Winter Skincare Tips To Comfort Dry, Sensitive Skin

Winter provides no end of challenges for dry, sensitive skin. Indoor heating, low humidity, and biting winds quickly leave it feeling tight, flaky, and uncomfortable. So, if you’re struggling to keep your skin soothed and comforted right now, read on.

Living with sensitive skin delivers year-round issues. But it’s the extreme conditions of summer and winter that create the most difficulties. During summer, powerful air conditioning and strong UV radiation have to be dealt with – both of which can weaken the skin’s barrier function and trigger inflammatory responses. 

Thankfully, there are many ways to stay on top of summer skincare woes, and the good news is that, as much as we love the summer, it doesn’t last forever. Blink and fall arrives, bringing with it a welcome relief for your sensitive skin. Then, before you know it, winter kicks in, and a whole host of new climate-related skin stressors start to take over.

It sure feels like a never-ending battle against the elements, doesn’t it? 

Well, it doesn’t have to be. Read on for some important advice to get you through the cold season and help you deal with the most common winter skin issues for sensitive skin.

Why Winter & Sensitive Skin Are Mortal Enemies

Sensitive skin reacts more intensely to environmental stressors than normal skin types because its moisture barrier is weaker and thinner, allowing moisture to readily escape and aggressors to easily penetrate. And while summer is bad enough, winter is especially brutal. Going back and forth between frigid outdoor temperatures and dry, indoor heat is extremely tough on sensitive skin. Constant exposure to extreme cold and warmth compromises an already vulnerable barrier function, chipping away at its moisture levels and leaving it at serious risk of irritation, inflammation, dryness, and discomfort. 

“Cold air outside, hot air inside, and dry air everywhere can disrupt the skin’s barrier, which means dry, itchy skin for everyone, but especially for those who deal with conditions like eczema and psoriasis,” explain experts at the American Academy of Dermatology.

Dryness and itching are among the most common signs of irritated winter skin due to cold winds and low humidity levels stripping valuable moisture away from the skin. 

Another symptom? Facial redness. You’ve all experienced that flushing effect when you’ve walked into a warm, heated room after being outside in the cold, right? This is because moving between extreme temperatures causes tiny blood vessels to rapidly expand and contract at the surface of the skin. Redness is not such a big deal for those with normal skin, but if you’re sensitive, it often comes hand in hand with an itching and/or burning sensation. Which is no fun. No fun at all.

The Most Important Winter Skincare Tips For Sensitive Skin

The key to managing the symptoms of sensitive skin during the cold, low-humidity months is to adopt a gentle, protective skincare routine that deeply hydrates, reinforces the skin’s natural defenses, and avoids common irritants. 

How To… Deeply Hydrate Sensitive Skin in Winter

Some of the most effective practices for upping your skin’s hydration levels and reducing irritation are actually the most obvious. 

1. First up, look at your daily routine and, in particular, your cleanser. Powerful cleansing formulas that contain strong sulfates, potent exfoliating acids, and fragrances can deplete vital lipids from the surface of your skin. And that’s seriously bad news for that all-important barrier function, which helps keep moisture in and irritants out. Switch to a creamy, gentle cleanser like Gladskin Milky Facial Cleanser in the winter to preserve hydration.

2. Sensitive skin needs extra moisture during winter to combat environmental stress, so a multi-layered approach should be your new best friend. Layer on moisture with hydrating toners, serum, moisturizer, and facial oil (in that order), and make sure to include the following ingredients across your regimen…

• Ceramides – these help to repair and strengthen the skin barrier 

• Niacinamide – a gentle antioxidant that calms inflammation and improves barrier function 

• Colloidal oatmeal – a fantastic, natural moisturizer that also soothes irritation 

• Hyaluronic acid – this works like a water magnet to draw moisture into the skin 

• Squalane – a skin-loving humectant that provides lightweight, non-irritating moisture

3. Indoor heating systems drastically reduce humidity levels, creating an arid environment that dehydrates all skin types, but particularly those with dry, sensitive skin. 

To combat dryness in your house, install a humidifier in your bedroom and aim for an indoor humidity level of somewhere between 30 and 50 percent, which, according to the Sleep Foundation, is the recommended sweet spot. This will help maintain moisture in the air, preventing your skin from drying out while you sleep and keeping your sensitive skin comfortable and hydrated throughout winter and beyond.

How To… Reinforce The Skin’s Natural Defenses

A gentle skincare regimen with products rated SkinSAFE 100 is a great way to help strengthen the barrier function. Below are a few other important do’s and don’ts to remember…

DON’T over-exfoliate. Too much of a good thing strips the protective lipid layer and ruins your skin’s barrier. Stick to once a week, twice max.

DO apply SPF daily. UV radiation weakens and damages the skin. And yes, the sun is present all year round, so use a broad-spectrum formula every day – even in winter.

DON’T cleanse with scorching hot water. Hot water might feel amazing, but it strips your skin of natural oils and can trigger inflammation. Also, the longer you expose your skin to hot water, the more moisture it loses, so keep showers to less than 10 minutes.

DO protect your skin when outdoors. Wear a soft, cotton scarf to cover your face from harsh weather, but avoid wool, which can be problematic for sensitive skin.

DON’T miss out on important ZZZs. Poor sleep, as well as chronic stress, raises your cortisol levels, which impairs barrier function and slows down repair. 

How To… Avoid Unsafe Products for Your Skin 

With your skin feeling even drier than normal, it’s imperative to be even more prudent about what you put on your skin during the wintertime.

Skincare ingredients to avoid in winter include:

• Alcohol – most importantly, denatured alcohol, or alcohol denat

• Artificial fragrances and essential oils 

• Harsh physical exfoliants 

• Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)

• Strong acids and retinoids (unless prescribed)  

Want to go a step further for your personal skin’s needs, however? Then we can help you out. If you have your list of allergens, for example, you can request a custom-created SAFE for Me code, which can be entered into your SkinSAFE account. This gives you instant access to every product that’s free of the allergens you’ve been advised to avoid. 

Our SkinSAFE 100s are also a fantastic source for sensitive skin – whatever the weather! SkinSAFE 100-rated products are free of the 11 top most common skin allergens, making them the gold standard for sensitive or reactive skin.