When the temperatures start to dip, it’s time to rev up your daily skincare routine. A little extra effort and loving attention is all your skin needs to arrest the signs of winter dryness. You know, the chapped, dry, flaky, patchy areas that show up everywhere, on your lips, knees, elbows and heels, even around your nose if you’ve had a cold!
Invest in a luxurious body scrub, one that’s gentle and mild with a gorgeous fragrance for an extra touch of pampering. Exfoliate using your scrub in the bath, about once every three days. This helps remove dead skin cells, dirt and oil while stimulating the skin and making it more receptive to moisturizers. Use a separate face scrub to cleanse your face regularly and keep it looking clear, soft and youthful.
Once a week, treat yourself to an ‘oil bath’. Just add a capful or two of rich, deeply hydrating oil (almond or olive mixed with a drop of any essential oil for an indulgent touch) to your bath. Soak in it for half an hour… The warm water helps your skin absorb the oils and will leave it feeling really soft, soothed, renewed and nourished.
Don’t forget about knees, heels and hands – the areas where dry skin usually shows up in winter. A good trick is to enrich your regular hand and foot cream with a little almond oil, massage it in every night and then wear gloves and socks to bed. You’ll wake up with baby soft skin that’s beautifully touchable.
Also, consider switching around your moisturizer and splurging on a more intensive, creamy one for winter with added ingredients like aloe vera or honey in it for an added boost of moisture. Adding these emollients to your nightly skin-care routine will give your skin an amazing, high performance lift. Don’t ignore the skin around your eyes, so dab on a hydrating under eye cream as well.
If your lips are severely chapped in the winter cold, try gently lifting off the dead skin around your mouth with your toothbrush, and then applying your regular lip balm (which you should always keep handy through the day). A home remedy for chapped lips is to apply a mix of honey and Vaseline at night.
Finally, hydrate from the inside out by remembering to drink lots of water.
