How to Keep Your Skin Hydrated in the Winter

Winter is here, and with it comes dryer skin. Your hands are more likely to crack and become painful. Your legs have white flakes all over them.

Oh, dry skin, how we can live without you.

How do you keep your skin hydrated in the winter and avoid flaky legs and cracked hands?

Here are 8 tips to keep your skin hydrated during these dry winter months.

Tips to Keep Your Skin Hydrated

1. Use Clean and Natural Moisturizing Lotion

This may be an obvious tip for keeping your skin hydrated, but it is not. The words clean and natural are key to this tip. Read the ingredients in your lotions. Make sure that your lotion is filling your skin with vitamins and hydration.

If your lotion contains any harmful, drying alcohols, you should stop using it. Alcohols dry out your skin more. Now, some alcohols are natural and healthy for your skin, such as Cetearyl and Cetyl Alcohol. If your moisturizer contains these alcohols, it is still healthy for your skin.

2. Do Not Scorch Your Skin in the Shower

A hot shower on a cold winter day can be the best feeling. The only thing is that hot showers are not skin-friendly. They tend to dry out your skin by damaging your skin’s outer layer, stripping your skin of its natural moisture.

 It is better to take showers with warm water. This will help keep your skin hydrated. Also, shortening your showers will help with keeping your skin more hydrated.

3. Hydrating Mask

At-home spa day in the winter means hydrating masks are a must. You can incorporate hydrating masks into your skincare routine once a week. 

Clay face masks that dry out your skin should be used with caution in the winter. These face masks can dry out your skin and leave your skin not ready for the winter weather. 

Some would suggest incorporating an overnight mask into your skincare routine. This overnight mask is the last step in your skincare regimen, which locks in all the benefits of your serums and moisturizers.

4. Thicker Face Moisturizer

Now is the time for thick and creamy face moisturizers to shine. These moisturizers have deep conditioning benefits for your skin. When you use your thick face moisturizer at night, it gets to sit on your skin for several hours, seeping deep into the layers of your skin.

You can also look for oil-based face moisturizers.

5. Do Not Lick Your Lips

When you were little, licking your lips may have been the most logical solution to having hydrated lips. Water means moisture. Moisture means soft and unchapped lips. Wrong! 

Licking your lips is making your skin drier. 

Why does licking your lips make them drier? Anjali Agarwal mentions that it “is because your saliva has digestive enzymes which wear down the skin on your lips and thus dry out your lips.”

It is better to have a lip balm containing clean ingredients to help lock in moisture in your lips. You may consider doing a lip mask at night as well.

6. The Humidifier is Your Friend

While inside your house in the winter, the heater is on which, is drying out the air. You need a humidifier to keep moisture in the air.

Having a humidifier in your home will help the air be less dry. In turn, your skin will be less dry as well. 

Some would suggest putting a humidifier in each commonly occupied room of your house.

7. Drink lots of Water

Hydration from the inside out.

Drinking water has many benefits, and one of the main benefits is hydrated skin. It is recommended to drink eight glasses of water per day. This recommendation is possibly not only for health reasons but also for keeping your skin happy and hydrated. 

8. Skin Friendly Foods

What you eat affects your skin as well. Remember that your skin is an organ, and it benefits from nutritious food. 

What are the top three foods that are good for the skin?

Berries

The first food group is berries. They provide high levels of antioxidants to your skin. The antioxidants help your skin fight off free radicals. Some of the best fruits to keep in mind are blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

Eat these fruits unheated and fresh to get the most antioxidants that they have to provide.

Salmon

Another healthy food for your skin is salmon. This fish is high in omega-3. Because salmon contains high amounts of omega-3 it will help skin conditions such as eczema and acne. It helps to reduce inflamed skin and helps to moisturize skin.

Avocados

This magical green food has so many health benefits, and it helps your skin. Avocados have healthy monounsaturated fats. These fats help to keep your skin soft and hydrated. You can consider it nature’s moisturizer. 

You can also use this powerful ingredient topically in skincare. For more fun facts about avocados, read “Knowing What to Use Avocados for.”

Conclusion

Having happy, healthy, and hydrated skin in the winter is a goal! Following these tips will help you achieve some of your winter skin goals.

Remember, it is not only what you put on your skin that keeps it hydrated, but also what you put in your body.

Cheers to hydrated winter skin!