Why Dry Skin Gets Worse in Winter

Nothing about your skin changed in October. Five things about its environment did, and they all pull in the same direction.

Once you can name them, the adjustments are fairly obvious and mostly free.

1. Cold air holds less moisture

This is the big one and it is simple physics. Cold air carries less water vapor than warm air, so outdoor winter air is drier almost everywhere, even when it is raining.

2. Indoor heating makes it drier still

Then you go inside and heat that already-dry air, which drops the relative humidity further. A heated room in January is often drier than the air outside it.

You spend most of your day in that. This is usually the single biggest contributor and the one people never think of.

3. Hot showers become irresistible

A long hot shower in winter is one of the genuine pleasures of the season, and it is very good at removing oil from skin.

You do not have to give it up. Warm instead of hot, and slightly shorter, gets you most of the benefit back.

4. More layers, more friction

Wool, thermals, coats, scarves, waistbands. More fabric moving against skin all day, often on exactly the areas that are already struggling.

5. Hands get washed far more

Winter is cold and flu season. Hands take the brunt of that, and they were already the hardest place to keep comfortable.

What to actually change

Move your moisturizer to right after washing. Within a few minutes, while skin is still slightly damp. This single change usually does more than switching products.

Turn the shower down, not off. Warm, not hot. Shorter if you can manage it.

Add a step rather than swapping products. Keep your daily lotion and layer something richer on the two or three areas that need it. Do not replace a product you will use with one you will not.

Put lotion where you wash your hands. By the sink, in a bag, at your desk. The trigger should be the wash, not the clock.

Consider a humidifier in the bedroom. Eight hours a night in less-dry air is the cheapest lever available if the room is very dry.

Start in autumn, not January

The most useful thing in this whole post: adjust before it gets bad, not after. Skin that has been kept comfortable through November is in a much better position in February than skin you started rescuing in the new year.

What to use

Daily and all over, the Eczema Nourish Moisturizer, or the Extra Dry Lotion for larger areas that need more.

On the specific patches that get worst in winter, the Extreme Balm, applied on top rather than instead.

Face and the skin around the eyes take winter badly too. The Face and Eyelid Cream is made for that.

Steps two and three are Hydrate and Nourish.

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