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The winter months can bring with them a number of different skin problems, but dry skin is the most common of them all. This is down to how there are so many different factors that contribute to dryness. From the lack of humidity in both indoor and outdoor air to the cold temperatures, biting winds, and natural decline in sebum production, it can often seem impossible to keep your skin feeling soft and dewy throughout the colder season.
If dryness in the winter is the norm for you, then, with the cold weather upon us once again, you’re probably already experiencing the roughness, flaking, and dullness that tend to accompany dry skin.
Fortunately, this year, you’re in luck – you have VouPre by your side! Read on as we explain exactly what you need to do to keep your skin from drying out this winter.
Stop Using Skincare Products Containing Drying Ingredients
As mentioned, there are numerous winter-related factors that cause dry skin, and we’ll soon explain how to overcome these. However, in the meantime, it’s important to ensure that you’re not unintentionally contributing to your dryness too by taking a look at the ingredients in the skincare products that you’re currently using.
Certain ingredients are notorious for drying out the skin’s natural oils, which you need to preserve as much as possible in the winter. Your skin doesn’t produce as much sebum in cold weather. If you strip away too much of the oil that’s already there, you’ll be leaving your skin prone to even more dryness.
Some of the biggest culprits include sulfates and certain alcohols, both of which are commonly found in cleansers. If the cleanser that you’re using contains these ingredients, it’s time to swap to a gentler, winter-friendly formula, such as the VouPre Radiance Facial Cleanser. Instead of drying your skin out, this cleanser will hydrate and moisturize with a combination of vitamin E, plant proteins, and glycerin.
In addition to your cleanser, be sure to check the rest of your products to make sure that you’re not exacerbating your regular winter dryness with your skincare routine.
Moisturize Your Dry Skin as Often as You Need to
Everyone’s skin is unique, meaning that everyone’s skin handles winter in a slightly different way. Dry skin is relative – some may experience a very mild dryness while others may end up with a face that’s flaky, peeling, and itching.
This is why it’s important to take your skin’s individual needs into account when determining how often to moisturize. Chances are that twice a day will be the minimum, which will be sufficient for some. However, people with severely dry skin may need to moisturize three or four times a day. Don’t be afraid to slather on an extra layer of moisturizer if your skin starts feeling too dry.
In terms of picking a moisturizer, go with one that contains occlusive ingredients, such as plant oils and butters. They’ll form a seal over the surface of your skin, preventing moisture from evaporating at such a fast rate. This will give you skin that feels softer and more supple.
VouPre’s Revitalizing Night Cream would be a great choice. It contains a blend of shea butter and sunflower seed oil, along with a selection of other skin-loving ingredients. Those two occlusives will work wonders on your dry skin, restoring the glow that it has been lacking.
An extra tip to keep in mind when moisturizing: always apply your moisturizer to damp skin, rather than dry skin. This way, you’ll be locking in all of those extra water molecules that are sitting on your skin’s surface. This will give your skin a boost of moisture!
Exfoliate…But Know When to Stop
Exfoliation is a great way to get rid of the dry flakes that can quickly pile up on the skin in the winter. It will give your skin a brighter and more radiant glow while also clearing the way for the rest of your skincare products to work more efficiently.
However, exfoliate too often or use an overly harsh exfoliant and you could end up with skin that’s even drier. Over-exfoliating will damage your skin’s natural barrier, making it even more difficult for your skin to retain moisture.
If you have dry skin, then you’ll likely only need to exfoliate once a week in the winter. Use a gentle exfoliator, like the VouPre Deep Renewal Facial Peel, making sure that you’ve cleansed your face first.
However, if your skin is looking particularly raw or cracked, give exfoliation a miss until your skin heals to avoid damaging your skin even further. Dry skin is extremely susceptible to damage from over-exfoliation, so pay attention to how your skin responds each time you exfoliate.
Never Leave Your Skin Bare After Cleansing or Exfoliating
While cleansing and exfoliating are great for immediately softening and smoothing the feel of the skin, they’ll still leave your skin more vulnerable to dryness. That layer of dirt and dead skin cells that were just removed may have been giving your complexion a dull finish, but they were also providing an extra layer to keep moisture trapped in your skin.
Without that layer, the skin loses moisture at a much faster rate. This begins 10 seconds or so after you’ve cleansed/exfoliated. This means that there’s no time to waste once you’re done if you want to keep your skin from drying out.
As soon as you’ve finished cleansing, gently pat your skin with a clean towel but leave it slightly damp. Then, before that moisture can evaporate away, quickly apply the next product in your skincare routine. This could be a serum, a moisturizer, or anything else, but we’d recommend following up with a toner. This will help to rebalance the pH level on the surface of your skin, which will have your skin feeling healthier and more capable of retaining moisture. Go with a hydrating formula, such as the VouPre Hydrating Toner, and you’ll also be giving your skin an extra dose of moisture!
Hydrate With a Serum
If you want your skin to look plump and bouncy, you need to make sure that your skin cells are adequately hydrated. This is tougher in the winter months because of how the dry air causes moisture to evaporate out of the skin at a much faster rate.
To counter the feeling of dehydration, you should ideally be giving your skin hydrating ingredients at every stage of your skincare routine. However, serums tend to be the best products for providing maximum hydration. They’ll keep both the surface of your skin as well as the deeper layers feeling fully quenched. Their lightweight nature means that you can layer multiple serums over each other if you want to boost that hydration even further.
One of the most popular VouPre serums for hydrating the skin is the Cannabis Facial Serum, which you’ll find in our Cannabis Collection. In addition to boasting several hydrating compounds, it’s also infused with some amazing moisturizing ingredients to lock those hydrating compounds in.
Continue Using SPF Daily
Many people stop using SPF once the weather turns colder. With the sun lower in the sky and often hidden behind clouds, those weak rays don’t feel as though they can cause much damage!
However, that’s where you’d be wrong. The sun’s UV rays will harm your skin year-round. While you may not end up with a blistering sunburn, those UV rays will still damage your skin cells, degrade your skin’s protein fibers, and dry your skin out.
This is why it’s important to continue using sunscreen throughout the winter months. This may seem like a chore but use it to your advantage. Rather than simply applying a regular sunscreen, go with an SPF moisturizer instead, like the VouPre Age Defense Cream SPF 30. This way, you’ll be able to double up on how much moisture you’re giving to your skin. This is something that dry skin will undoubtedly appreciate!
Plug in a Humidifier
During the winter, there’s no escaping dry air. Not only does the air outside lack humidity but, thanks to indoor heating systems, the air inside your home will be just as dry.
As we discussed earlier, the drier the air, the faster your skin loses moisture. The tips that we’ve shared so far will help you to prevent that but, in an ideal world, your skin wouldn’t have to deal with all of that dry air in the first place.
That’s where a humidifier can be a huge help. It will add moisture back into the air, leaving the air inside your home humid enough to give your skin some relief.
Ideally, plug it in in the room in which you spend the most time. For most people, this would be the bedroom. This can be particularly beneficial since research shows that moisture loss is even faster at night. Using a humidifier to counter this will go a long way in enabling you to wake up to skin that feels soft and silky!
Turn Down the Temperature When Showering
Remember how we talked about the importance of preserving your skin’s natural oils in the winter?
Well, in addition to certain skincare ingredients, hot water is also infamous for how it strips the skin dry. For many, this will be bad news. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as relaxing under a hot shower on a cold day.
However, if you really want to put a stop to your dry skin, turn the temperature down when showering. Keep the water as cool as you can handle – think lukewarm. It may not feel quite as comfortable but you’ll step out of the shower with skin that looks much clearer and brighter!
Of course, once you’re done showering, don’t forget to moisturize your skin while it’s still damp. This applies to both your face and your body!
Summary
Sure, you may have spent several years struggling with dry skin in the winter, but that doesn’t mean that this year needs to be the same. Instead, follow all of the tips that we’ve shared above and you’ll make it through the colder season with skin that looks soft, hydrated, and beautifully radiant!
Click here to boost your winter skincare routine with more bestsellers from VouPre.
