Keeping your skin hydrated throughout the winter can be challenging. However, below are 5 tips to follow if you want to maintain that healthy moisture all year round!
Drink Lots of Water
This might go without saying, but the first step in keeping your skin moisturized is to ensure you are drinking lots of water each day. The rule of thumb is that you should drink 8 eight-ounce glasses of water each day. The amount of water you need, however, can vary based upon temperature, altitude, and exercise, among other things. My advice – carry a water bottle and take consistent sips throughout each day. Track how much water you are drinking and note the difference in your body. If you have trouble remembering to drink water like me, consider a smart water bottle – I use Hidrate Spark. The water bottle contains a sensor and it tracks (via an app on your phone) the amount of water you drink every day. It even calculates how much water you should be drinking based upon altitude and temperature.
Take Warm (Not Hot) Showers
Nothing feels better on a cold day than hoping in a hot shower, right? Wrong! The winter months are when you should avoid hot showers. Hot water dries out your skin — literally, it just sucks the moisture right out of it. Instead, you should be taking warm, short showers to retain the moisture in your skin. To maximize the benefits from your shower, ensure you are taking showers with the door closed so the entire room will steam. This way, you will have a nice warm room to step into and the extra moisture in the air will keep your skin prepped for the next step!
Apply Oil + Lotion
Immediately after you hop out of the shower apply a layer of oil to your skin. You should choose the oil that is right for your skin, however, my favorites are: Herbivore Botanical’s Jasmine Body Oil ($29-$44), One Love Organic’s Gardenia & Tea Antioxidant Body Serum ($39), and Milk and Honey’s Bath and Body Oils No. 14 or No. 22 ($24-$36). You really cannot go wrong with any of these choices.
Once you apply the oil, you should follow it with a thick lotion to seal in the moisture. I really like Ahava’s Dead Sea Lotion. It is vegan and paraben-free and it is incredibly heavy, which makes it great for sealing in moisture.
Reduce Exfoliation
You will want to reduce the frequency that you exfoliate during the winter. Although it is tempting to continue scrubbing away with all of our various sugar scrubs, you are actually doing more harm than good when you exfoliate in the winter. Exfoliation strips the top layer of the skin, which actually dries out the skin and can reduce the skin’s ability to retain moisture. So, be mindful of how frequently you are exfoliating during the winter and each time you do exfoliate, follow with oil and a thick lotion to ensure you are replacing what you lost.
Invest in a Humidifier
One of the best purchases I acquired this winter was a humidifier. Think about it this way, if the air in your home is too dry, the air will actually pull the moisture from your skin – this causes all sorts of problems, including dryness, flakiness, and premature aging. However, by investing in a humidifier, which adds moisture to the air, you can prevent these problems and also maintaining healthier, more radiant skin.
I own a Dyson humidifier, which I was lucky to find on sale at Nordstrom Rack for over half off. I truly love it and could not imagine using another brand. Yet, there are lots of other options available for a fraction of the cost. Just make sure you choose a cool mist humidifier – remember too much heat can pull moisture from the air and it also has the potential to be a safety hazard if you have young kids or pets around.