Winter Skincare Guide: Signs & How To Fix It

This the season of dry skin, fa la la la la flaky skin. It’s that time of the year when you feel your skin’s presence. As it begs for your attention by being too tight, itchy and annoying. Dry skin is a result of your body not being able to produce enough natural oils or hydrate itself. For some of you, it’s a constant burden, whatever the weather while for others it comes with the onset of winter.

Now, moisturizer and hydration are no brainer dry skin solutions. Also, essential for winter skincare regimes. But there are many other reasons and signs of dryness that we fail to notice or choose to ignore it. Dry skin is prone to premature aging, so it’s better to head start with dry skin solutions early to keep your skin from losing its youthful glow.

Here are a few signs that you need to keep an eye out for to know if your skin is getting dry

1) Do you feel like your skin is getting tugged or too tight? Tight skin can crack very easily.

2) Fine lines near eyes and mouth are screaming dry skin and early aging signs.

3) Your lips or feet start getting cracks and in extreme cases even start bleeding.

4) Notice fine powdery layer or flaky skin post-showers? A common problem with dryness is scaly skin.

5) Take the scratch test. Draw a single line with your nail on your skin and if it's white, well there you go.

6) Dry skin can get itchy! Remember that old scratchy sweater? Yeah, it gets that bad.

7) Scratching often can make your skin inflamed and cause redness. If there are angry red patches on your body better get them checked.

8) Grey ashy looking elbows and knees. It’s more visible on darker skin tones.

9) When your skin feels like sandpaper.

10) Random dark spots around your body with scaly skin on them shouldn’t be dismissed as pimple scarring, as it’s a sign of dry skin.

11) When your complexion resembles one of Tim Burton’s characters.

12) You just turned 40! The older you get your skin gets thinner and dryer. With dry skin, it might come a little too soon.

13) If it’s too (dry) hot or cold where you live, the weather conditions are dehydrating your skin, resulting in dryness.

And here’s what you can do about it

It may take some lifestyle changes or habits, but it’s important for your skin in the long run. You can thank us later.

1. MOISTURIZE!

Let's begin with the obvious one. Moisturizing is the ultimatum for dry skin solutions. For winter skincare, try to find a moisturizer with a thicker consistency. A hack to make your moisturizer last is to apply it on damp skin right after a shower. It’ll help the product go deeper and make it work harder.

2. Hydrate yourself

Drink enough fluids, so you are hydrating from within. During winters, skin gets dehydrated. Dry skin is especially prone to dehydration, as they are not good at holding water. Add products with Hyaluronic Acid (HA) like serums, masks, or supplements (if things get too bad). HA is a great dry skin solution as it helps to retain water and helps you get dewy, soft skin.

3. Don’t daydream inside your shower

We know you love scalding hot showers during winters, it feels so good but it’s BAD for your skin. It strips off your natural oil making your skin dryer. Take no more than 10 min long showers with warm water and you are good to go. Also, avoid using harsh soaps and switch to mild shower gels.

4. Lock in that moisture!

You may find yourself reaching out for lotion way too often, since it doesn't seem to last long. Using sleeping masks will help you wake up to plump, dewy skin in the morning. They make a great addition to your winter skincare regime.

Keep your lotion and lip balm ready this season to fight dry skin. May you enjoy a well-nourished, hydrated winter wonderland!

Courtesy : Sangini Kaul (Skincare Enthusiast)