Protect Your Hair, Skin, and Nails from the Winter Climate.

Although winter is almost over, with the temperatures falling below the freezing point, there are increased opportunities for damage to skin, hair, and nails. As Covid-19 has imposed upon us the daily use of hand-sanitizer and masks, many have discovered that we’re not just combating a viral pandemic, but also new unforeseen side-effects of PPE and disinfectants from drying the hands and nails to causing maskne.

Skin

Skin and lips can become dry and chapped, so it’s important to update your routine seasonally to help your body adapt to the changing climate, not to mention that your skin needs a switch every so often.  A good skin-care regimen will leave skin moisturized with a proper skin-barrier and sun-protection.

• Cleanse: try switching from soap and body wash to cream cleansers, body washes, and bars such as Dove, which moisturize rather than deplete the skin of its natural oils and moisture.
• Moisturize: Use a body butter, balm, ointment, or rich lotion as they will better moisturize the skin than thin runny creams and liquids better suited for the daytime in summer.
  • Bliss Body Butter and The Body Shop Body Butter feel rich and moisturizing and smell lovely.
• Protect:
  • SPF: It is critical to use a physical sunscreen to protect the skin from the effects of solar damage, which can disrupt DNA and poses a cancer risk.  While the sun diminished during the winter, the strength of the sunlight will be increasing from this point onward. Elta MD makes great untinted sunscreens, but opt for *Physical Sunscreen.
  • Body & Face Oil: 
    • Face and body oils that do not contain added fragrance will lock in moisture while securing the skin barrier from pollution and Mother Nature.

Face

•  Cleanse: A cream cleanser is well suited to the winter months and can eliminate dry flaky skin when paired with the right moisturizer, as it will not strip the skin but rather moisturize it.  Some cream cleansers can also help remove residual makeup- consider a pre-cleanse before cleansing to fully rid the skin of makeup before bed.  
  • • Cream Cleanser: Algenist Genius White cream cleanser and Peter Thomas Roth Chamomile Cleansing Lotion.
    • Pre-Cleanse with Pre-Cleanse by Dermalogica
  • Moisturize: 
    • Day: during the day, use a moisturizer that more creamy than those you would use in the summer months.
      • Clinique All About Eyes Rich
      • Strivectin, DermaSwiss,
    • Night (for mature skin): a rich night cream is called for because your skin has different needs at night.
      • Pacifica Wake Up Beautiful
      • First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream
  • Protect:
    • SPF: It’s not enough to apply makeup with SPF in it, you must apply a physical sunscreen beneath your makeup. I loved the way Elta MD’s untinted sunscreen works because it melts into the skin, but note that theElta MD tinted moisturizers and sunscreens cannot be worn alone because e they are very streaky and uneven.
    • Face Oils: 
      • Acne Prone: squalene is a great moisturizer for acne prone skin – no, it does not come from sharks.
      • Mature Skin: choose fragrance-free face oils to lock in moisturizers and create a barrier to the elements on your face. I was gifted L’Occitane Immortelle Divine Youth Oil and loved it- that bottle will go a long way!
    • Maskne: 
      • Under-Mask Sheet-Masks: there are sheet-masks meant to be worn under your face-mask. Hydrogel masks are meant to moisturize and protect the skin beneath face masks.
      • Pimple Patches: applied to breakouts, these patches can help reduce picking while concentrating topical treatments.  Some include needles which provide a micro-needling benefit.  
      • Retinoids such as Tretinoin or Retin-a: consider a topical prescription treatment used for acne as well as anti-aging.  You will have to find the right balance with regards to moisturization as it is drying.  
      • Exfoliation: It’s important to exfoliate with either an exfoliating cleanser which does not contain harsh exfoliants like almond shells, or using an AHA/BHA gel.  
      • Chemical Peels: peels are especially beneficial during the winter months as they not only assist with removing dead skin but help with reversing the damage the elements have caused, increasing cell-production and turn-over and boosting collagen production.  
  • Exfoliate and Clear Pores
    • Facials: I have been doing my own facials for over twenty years- I know how to spot and prevent breakouts, clear my pores with comedone extractors or pore tools, and regularly steam my face.
    • Exfoliating Cleansers: Dermalogica, Algenist, and Exuviance make really amazing exfoliating cream and emollient cleansers perfect for the winter. I have a few from when the Micro-exfoliation trend was real, and do prefer some over others either due to the amount of grit or exfoliation I can feel or the luxuriously rich nourishing polishing results.
    • Exfoliating Acids: AHA/BHA Gel or a Cleanser will help remove dead skin. You can opt for a combination of AHA/BHA or choose Salycilic Acid for acne-prone and oily skin and Glycolic Acid for mature skin.
      • Exfoliating Cleanser
      • Acid Cleansers: by all-time favorite cleansers are by Peter Thomas Roth- either the Salicilic or Glycolic Acid for Face and Body $39 although they are seemingly expensive, they will last at least the year and you’d go through a few bottles of drugstore products and probably surpass that pricepoint otherwise in reality. Don’t buy the orange anti-aging one- Dr. Dre warned that it would cause breakouts and I used it regardless…indeed it broke me out multiple times.
  • Lips: 
    • Apply a lip balm that contains SPF to protect the lips from the drying cold as well as the damaging effects of the sun. Look for something more emollient and oil based than waxy and dry. I use Algenist SPF Lip Balm SPF 15 $39.
    • Lip Scrubs: if lips are dry and chapped, use a lip-scrub to exfoliate the dead skin.  
    • Lip Oils: lip oils can provide an added layer of protection and are better suited to the winter climate than glosses.

Hands and Nails

    With the increased use of hand-sanitizers and alcohol sprays necessitated by the pandemic, combined with the elements and cold, the hands and nails may be taking the hardest hit this season.  If you notice dryness, cracking, or peeling, consider swapping the products you’re using to wash and moisturize your hands with.  

• Nails: 
  • A clear-coat, nail strengthener, or nail-polish can act as an added barrier to the soap and sanitizers, preventing brittleness, dryness, chipping, flaking, and breaking.  The nail strengthener can help treat damage that’s already occurred and fortify the weakened nails.
  • Nail/skin/cuticle oils:
• Hands: 
  • To help combat the drying effect of constantly washing your hands, consider using milder soaps.
  • consider using ointments, balms, rich hand-creams and body butters instead of lotion.

Hair

    If you go out with wet or damp hair, thinking it won’t be a big deal, guess again.  If the hair shaft freezes, it will become damaged and dry if not break off.  

• Cleanse: Similarly to skin, cleansing with creamy clenditioners is something you can adapt year-round when it comes to hair. After discovering how to care for and stye my curly hair, I found I prefer not to strip it of oils and moisture, and now prefer to wash it every other day, allowing for clenditioner in between or even every other day, that way I’m cutting the shampooing down but still clarifying the scalp and hair. It was discovered that the No Poo and strictly clenditioner methods actually caused hair-loss, and in early 2020 I too suffered the dreaded shed- tennis-ball-sized clumps of hair started falling out…I had been using only DevaCurl non-lathering clenditioner. This, apparently, allows the oils of the scalp to remain in the follicles and on the surface, allowing fungus, yeast, and bacteria to breed, which leads to infection and inflammation, thus causing hair-loss! This wasn’t like hair-thinning or angrogenic alopecia…this amount of hair-loss was alarming!
• Condition:
  • Deep Conditioner: use a deep conditioner several times a month.
  • Leave-in Conditioner: leave in conditioner provides that extra nourishment your thirsty hair is craving during the harsh winter. I like Garnier or It’s A 10 leave in conditioners.
• Protect and Style:
  • Hair Oil: hair oil helps lock in moisture, and prevents hair from being exposed to the drying damage of the cold and breakage risk of the moisture in addition to providing added shine so long as you’re drying it fully before going out. I use Garnier, Shea Moisture, and Olaplex No. 7 hair oils.
  • Heat Protection: since it’s damaging to expose wet or damp hair to freezing temperatures, you’re drying your hair more often during the winter- apply a heat protector to the hair before using hot styling tools and blow-dryers.

Comment below on how you change your routine for winter, and what your favorite products are.