01/28/2020
(Posted Jan 27, 2020 by Vivant Skin)
SHOULD YOU MOISTURIZE MORE IN WINTER?
It’s winter, and your skin is craving moisture. That doesn’t mean you should grab the biggest bottle of lotion you can find. Though you may be tempted to cocoon your skin in creamy hydration when the weather turns cold and dry, slow your moisture-seeking roll. There’s more to supple, dewy skin than you might think. Let’s make sure you’re getting it right.
Is your skin dry, or just a little dehydrated?
Both hydration (water) and moisture (oil) are essential to retain elasticity and to keep skin looking smooth and supple. Your skin can be lacking both moisture and hydration, or just one of the two. Not every skin needs moisturizing, but every skin needs hydration.
Sebum is nature’s emollient. If your skin is normally oily but feels dry in the winter, your skin is dehydrated. You might need some additional moisture, but you want to be careful about the type you use—nothing greasy or heavy, which can be occlusive and pore-clogging.
Skin that is ordinarily dry, will be dryer in winter when cold air and dry indoor heating are pulling water from the skin, leaving it dehydrated. For your skin, additional moisture is necessary.
It’s not enough just to moisturize.
It may sound counter-intuitive, but to keep skin optimally moisturized, you have to keep skin optimally exfoliated. Dead skin cells act as a barrier to moisture, and lack of moisture causes skin cells to die more rapidly than in more hydrated skin. So, the more cellular debris builds up, the drier your skin becomes. If you simply slather moisture on top of dry skin without exfoliating, you’re essentially just creating a sludge of dead skin cells and emollients. Not ideal for achieving your glowiest skin.
That ever-growing layer of dead skin cells also blocks actives in your products from delivering their beneficial ingredients. Clear the cellular debris to allow in all the good stuff that makes your skin look radiant, supple, and hydrated.
Eyes need moisture too.
The skin around your eyes is thinner and more prone to dehydration, which can cause fine lines to appear more visible.