Good advice for winter skin care
The cold weather is here... and here to stay! And your skin is already feeling its first effects... To avoid dryness and unsightly red blotches, follow our cold weather cosmetics advice, whatever your skin type.
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With the first signs of winter, your skin loses its bearings. Repeatedly subjected to heat and cold, skin dehydration becomes an issue.
Your skin and cold winter weather
Winter is a difficult season for skin. Whatever the ‘attack’ – wind, rain or indoor heating – your skin dries out and becomes dehydrated. As a result, your skin feels taut and uncomfortable. Researchers have studied skin’s reaction to cold weather: lipids which make up the skin’s protective barrier are not synthesised as well as they normally are, causing intensive dehydration.
The onset of winter therefore poses a real problem; you need to change your day cream and opt for more protective creams. Do take your personalised needs into account though. Most skincare ranges have products for very dry skin types, ideal for the season, or even cold creams which contain very little water and lots of oil. You must also take extra care with makeup removal. Whatever your skin type, leave aside water-based cleansers during winter and go for gentle creams and lotions.
Beware of hot-cold changes during winter
You should also be wary of thermal shocks. Going from heat to cold, and vice versa, intensifies the dilation of small blood vessels in the face. Red patches will begin to spread over your cheeks in the slightest windy weather. This is a forerunning sign of rosacea which affects the skin surface’s blood network.
Your beauty objective: limit skin water loss and reinforce capillary elasticity. The most effective creams in the long term contain plant extracts: horse chestnut, ivy, red vine, ginkgo biloba. These plants strengthen vein walls and improve blood circulation.
Focus on your lips during winter
Highly exposed and very fragile, your lips require your utmost attention. Lips have a very fine lipid structure and lip skin does not contain sebum. This means hardly any protection in cold weather.
To avoid cracked, chapped lips and other discomfort, use moisturising, restructuring lip balms generously and as often as necessary. Lip balms containing natural ingredients such as healing honey, protective plants and nourishing grapefruit extracts are very effective.
Winter regime
Here’s a few diet tips: eat plenty of essential fatty acids: fatty fish (salmon, herring), raw vegetable oils (olive, colza, etc.) and nuts (almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts).
These foods prevent nutritional deficiencies that accelerate skin drying and loss of elasticity. You can also take them in a food-supplement format (a minimum three-week course of treatment).
Copyright © 2009 Doctissimo
Posted 04.10.2010
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