Winter skin care: Keep your skin in top shape through the cold, dry winter

 

 The harsh cold climate and dry indoor air during winter can leave skin in less-than-ideal shape. Use these tips for winter skin care so you can keep your skin healthy moisturized and looking good all season long.

Winter skin care tips

Caring for skin during winter takes just a little extra time and effort because the conditions are rather extreme for our tender protective barrier. Skin gets exposed to the elements: cold air whipping wind sun reflecting off snow. Low humidity is common in colder climates stealing moisture from skin every second of every day. And indoors it's blasted with dry heat.

It's no wonder our skin often ends up dry flaky and itchy. And once dryness starts skin can more easily crack and bleed.A woman in a winter coat and hat.

These tips will help you prevent that uncomfortable unsightly result and keep your skin healthy and happy through the winter months.

Keep the moisture you have. The natural oils your skin produces also help protect it and keep it healthy. It's a good idea to avoid long baths and showers and you shouldn't wash your body too frequently either. When you do use warm not hot water. After bathing or showering pat dry and moisturize your damp skin.
Add moisture to your home. To counter the drying effects of indoor heat the i would suggests running a humidifier. You can use a portable or tabletop model or one that integrates with your existing heating system. Moisture in the air will be absorbed by your skin.
Add moisture from the inside out. Increasing your water intake will help hydrate your skin.
Don't forget sunscreen. Just because it's cold outside doesn't mean the sun isn't affecting your skin . The sun reflecting off snow means UV rays are hitting you from additional angles.

Moisturize your skin thoroughly. Switch to an oil-based moisturizer in the winter; your skin will appreciate it. Consider overnight deep moisturizer treatments which can help particularly dry areas like hands feet elbows knees and lips. Cover with cotton gloves and socks to hold the moisture in all night long.
Switch your cleanser. It's a good idea to trade in your current body wash for a more moisturizing hydrating cleanser in winter particularly if your usual choice contains drying ingredients like glycolic or salicylic acid. Tone and moisturize within 30 seconds of finishing cleansing to avoid further dehydration.

Take extra care. Winter skin is more fragile so if you have a skin condition like eczema or psoriasis be sure to avoid any irritants or allergens that you know flare your condition.

 

 1. Take a tablespoon of fresh aloe vera gel and add a few drops of fresh lemon juice. Mix it well and apply it on your dry and patchy skin. This helps soothe your skin and restore its health!

2. Cut a cucumber in half and then grind it to make some pulp. Mix 2 teaspoons of honey with it and make a paste. Apply this on your irritated or red skin to soothe it. Cucumber is known to have a soothing impact on your skin and both the ingredients hydrate and moisturize your skin. 

 

3. Make face mask from honey and cinnamon to cleanse your skin and moisturise it. Mix 2 tablespoons of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder and make a smooth paste for your skin. Leave in on for 20 minutes and then rinse with warm water.

 

4. You can also use some milk for your skin. Mix 4 tablespoons of milk or 2 tablespoons of milk powder with one tablespoon of honey and half tablespoon of turmeric powder. Add some water if needed and make a paste and avoid lumps. Apply a thin layer on your face and then let it sit for 20 to 25 minutes and rinse with lukewarm water.

 

5. Papaya is rich in antioxidants and hydrates and soothes your skin. Take some papaya and crush it to make some pulp and mix it with a tablespoon of honey. Mix it well and make a paste. Apply it on your face and neck and let it sit for up to 20 minutes and wash it off with warm water.

Maintain Healthy Nails and Cuticles at Home

 

As we all do our part to help flatten the curve, nail salon appointments are on hold indefinitely. As a result, you might have some questions about maintaining healthy nails and cuticles right about now—like how to perform an at-home manicure without the mess, or how to remove a gel or dip manicure without damaging your nails. If that’s the case, we’ve got you covered.

Here are some basic tips to help you maintain healthy nails and cuticles right now (and some tips to keep them looking pretty, while you’re at it).

How do I keep my nails and cuticles healthy?
First up, no cutting your cuticles or pushing them back. Keep them moisturized, but otherwise leave them alone.

How to strengthen nails

1. Moisturize your nails
Moisturizing is a well-known secret to healthy skin, but it’s often overlooked in nail care. While dry, brittle nails can be the result of many factors, they’re ultimately a cry for moisture, so consider proper moisture the foundation of your nail care routine. When applying hand lotion, give your nails a little extra attention. There are plenty of moisturizing nail products on the market, but applying moisturizer is really only half the battle—there’s more to strong nails than a fancy cream or serum.

2. Leave your cuticles alone
It’s common practice to cut, push back, or try to get rid of cuticles altogether, but cuticles are not the enemy. In fact, the cuticle is “the nail’s natural protective seal,” Messing with your cuticles can do far more harm than good—even if a nail technician is the one doing the handiwork. A compromised cuticle can leave the nails vulnerable and at risk of infection.

Michele Green, MD, a cosmetic dermatologist, agrees that poorly kept cuticles can have a domino effect. “When your cuticles get dry or injured it can injure the nail bed and affect the way your nails grow out,” Dr. Green says. She recommends moisturizing the cuticles with cream or cuticle oil to help protect and strengthen your nails.

3. Avoid contact with water
Don’t stop washing your hands or shower with gloves on, but do pay attention to ways you can reduce the time your nails spend in contact with water, because excessive water contact can weaken nail structure. (Wet hair is especially vulnerable, and the same caution-when-wet approach you take to handling wet locks can apply to nail care, too.) For example, consider wearing gloves while doing the dishes or other wet work.

You know how soft and bendy nails get after a long bath? Consider this: “The nail is like a sponge. It is 1,000 times more absorptive of water than the skin, for example, and so water can easily diffuse into the nail,” .Excessive water exposure can put significant strain on delicate nail cells (called onychocytes), which can lead to brittleness, peeling, and breakage, she says.



4. Be gentle
The best nail care is gentle care,digging under your nails. “Sometimes people take the pointy end of a nail file and they dig underneath their nails to get the dirt out,” You don’t want to do that, because it can separate the nail plate from the underlying bed, and then you can develop a bacterial fungal infection.”

For similar reasons, you should resist the urge to use your nails as replacement tools—no matter how convenient it may be.
5. Treat your nails like you treat your hair
It’s the new golden rule. Hair and nails are both composed of keratin proteins, so it makes sense that many of the same rules for treatment apply. both hair and nails can become dehydrated and damaged from over-processing. Frequent polish removal, gels, and acrylics do to nails what dyes, chemicals, and heat application do to hair. Just as hydration can help repair hair issues such as frizz and split ends, it can help improve dry and brittle nails. There’s no nail care equivalent to second-day hair, but operating as though there are hard and fast rules for how to wash, care for, and use your nails can help keep them in the same good shape as your hair.