Caring for Your Skin Through the Harsh Winter Months: 3 tips for keeping your skin looking its best

Between enjoying time with loved ones and honoring treasured traditions during the holidays, it’s the most wonderful time of year — right?! Not for your skin.

Harsh, cold winds and dry indoor air can turn a summer glow into dehydrated, dull skin. Beyond appearances, extremely dry skin can become easily irritated or painful. Yikes!

When the temperatures drop, it’s helpful to learn a few ways to combat that pesky dryness. Experts at three Cape Girardeau medical spas share their best tips for protecting your skin through the chilly winter months.

__Combine exfoliation with moisturizing__

Exfoliation is the name of the game, West Em Medical Spa owner Amanda Boatwright says. Physical exfoliation — such as through dermaplane treatments — helps to remove dead skin cells from the face. Chemical exfoliation, through products such as retinol, can also help to create a smooth canvas and buff away dry skin.

The next step? Moisturizer.

“Moisturizing is very big, obviously,” Boatwright says. “In the winter, myself, I will use [a moisturizing mask] as my moisturizer, because it’s really glowy and light on my skin.”

__Avoid products that increase dryness__

Shine Medical Aesthetics business manager Sidney McAlister says to stay conscious of products that might be irritating skin that is already dry. While she says it’s important to use some type of a retinoid year-round — whether it be retinol, retinyl or retinaldehyde — it could be too drying when combined with chilly winter air.

If someone has especially dry skin and notices significant irritation when utilizing retinol products, McAlister suggests skipping daily application during the winter months and instead opting to use them every other day. Avoiding overapplication of those potentially drying products can help skin look more youthful, she says.

“When your skin dehydrates, it’s going to be more crepey, it’s going to look more textured, it’s going to show more fine lines and wrinkles. By keeping the skin nice and hydrated and plmp, you avoid seeing those flaws,” McAlister says. “It’s good [to stay hydrated] all year round, but especially during the winter, because we all dry out in the winter months due to the elements.”

__Create a personalized winter skincare routine with hydrating facials__

Owner and nurse practitioner at Aurora Medical Spa Chelsey Becker encourages patients to use both a hydrator and moisturizer that’s appropriate for their skin type. She says there is a wide variety of moisturizers available, from products targeting extra dryness to those that are gentle on sensitive skin. Hydrators with hyaluronic acid help to pull moisture into the skin, Becker says.

“If you keep the barrier of the skin intact and keep it moisturized, you won’t have that dryness, that flakiness and the rawness through the winter months,” Becker says.

While there’s no way to control the wintry weather, stay prepared with these tools in your skincare toolkit.