizers and pair it with an extravagant blouse, hoping to distract the eyes of those you encounter from your lifeless skin.
The fact of the matter is you don’t need an army of lotions and your white flag need not be raised to winter. Here’s some advice on how to keep your skin rejuvenated so it doesn’t resemble that pair of alligator skin shoes on the bottom rack of your closet.
1. Know what’s in your products
When it comes to finding the right product to moisturize your skin, the battle is never easily won. You travel to the drug store thinking you’ll grab the first jar you see and be done. You confidently stride through the automatic doors and low and behold: endless aisles of moisturizers. There’s balms, crèmes, oils, a jazzy combo called cream oil, serums, noncomedogenics…is that even English? Different brands. Different prices. All the same headache. So how do you choose?
Dr. Kenneth Arndt, one of the premier academic clinicians in dermatology and author of The Manual of Dermatologic Therapeutics, has extensive experience with keeping dry skin well moisturized. According to a Harvard Health Newsletter written by Arndt, when it comes to buying a quality moisturizer, there are certain ingredients you want to look for.
First, make sure your weapon of choice is locked and loaded with water. “Applying an oily substance to the skin without also resupplying it with water—either from the moisturizer or from another outside source like a bath—is ineffective: you’d just end up with greasy skin that is still dry and cracked,” says Arndt.
Second, make sure your moisturizer contains ingredients called humectants. Humectants draw moisture to the epidermis (the top layer of the skin) from the air and from deeper layers of your skin. Common humectants to scan your ingredients label for include glycerin, hyaluronic acid, pantherol, sorbitol, and urea. “Moisturizers are most effective when they contain hylauronic acid,” says Graham. “It holds 1000x its weight in water so it’s super-duper moisturizing.” Super-duper moisturizing skills? What are you waiting for?
Once these miracle-working humectants attract moisture from surrounding sources, ingredients called occlusives are needed to finish the job. These elements are fatty or waxy substances that essentially seal moisture into the skin. Commonly used occlusives include cetyl alcohol, lecithin, mineral oil, paraffin, and stearic acid.
According to Nyisha Grissett-Newby, esthetician for 22 years and manager of the Clinique counter at Macy’s department store in Milford, CT, it is important to avoid products containing the occlusive lanolin. “Lanolin has a very high oil content so it sits on top of the skin and can cause break outs,” explains Grissett-Newby.
2. Eat healthy to look healthy
Remember, nutrition on the inside directly benefits your appearance on the outside. Eating a well-balanced diet can benefit dry, irritated skin.
Recent research released by Consumer Reports on Health has indicated that diets low in essential fatty acids can result in dry skin. To avoid unwanted flakes, make sure you are consuming a sufficient amount of omega-3 fatty acids. These essential oils act as internal moisturizers, forming a waterproof barrier that decreases “trans epidermal water loss” or TEWL and protects the moisture content of skin. Fatty acids are commonly found in salmon, flaxseed, tuna, canola oil, nuts and avocado. Yes, that’s right; avocado can be used for more than your nightly facemask. Omega-3s can also be found in supplemental form at your local drugstore.
After you’ve gotten the daily dosage of fatty acids, brew yourself a cup of warm cocoa and kick your feet up. Chocolate, along with green tea and wine, contains high concentrations of a flavonol called epicatechin. In a study published in the 2006 American Society for Nutrition, 24 female subjects consumed an epicatechin-rich cocoa beverage daily for 12 weeks. The end of the trial proved that consuming cocoa flavanols improves skin texture, roughness, and scaling. Studies also revealed that epicatechin ultimately increases blood flow to the skin, boosting nutrient and oxygen supply in order to keep skin healthy and hydrated.
3. Replace stolen moisture
It is fundamental to skin health to replace moisture stolen by the bone-dry air that accompanies winter.
Humidifiers can help restore moisture in the air. (Note: fill a pan with water and place it on top of your heater to substitute for a pricey humidifier). Even if you don’t plan on using a humidifier, setting your thermostat no higher than 68 degrees will help keep air humid so it won’t steal moisture from your skin.
Consider taking lukewarm instead of steaming hot showers. “Hot water takes oils away, so there’s less to lubricate the skin,” explains Graham. “Steaming hot showers are just a no-no.”
In addition to lowering the water temperature of your bath, consider shortening the time span. Admittedly, nothing is better than relaxing in a long, warm shower. However, any more than 10-15 minutes is enough to wash away essential fatty substances in the skin that help retain water, explains Arndt.
After bathing, do not rub your skin dry with a towel. Instead, pat dry to avoid eliminating any protective oils. Apply a moisturizer within three minutes of drying your skin. This three-minute rule helps seal in moisture and prevents evaporation of water added to your skin from showering.
Remember to exfoliate. According to Graham, “Most people think you should avoid exfoliating during the winter because it will dry your skin out even more, but it’s actually the opposite, you want to exfoliate about twice a week.” During the winter, you accumulate an excess of dry skin. Exfoliating not only your skin, but also your lips, helps to eliminate this problem, making it easier for your moisturizer to penetrate your skin and become effective.
“Winter makes your skin uncomfortable, flaky and dry,” says Grissett-Newby. “Definitely keep your skin hydrated, definitely drink a good amount of water and moisturize at least twice a day.”
