Winter’s beautiful. The weather’s nice, the food, the chocolate lattes taste amazing and the clothes look awesome. But it can also be hard on your skin. Most of us struggle with dryness and rough, scratchy skin throughout the winter season.

Sure, you could just lather on moisturizer and petroleum jellies but that’s not a permanent fix. Thankfully, there's a more powerful way to do skincare.

It’s called attacking the problem instead of attacking the symptoms. Here are 5 tips you can follow to implement this strategy.

1. Do not forget your summer habits

Most of us make the mistake of throwing out our SPF’s as soon as the temperature drops, but that’s a huge mistake. Winter or summer, the sun is still out - and so is its UV rays. The combination of colder weather and the sun removes the moisture from your skin leaving it feeling dry and coarse.

Combat this by getting a good protective sunscreen, ideally with SPF 30 or above and applying it on top of a hydrating face moisturizer. That’ll keep you safe from the harmful rays and dryness.

2. Reintroduce lost moisture

Because of the low temperatures, it’s normal to crank up the heat at home. But this extra heating can suck the moisture out of the air — drying out your skin! . To stay cozy while safeguarding your skin's health, consider investing in an air humidifier.These machines will rebalance the moisture levels in your room overnight.

3. Get your essential oils in.

Our body naturally has defenses to protect us from the weather, provided we have our nutrition right. Unfortunately, most of us don’t so here’s a fix. Try adding Omega-3, Omega-6 and fish oil supplements to your diet. 

However, nothing trumps good nutrition so be sure to add fatty fishes, nuts and avocados to your diet to reap maximum benefits.

4. Don’t turn your shower to a sauna

Nothing speaks more of comfort like a scalding hot shower in the cold weather. Unfortunately, long hot showers are devastating for your skin, especially your face.

Hot water strips the oils from your skin and leaves it flaky and dehydrated. We’re not saying you should remove hot showers entirely, but try and shower at a moderate temperature that’ll feel comfortable without irritating your skin.

5. The job doesn’t end at shaving

For those of us with facial hair, shaving contributes highly to dry skin. It’s important to use a good shaving cream once you’re done shaving. That’ll moisturize your skin and reintroduce the oil and moisture that was lost in the shaving process. Once you’re done, end with a facial oil applied sparingly so it doesn’t make your face too oily.

For those of us who don’t shave their hair but prefer to trim it instead, add a lightweight beard oil. We’ve all had scratchy beards and this will help with that. Massing that oil through your facial hair will also distribute oil to your skin and keep your beard healthy and clean.

With all these tips, you’re attacking dryness at the root instead of running after a temporary fix. We’re confident once you implement these tips, you’ll notice better results and improved skin health during the winter. 

-Forte Team