Help Your Skin Warm Up to the Cold Weather

shutterstock_92376865The season of sweaters, football, cozying up by the fireplace, holidays, and hot cocoa comes with many good memories, but our skin can have a hard time finding the love for this time of year.
As the body’s largest organ, our skin serves many purposes. More than being the layer between our internal organs and the environment, skin keeps your body cool, protects it from germs, shows our beauty through it’s color, and is responsible for many other metabolic processes. Cold, dry weather takes a toll on our skin, but there are ways that we can prevent or treat cracked, flaky, inflamed, or irritated skin.  Here are some tips for the winter months:
Lukewarm (& shorter!) showers: As great as scalding-hot water may feel with below freezing temperatures outside, limit yourself to a warm shower for less than 10 minutes. This will prevent your skin from drying out.
Moisturize: Load on the lotion within 3 minutes of bathing to lock in the moisture.
Blot; don’t rub: Avoid a raw and chapped nose by blotting with extra-soft tissues. Too late? Applying a thin layer of Vaseline or moisturizer during the day and before bedtime can help soothe the area.
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Moisturize, again!: Your hands have the most trouble warming up to the cold weather. No one likes the pain of having cracked hands, so be sure to apply moisturizer after washing your hands and every time you think of it besides then– your hands can’t get enough! A thicker hand cream will help those who have very dry hands.
(To avoid being redundant, this also goes for your elbows.)
Nutrition: What’s easier than eating food and letting it do the work for you? Eat your way to healthy skin by eating foods filled with omega-3 and healthy monounsaturated fat (fish, nuts, avocados, olive oil). Citrus fruits and dark leafy greens are loaded with Vitamin C, which helps with the production of collagen and fights illness. Does your skin feel tight and dry? Eating brown rice, quinoa, garlic, or onions can help with that!
Protect, Protect, Protect!: The sun doesn’t take days off. Winter sunburn will not be your friend– it will hurt, it will peel, and you will not like how your picture for the holiday card turned out. Kill two birds with one stone- apply a thick face cream with SPF to combat dry skin and sunburn.
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