Protecting Your Skin With Preventive Skin Care
In the winter, it feels good to wrap yourself up in heavy sweaters and turn up the heat in your house. But have you given any thought to what’s happening to your skin as it gets colder? That dry, itchy skin you get in the winter can be a direct result of trying to keep warm. However, winter skin can be prevented with a few simple changes to your skin care routine.
The skin is made up of several layers of cells. The epidermis, the top layer of the skin, along with the oil glands, produce lipids, and these lipids keep the skin from losing moisture and make it soft and supple. But your skin is constantly losing moisture into the air, and every time you wash your skin you strip away these lipids, letting more moisture evaporate and drying the skin. However, in humid conditions, the skin can replenish itself by soaking up moisture from the air. So, when the humidity drops, as it does in many places in the winter, your skin loses another opportunity to moisturize itself. Couple that with the low humidity of indoor heating, and hotter showers and baths, and your skin can become dry and irritated.
It’s these cold weather activities, such as taking hotter showers and turning up the heat that can cause dry skin during the winter.
Hot Showers and Other Skin Care No-No’s
The frigid temperatures may make a long, hot bath or shower sound like heaven, but hot water can wreak havoc on your skin.
Try taking lukewarm showers, patting the skin gently afterward with a towel, and applying a moisturizer within three minutes of stepping out of the shower to lock in moisture. Look for lotions or creams with any of the following ingredients: petrolatum, mineral oil, linoleic acid, ceramides, dimethicone or glycerin.
Other winter skin-care advice:
- Wear appropriate clothing to cover skin and protect it from extreme temperatures and wind.
- Moisturize skin again at bedtime. Wear light cotton socks and gloves after applying lotion for very dry, cracked skin.
- Use a humidifier in the bedroom or living room once the relative humidity inside drops below 60%.
- Don’t overheat your home. Excessive heat draws moisture out of the skin.
- Avoid sleeping with an electric blanket.
- Use a mild soap that is fragrance-free or contains moisturizing ingredients.
Healthy Hands, Healthy Body
Keeping your skin, especially your hands, clean and healthy can also help prevent the spread of common winter illnesses, like colds and flu.
Researchers say washing your hands with plain soap and water will kill most germs and help reduce your risk of getting sick. Using a mild soap or one that contains added moisturizers and warm, not hot, water when washing your hands will also help prevent moisture loss.
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