Our resident skin guru shares 5 sure-fire ways to fight your winter skin blahs. Follow these tips, visit EG for regular facials and you’ll be left asking: Wait, what winter skin?
1. BOOST NUTRIENTS
Boost nutrients both internally and externally. In the colder months, we tend to focus our diets on comfort foods that are not always nutrient rich.Vegetable-based soups and stews can comfort and allow all of the vitamins and minerals to provide us with a healthy diet that will sustain, support and strengthen delicate skin tissue. Opt for color rich veggies like deep oranges, golds, greens, and burgundies. Not only do they please your palette, they stimulate and warm your soul on cold dreary days. Grapefruit and citrus fruits are rich in Vitamin C which can boost and support collagen and elastin fibers to give your skin snap and vitality.
2. BREATHE DEEPLY
Winter months can tax your respiratory system. Practice deep abdominal breathing….Ahhhhhhhhhh….and try to take a moment to RELAX. You could use the most expensive cream, and without breath the skin will be lackluster and dull.As you apply your moisturizer, take a moment to massage it into your skin, using upward and outward movement on the face and downward on the neck.During this time take one full minute to just inhale and exhale. Asthma, allergies, colds, flu, smoking, and internal heat to rob the skin of vital oxygen….Try meditation, massage, exercise, and sleep to aid even the most dry, dehydrated skin, to restore its vitality.
3. BALANCE YOUR PH
It’s true that water and oil don’t mix, yet they are two major components of the skin. The cells that make up our body are primarily made of water. The human body is in total, 80% water. Oil is produced from our sebaceous glands to provide a protective barrier over the skin. Harsh soaps, alcohol based astringents, and harsh exfoliants can strip the skin of its natural defense system. Leaving the skin with out this protective barrier causes water to escape leaving the skin feeling dehydrated and usually mistaken for dry skin. Dry skin from oil loss is a genetic skin type. Dehydrated conditions are water loss usually caused by lifestyle.Avoid overly cleansing your skin, remember it’s not your floor, it’s your face! Using gentle oil-based cleansers and gentle toners containing simple sugars such as sucrose, fructose and glucose assist in the hydration of the skin.
4. SOOTHE & PROTECT
Moisturizers that typically work well in summer months such as oil-free moisturizers are usually not the best choice in the cold winter months.Oil is your friend, not your enemy!Oil-based creams do not cause clogging. That is an old fashioned myth. If you are using the correct unsaturated oils in a cream or moisturizer then the oils will work harmoniously with your natural oils to create a protective barrier.Even oily skins can use moisturizers that contain light unsaturated oils such as grapeseed, corn oil, and jojoba oil. Save the oil-free for humid summer days.The one thing these two seasons do have in common? Sunscreen! Don’t leave the house without a layer of sunscreen or a moisturizer with sunscreen….even though it may not always feel like the sun is out, it always is!
5. AWAKEN YOUR SENSES
Use scent to stimulate your senses with scents of Lavender, Rosemary, Cedarwood, and Citrus to warm and relax you. Essential oils affect the body, mind, and spirit. A drop or two added to a warm bath or into your moisturizer will invigorate your skin. Bathing is superior to showering.Water can draw water from the skin through evaporation.Soaking in a warm bath with scented oils is not only relaxing it can also be a great foundation to apply body creams that will seal in water causing the skin to feel hydrated and supple. Moisturizers enhanced with these natural scents can soothe, stimulate, comfort and protect…they can help you accomplish all of the goals mentioned above as well as assist in your overall health and well being.
BONUS TIP: BE HAPPY!
Finally, embrace the day, be grateful and enjoy the season. There is nothing like a cream called Happy. A state of happiness will bring out your best and most vibrant skin. Beauty comes from the inside out. Health, happiness, and beauty are one in the same.