Winter will soon be in full swing, and with less than a month remaining until this year’s party season. Meaning it is about time we started layering on the moisturiser to prevent those unpleasant patches of dry skin.
Many people believe that the same skin-care regime will see them through the changing of the seasons, but like our wardrobes we need to ditch the fragile and the flimsy for something more substantial.
Sian Dalzell, of the Lincoln based beauty spa Simpsons which is on the High Street, says that the key for winter skin care is exfoliating ‘twice a day’.
“[Exfoliating] removes any dry, dead surface skin cells. If you’re putting a moisturiser just on top of dry skin it’s only going to be absorbed by the surface dead skin, so it’s not actually going to absorb the fresh skin underneath,” explains Dalzell.
She also recommends that people with very dry skin use a moisturising face mask once or twice a week to help rehydrate the skin cells.
Dalzell says that it is equally as important to keep your skin hydrated, as dehydration lines can be mistaken for worry lines or wrinkles.
During the long winter evenings and cold dark mornings we may find ourselves reaching for our caffeine-comforts but this can wreak havoc for the condition of our skin, says Dalzell: “Any sort of caffeine, which is classed as a toxin can dehydrate the skin.”
She recommends that to try and incorporate green tea into our diets as it is considered good for detoxing: “If you’re taking toxins out of the body then you know that your body, skin, hair and nails are going to be a lot healthier naturally.”
Another winter-related problem is split, damaged nails, which are easily tangled in windswept hair. The best form of treatment, says Dalzell, is ‘cuticle oil mainly in the form of almond oil’.
“When you massage an oil in around the cuticle area you stimulate the blood flow, so not only does it keep the skin and the nail hydrated on the surface it’s … stimulating blood flow, nutrients and oxygen,” she explained.
However, it is a problem knowing which products to trust and spend money on, Dalzell’s says that it is a process of trial and error: “It’s about finding one that is suitable for you, and that is affordable for you…There are hundreds and thousands of products on the market… It depends on the quality of the product, the ingredients and the research that has gone into it”.