10 Tips to Healthy and Beautiful Winter Skin

It’s winter and in most parts of the country that means rain, snow, wind, and general misery as far as the weather’s concerned. These harsh elements can be brutal on your skin. Here are 10 tips to beautiful healthy skin year round:

1. Your body and the skin it’s in needs moisture and one of the simplest way to get that is to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day. Doing this will hydrate you from the inside out.
2. Keep your showers short and make sure they’re warm not hot. Hot water will actually dry out your skin.
3. While in the shower use a mild soap, your skin’s already irritated from the cold, soaps with lots of chemical additives can irritate it even more. If taking a bath, add some bath oil to the water.
4. Once out of the shower, pat yourself dry – don’t rub.
5. Apply lotion immediately after a shower to your entire body – hands, feet, face, everywhere. Doing so within the first few minutes will help to lock in some of the residual moisture. Your pores are primed to accept a moisturizer during this window of time. Also reapply moisturizer every time you wash your hands. Moisturize! Moisturize! Moisturize!
6. Exfoliate. Remove dead skin cells that cause your skin to look rough and flakey.
7. Before going out don’t forget lip balm and sunblock. Your lips can quickly become dried out and chapped, you need that extra barrier in place before you face the cold and wind. You also need to make sure you’re wearing sunblock. Even though it’s winter, the sun and it’s UV rays can still damage your skin.
8. Dress in layers. Just as you want to keep you skin warm when outside, you don’t want it to be overheated while inside.
9. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Try to pick ones with high water content and lots of vitamins – your skin will love you for it
10. Use humidifiers. There’s not much you can do about mother nature but you can add to the air’s moisture content while inside. Indoor heating tends to dry out the air, you can easily replenish it with a simple humidifier.