Your Winter Skin Detox

Perhaps winter seems like a counter-intuitive time to detox your skin. Many of us think of  "sweating it out" in summer temperatures as a way to balance oils. The best time to repair your skin is actually when the blistering summer sun is gone and your delicate skin has time away to recover from heat-related flare ups, which can cause wide-spread irritation.

Cover Up

You can’t control the weather, but you can control what you’re wearing. Wear a scarf and gloves on windy or particularly cold days to minimize irritation and dryness on your hands, neck, face, and chest.

Exfoliate

Skin will dry out in winter, so exfoliate regularly to keep your skin cells as fresh and clean as possible. Exfoliating in a gentle manner removes dead skin cells that have built up over days, weeks, and months. Dead skin cells clog pores and trap dirt, but a gentle exfoliation regime once or twice a week scrubs your pores clean while not being too harsh–too much pressure causes extra irritation.  The goal is to have a clean, healthy surface that your moisturizer can enter and rehydrate with ease.

Destress and Rest

The holidays are super stressful, and it’s hard to avoid. Your skin doesn’t have to be stressed and shouldn’t get in the way of you feeling confident during the winter months. Aim to get a regular sleep so that your skin is prepared to hydrate and restore itself. As always, sleep is a great thing for your skin because it loves to rehydrate over several hours. More sleep will cut down redness, flare ups, and pimples. Sleep really is good for absolutely everything.

Winter Sun Protection

Finally, protect yourself from the sun in winter. A quality face moisturizer with sun protection should be worn year round. As time goes on you’ll be glad you did–the difference between protected skin and skin that is constantly exposed to the sun is staggering. Do yourself a simple favour and protect your beautiful face every day.