Winter dry skin is common during the holiday season. The cold weather and blustery winds leave your skin dry, cracked, and sometimes painful. The American Skin Association characterizes dry skin as inflamed, peeling, and possibly bleeding. Dry skin does not discriminate and affects people of all ages and ethnicity. However, that does not mean that you need to suffer through it. Instead of hiding your winter dry skin during holiday festivities, try managing it with our top 5 tips below. But first, let’s find out what dry skin looks like and why winter can dry it out.
Signs and Symptoms of Winter Dry Skin
Dry skin is not just when your skin becomes rough. Dry skin can also be flaky or scaly and often appears dull or ashy when dry and red when irritated. When your skin becomes extremely dry and itchy, it can lead to cracks and fissures in the top layer of your skin. This can lead to infection if not treated properly.
Why Does Winter Dry Your Skin Out?
Moisture is essential for your skin barrier to prevent harmful toxins from entering your body. When this skin barrier is damaged, the skin often appears dry or irritated. A main reason winter dries out your skin more than other seasons boils down to one reason – lack of moisture.
During the winter, your heat is often turned up, which affects the humidity in your environment. Less humidity means less moisture for your skin barrier. Add this to the cold outdoor weather and wind, and your skin loses a lot of its natural, moisturizing oils.
How much you’re affected by the weather can be impacted by a number of things, including medical conditions that cause dry skin, your age, and other environmental factors.
What Helps with Dry Skin in the Winter?
So now that you know what causes winter dry skin, what helps with dry skin? A number of things help dry skin actually. Here are the top 5 tips recommended by dermatologists to help with dry skin.
1. Limit Shower and Bath Time
Turning up the heat of the water during shower or bath time during the winter may seem like the best idea when your bathroom is cold; however, extended exposure to hot water can make winter dry skin worse. Instead of turning the hot water on full blast, try remembering to close the bathroom door at night. This will help keep the warm air from the heater trapped in the room and allows you to keep the water temperature warm rather than hot. Limiting your shower or bath to 5-10 minutes will also help ease the severity of winter dry skin.
2. Be Mindful of What You’re Putting on Your Skin
It’s easy to be sucked in to buying the latest smell-good fragrance for body lotions and soaps, but do the good smelling lotions and soaps help manage dry skin the best? Not usually. The American Academy of Dermatologists suggests using gentle, fragrance-free lotions and soaps in addition to limiting the amount of soap you use. Use only enough to clear your skin of dirt and germs.
3. Apply Moisturizer Throughout the Day
An age-old tip for winter dry skin is applying moisturizer immediately after showering. Another best practice, however, is applying moisturizer throughout the day, specifically after washing your hands. Moisturizer that is fragrance-free and includes some type of oil, such as jojoba oil or olive oil, are the most effective. You may want to give an ointment or cream a try rather than a lotion if your skin is severely dry. Vujevich Dermatology Associates’ Vu Skin Care Moisturizing Collection is infused with sunflower seed oil, aloe vera, and Shea Butter and is perfect to use during the winter months.
4. Wear a Weather-Appropriate Wardrobe
Many people have braved the cold and the wind with light clothing to simply run into a building from their parked car. Forgo being brave and bundle up instead. Prevent exposure to the weather by wearing hats, gloves, and scarves when spending any time outdoors, especially if you will be outside for a prolonged period of time. This also includes wearing lip balm to not only block sun exposure, but wind exposure as well. Preventing winter dry skin is much easier than healing winter dry skin.
5. Keep Your Room Cozy
A main image that comes to mind when thinking of winter and the holidays is curling up in front of a fire with a large cup of hot chocolate. However, if you’re dealing with winter dry skin, this is not the coziness you need in your life. Direct exposure to heat sources like an open flame or sitting in front of a heater will dehydrate your skin more. Keep warm by sipping that hot chocolate on the couch under some soft blankets instead. Another way to keep your room cozy and skin feeling soft and smooth is running a humidifier. Humidifiers are a cost-effective way to take care of your skin throughout the year, not just the holiday season.
Dry Skin Treatment
Sometimes, no matter what you do, you end up with dry skin. If at-home remedies aren’t relieving your dry skin, or if your condition becomes a hindrance to your daily life, schedule an appointment with one of our expert dermatologists to discuss winter dry skin treatment options.
Vujevich Dermatology Associates offers medical, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology from some of the most highly trained physicians and clinicians in the greater Pittsburgh area. You can reach our team at 412-429-2570 or visit our contact page to see all of our locations. You can also follow us on Facebook to see what’s new in the world of dermatology.