3 Winter Skin Care Tips to Fight the Chill this Season
We all know what the combination of cold air, low humidity and dry heat running indoors can do to us during the winter season. Our skin is left feeling dry, flaky and itchy. To help you combat the cold, we’ve put together some winter skin care tips. General skin health in the winter means that your skin is free of dirt buildup, both from the external environment and from your own surface oil. If left on your face, these can cause inflammation, uneven pigmentation and acne scarring.
So where do you get started? Certainly a powerful step in the right direction is to have a humidifier. Running the heat non-stop in the office and at home literally dries us out and reduces moisture. Humidifiers put that moisture back into the air, while also keeping our nasal passages clear and healthy. But our skin needs more than that to stay healthy during the winter.
Winter skin care truly is as simple as 1-2-3. Regularly cleanse, then exfoliate and lastly strengthen your skin to maintain that youthful glow all winter long. Check out my YouTube video below. Fun fact: I literally pulled these skin care and anti-aging products from my own bathroom counter to demo in this video. So if the containers don’t look full, that’s because I practice what I preach. See for yourself!
Winter Skin Care Tip 1: CLEANSE
Just because it’s winter, doesn’t mean you need to stop your healthy habits! Keep up with regular cleansing in the morning and evening. When you come in for your consultation, we will discuss your skin type. For the majority of us who have combination skin with that oily T zone and almost dry cheek area, I will often recommend the ZO Skin Health Exfoliating Cleanser.
This cleanser has jojoba esters to help gently exfoliate, and encapsulated vitamin E and tea tree oil to provide antioxidant protection. The gentle cleanser and hydrating cleansers are other excellent options for folks who don’t suffer from oily skin and they are equally therapeutic. These cleansers use natural oat amino acids and botanical extracts to hydrate the skin and soothe irritated, inflamed skin.
Winter Skin Care Tip 2: EXFOLIATE
I cannot overstate the importance of regular exfoliation for winter skin care. Think about it this way, the dull, dry, old skin just cakes up on your face, especially when you slather on heavy moisturizers. Exfoliation – both mechanical and chemical – helps remove dead skin from the surface. It also allows the new skin to literally come to the surface. This helps with circulation in your face, while also allowing the more therapeutic products (like the collagen strengtheners) to penetrate deep enough into your skin so they can get to work.
When it comes to mechanical exfoliation, ZO Skin Health Exfoliating Polish is a solid choice. The fine magnesium crystals in this product remove dirt and old cells while the vitamins A, C and E are potent antioxidants in the polish to protect your youthful skin cells that are now on top. This product is designed to improve your skin texture with each use.
The best chemical exfoliation products use natural and synthetic therapeutics to stimulate your cells to turnover and produce new skin, faster and more frequently. Products in the retinoic acid family accomplish this quite well. Examples include Refissa (prescription tretinoin), Retinol Skin Brighteners, and Wrinkle and Texture Repair. Be sure to use effective and non-oily sunscreen while applying retinoic acid and its derivatives to protect your new skin from the sun’s harmful rays. You won’t find these at a makeup counter or on Amazon. This potent, clinically proven and highly effective ZO Skin Health Skin Care line is available under the care of a doctor.
Winter Skin Care Tip 3: STRENGTHEN
After we get rid of the makeup, oil, dead skin cells and gunk that cakes up on our skin, it’s time to strengthen the new cells and their building blocks (collagen). Doing so makes the new skin look and feel refreshed, tight and strong. We do this with a combination of products.
Our heavy hitters are Growth Factor Serum, recently featured in Oprah Magazine, and Daily Power Defense, a proven anti-aging skin care solution. Growth Factor Serum is a crucial part of your winter skin care regimen. This is because it calms and soothes the skin while also strengthening the collagen, minimizing fine lines and wrinkles. Daily Power Defense has powerful DNA repair enzymes to help your skin repair the outer barrier while also stimulating collagen production.
Even the delicate, thin under-eye skin can benefit from the collagen boost of retinols. The retinol in Hydrafirm helps plump and tighten that lower eyelid skin while the caffeine (you heard me right!) in this eye cream from daytime use literally zaps the veins under your eyes so they are clamped down. That relieves that greenish or dark coloration from the dilated veins and translucent thin eyelid skin. You don’t have to look more tired and much older than you feel!
Last but not least, a chemical peel is a great way to give your skin a booster. After we have you on the proper, custom-fit skin care regimen for you, we can boost your skin care with a chemical peel to rapidly and intensely stimulate a new layer of skin. This peel is perfect for the winter when you are minimizing your sun exposure in general, and the downtime is minimal. Still not convinced? Just see what Miss America thought when she had hers done!
So there you have it! Our top 3 winter skin care tips to set and maintain good skin health throughout the season. We start with good cleansing habits to protect and hydrate the skin. Next, we focus on exfoliation to remove the dead skin cells and prime for new skin to grow. To finish it off, we strengthen with growth factors, collagen boosting and DNA repair. As a final touch, a chemical peel stimulates new skin for refreshed and healthy skin. Come visit us at Tannan Plastic Surgery. Together we develop a customized skin care plan that’s right for you!
