Most of us don’t like winter – it’s darker, with fewer daylight hours, there is less sunshine, it’s cold, often with icy, dry winds and it’s downright miserable, most of the time – but it gives the Brits something to moan about! We wrap up warm, stay indoors a bit more and generally look forward to the dawning of Spring, or jump on a plane heading for warmer-climbs, if the budget allows.

But, we’re not the only ones who don’t like winter…our skin doesn’t like it either.

When we think about our skin in the winter time we often think of things like a pale or pasty complexion. Skin is often dry as well, due to chill winds and drying air from lower temperatures, with rosy cheeks as the blood is rushed to the small blood vessels near the skin’s surface, as an effort to keep it warm.

All of this often means that skin can feel somewhat uncomfortable, and even sore, from dryness and an overall feeling of tightness; in the worst cases skin can begin to flake or crack and that can lead to other dermatological conditions creeping in during the winter months, such as eczema.

But, it’s not just the weather outside that is to blame for all of this. As soon as we turn on the central heating in our homes, then our natural environment becomes much drier with the air in our houses consisting of very little moisture, again, not good for our skin.

Making simple changes to your daily regime, or thinking more about how your body is reacting to the season change can have a huge effect. For example, a very dry skin would benefit from changing from water-based moisturising products to oil-based ones to help retain the hydration of the skin.

Similarly, just because it’s winter time and you can’t see the sun, doesn’t mean it’s not there; we have daylight after all!

It’s true that the sun won’t seem as strong in terms of giving us a suntan, but those pesky ultraviolet (UV) rays that we can’t see are still beaming down to Earth and are the primary cause of ageing in our skin, and skin cancers.

So, slapping on the SPF is also a winter must, and often forgotten or ignored.

Your hands in Winter

Also, don’t forget your hands – it’s not just our faces which get exposed to the changes in our environment. We use our hands every day, and they are often the work horses of the body, but we tend to forget how dry and itchy they can get, which often leads to cracking from poor hydration, even more so in the colder months.

Hands are often a huge giveaway to a person’s age, so showing them some love with your skincare regime can be the icing on the cake of your anti-ageing programme.

Drinking water is just as important in the winter as it is in the summer. It’s easy to down a few litres in the summer months to keep hydrated, it’s warm so you feel thirsty and want to drink more water anyway.

But in the winter, the temptation is to replace water intake with diuretics like tea or coffee, or even with alcoholic beverages such as mulled wine! We’re not going to tell you to stop that, but good hydration will not only help your overall body health, it will help the health of your skin, and in the winter time, the more you can help it the better.

So, keep drinking plenty of glasses of water every day, no matter the time of year.

At Hilton Skin Clinics in Reading, our staff are specially trained in prescribing professional skincare solutions that can be targeted to suit and treat your particular skin type, colour and the overall health of your skin, making sure it’s at its best whether your concern is ageing, acne, rosacea or pigmentation.

We offer professional skincare products from the ZO® Skin Health range, developed by world-famous American dermatologist Zein Obagi and can create a bespoke regime just for you to make sure your skin stays in the best condition possible throughout the year, no matter what the season or the weather.

If you’d like more information about treatments and home skincare advice for winter skin, then please contact Hilton Skin Clinics in Reading today to book a consultation.