Winter can leave skin feeling unpleasantly rough, dry, cracked, and even sore despite the best efforts of many to keep it in good shape. Fortunately, when the cold weather starts to warm up keeping skin looking good and feeling healthy can be made easier thanks to the climate. However, you can help the process along with some basic skincare habits at home.
Keeping Your Skin Moisturised
The most common skin issue after the winter cold is the dryness that occurs. Chapped hands and patches of rough, flaky skin can be very unpleasant to live with both in terms of appearance and feeling. To combat this, it’s important to keep your skin moisturised. It may be tempting to keep washing your hands regularly – after all, water is wet – but this can have the opposite effect. By continually washing and drying your hands this both draws moisture from your skin and wipes away natural oils.
Of course, everyone needs to wash their hands for hygiene reasons, so it’s important incorporate moisturisers into your skincare regime for both your hands and elsewhere on your body. When actually washing your hands using a soap with a moisturiser in it – as well as warm water – will help. Additionally, using another specialised moisturiser while your hands are a little damp will also help. A bit of trial and error can help you find non-greasy products and keep your skin feeling supple.
Picking Skincare Products to Reduce Irritation
Post-winter skincare doesn’t stop at making your skin soft and smooth, for many irritation is a real issue as well. Redness, itchiness, and soreness are frequent occurrences when it’s cold and this is often exacerbated by people scratching or rubbing to provide short term relief. However, there are habits and adjustments that can be adopted to hep restore – and may be even prevent – irritation.
The easiest adjustment is to use gentler skin cleaning products and the simplest thing to change is your shower gel. Many
shower gels are popular due to the scent or even appearance of the liquid, but many of these are tougher on sensitive skin. For those who suffer from irritation, a product with fewer additives that are labelled as such will help. To go one step further you can purchase gentle no rinse products, such as this offering from Nilaqua. Not only is the body wash designed to be gentle, but you can also use it when you feel you’re over washing your skin, causing it to dry out the natural oils.
Consider Seeing a Doctor
Sometimes, despite all your efforts and all the E45 in the world, your skin just doesn’t seem to get any better. Redness and irritation gets worse and, in some cases, it’s even painful to the touch. In these most serious of cases its worth booking an appointment with your GP to take a closer look and make sure it’s not due to an underlying condition, such as eczema. Their professional expertise can diagnose the reasons for your skincare woe – or they can refer you to a dermatologist – and prescribe a product that has more oomph to tackle the issue. This may seem like a lot of hassle to simply make you skin better, but the end result will be more than worth it when you experience a daily difference.