Hey, it’s Cho, and I’m sitting here in my office in my robe with a blanket around my body! If you live in the Midwest of the U.S., you know the weather is going through some changes right now. While I love the cooler temperatures, I know not everyone is into it. And you know who else isn’t into the cold weather? Your skin! That’s right, your skin is more likely to have two major issues when it gets colder: loss of hydration and an increased amount of dryness. In today’s post, I’ll be giving you a few tips on how to help your skin combat these two issues!
Dehydration vs Dryness
Dehydration refers to the loss of water and the inability to retain hydration. It’s mostly due to factors such as the environment, aging, trying new skincare products and medications. What this means is that even if you have oily skin, you can also be dehydrated! If your skin is feeling tight or looking dull, that’s an obvious sign of dehydration. On the other side of the coin, dryness refers to skin having underactive oil glands. What this means is that your skin is not producing the amount of oil that it normally should. Cracking, itchiness and flaking are the biggest signs of dry skin. If you want to feel confident in your skin, you have to tackle both of these issues.
How To Combat Hydration
When it comes to keeping your skin hydrated, you want to look for two types skincare products: emollients and occlusives. An emollient is something that softens the skin, prevents itchiness and restores the skin barrier. Occlusives serve to create a physical layer that prevents water loss. Examples of these include fatty acids, bakuchiol, shea butter, oatmeal, ceramides and squalene as ingredients. I’m especially loving the Paula’s Choice Omega+ Complex Moisturizer ($35) which is helping to retain moisture throughout the entire night when your skin is working its hardest to regenerate.
Reversing the effects of dryness is achieved by increasing the water content in your skin. This can be done by looking for humectants which are products that draw water into the skin from your surrounding environment. It’s important to combine this with an occlusive which, as we learned above, traps that same water content in the skin! Aloe vera, glycerin, hyaluronic acid and alpha-hydroxy acids are just a few ingredients you should keep an eye out for when shopping around. I’ve recently upped my use of the Paula’s Choice Advanced Smoothing Treatment ($37) to twice a week instead of once.
Other Reminders
Ensuring that you have the right ingredients in your skincare for the colder weather is important for hydration but there are some other topics to take note of as well. Don’t forget that your lips are probably more likely to be chapped during the cold season. STOP buying the wrong lip balm. Please. I’ve already ranted enough about lip balms, so I’ll spare you another session here. You also want to avoid the stripping cleansers that are very foamy and opt for one that is a creamier gel texture instead. I recommend Herbivore’s Pink Cloud Rosewater +Tremella Creamy Cleanser ($24). This is a LUSH cleanser that has a lot of hydrating ingredients that will combat both dehydration and dryness such as glycerin and squalene.
The last thing I want to leave off with is the recommendation to reduce your use of BHA aka salicylic acid. I plan on increasing my use of niacinamide and azelaic acid instead. The reason why is that BHA can sometimes be drying during the winter while the combination of those other ingredients can give you similar results. For more info on how awesome niacinamide is, read here. How are you preparing for winter? Are you swapping out for any certain products in particular? If so, let me know over on Instagram or Twitter!! As a reminder, using my affiliate links above to make your purchases is a FREE way for you to support me monetarily, and I appreciate you for doing so!
