A cold front has swept through the nation and temps are below freezing here in Kentucky. This certainly doesn’t deter my children from playing outside in the fluffy white stuff, but During the winter, dry indoor heat and low humidity outdoors can combine to cause itchy, dry skin. Needless to say, skincare during winter can be a challenge!
To take care of your family’s skin this winter, try a combination of natural approaches and tried-and-true products to work inside and out on keeping your face, eyes, lips, body and hair moisturized through the winter months.
Inside:
Eat healthy fats.
You can’t expect your skin to be moist if it isn’t being nourished on the inside. Flax and fish oils are good for internal moisturizing. Eat nuts, too, and other foods high in “good” fats such as avocado. Dip your bread in olive oil or hummus and make salad dressing from safflower, almond, or olive oil for more healthy fats.
Drink water.
Sometimes we get so busy hydrating our outsides that we forget about the inside. Skin needs water to be plump and smooth. Be sure to get your 6 to 8 glasses a day, even in the winter when you aren’t necessarily thirsty.
If you like to add a little extra flavor to your water but don’t want to pack on any calories or add sugar, Cool Gear has some handy water flavor infuser products. These BPA-free products like the Cool Gear 23-ounce Flavor Infusor Tumbler are perfect for adding sliced fruit, herbs or vegetables to your drink without fuss or mess in clean-up after. If you prefer a hot drink, the Cool Gear Tea Infuser (one of our favorites) helps you quickly brew up your favorite loose tea or herbal tea at home or on-the-go.
Outside:
Humidify your home’s air.
You can do this with a commercial humidifier, but there are other tips and tricks for increasing your home’s humidity. Dry your laundry indoors on a line, for instance (this used to be called “drip-drying”). You can also leave a pot or kettle of hot water on your heater or wood stove (safety permitting), or even just open in the room. It will evaporate and increase the humidity even if there is no heat source near it.
Apply sweet almond oil…
or coconut oil to your skin after a bath or shower. These natural oils are wonderful for the skin, and they are completely natural. Children and even babies can usually tolerate sweet almond or coconut oil on their skin.
Cut back on soap.
Most of us lather up and scrub in a hot shower or bath without really thinking about it. But your skin does not need to be scrubbed with harsh soap daily. Reserve deodorant soap for key areas of your body, such as under your arms and on the bottom of your feet, and use a mild cleanser on the rest of your skin.
Soaps that are olive or vegetable oil-based are moisturizing and cleansing. You don’t necessarily have to use any soap on your body for much of the week. Just a light loofa or net sponge in water is often enough to keep winter skin healthy. Use the mild cleanser on your body once or twice a week.
You might find that it is easier to keep your skin clean in this way if you keep on top of your hair too. Many of us need laser hair removal in order to keep up with that, so that might be something that you want to think about. As long as you are able to properly keep your skin clean, that is all that matters.
Use a variety of gentle products.
These help protect and hydrate your skin, hair, lips and body. The key is to moisturize and protect! Keep in mind that the sun can be harsh in the winter and choosing moisturizer with added SPF protection can help keep your skin protected against all the elements.
How do you combat the harsh effects of winter in your skincare routine?
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| Cool Gear Flavor Infuser products including the Tea Infuser (lower left hand corner) may be found at www.coolgearinc.com |
Special thanks to Cool Gear for sending along samples of flavor infuser products. We are not obligated in any way to provide a review, simply sharing details of this product as we found it highly beneficial for supporting winter skincare hydration. All thoughts and opinions are that of Rural Mom.
Great tips! Drinking water is definitely vital! I’ve heard a lot of people saying that applying sweet almond oil helps their skin but I’ve yet to try it for myself. I think I’ll give it a shot this winter <3
Really needed to read this! My skin always becomes dry in the winter. Will have to refer to these tips!
Great tips! The humidifier is so important and each and every single year I forget it until we are all dried up lol. Thanks so much for the reminder, I will finally beat the forced heat this year!
Love that tip to drink water. That’s very important year round!
I have horrible winter skin. It’s so bad that I have prescription lotion. I’ve never heard of using almond oil but will definitely try it!
Great tips. I have given up soda for water and I feel a big difference in how my skin feels. Thank you for sharing.
These are awesome tips! My skin is bad normally, but it is 10 times worse in the winter!
Hydration is really important on winter as it can keep your skin moisturized. Humidifiers also helps keep the skin soft on winter.
Awesome tips and those products from cool gear look amazing!
Totally agree with the water it is crucial to healthy skin. These are great tips, thankfully our weather hasn’t been very cold here this year.
These are great tips, and I’ve been needing them. Now that I’m living where winter exists again, but skin has been so dry and I’ve been getting bloody noses every day!
It’s hard to remember to drink enough water during the winter! I think my son got hydrated by eating all the snow. He ate about a handful every 5 minutes. 🙂
http://dailyleisure.com/category/travel/
Water is part of my everyday life. I drink at least 5 bottles a day. My home is very dry as I use space heaters in winter so I make sure to boil water on the stove a couple times a day to get some kind of moisture in.
Great tips! This reminds me AGAIN that I need to drink more water!
I think all of these are elements that I use, especially the oil and skin-moisturizing techniques (I have an entire cabinet of skincare products dedicated to such…), and of course, drinking lots of liquids. 🙂 Fruit-infused water is awesome!
xo,
lauriel
EyeForElegance.com
These are great tips for a healthy lifestyle! I love the tip on eating healthy fats! That is such an important thing to do!
Love the cool gear no pan intended; it definitely can be hard to look after your skin during harsh winters but your tips are awesome and very practical i use some of them too. Thanks for the soap tip liked that x
I must get one of those infusers! I’ve been looking at them for a while and need to bite the bullet and get one. I could definitely drink more water.