For a lot of people, the winter months are a time to hibernate, which usually means neglecting the kind of skincare routine that we’d normally commit to in the summer.
But just because you’re wrapped up warm and with very little of your body on show, that doesn’t mean you can afford to shirk some basic maintenance duties, of which exfoliation is a major example.
So why is wintertime exfoliating wise, and what can you do to ensure that your skin gets the hydration it needs throughout the chilliest of seasons?
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Cold weather dries out your skin
A combination of frigid winds outside and the superheated interiors of our homes that we subject our skin to during the winter means that dryness is always a threat.
In turn, this inevitably leads to a lot of flakiness, with the surface of your skin being coated in dead cells, as well as the other detritus that builds up over time.
If you don’t exfoliate, this grime can linger and leave you with blocked pores and skin that looks lackluster and lifeless.
Thankfully, with the right products, you can keep your skin hydrated without eradicating the protective oils it provides. For example, using a Gentle Exfoliating Cleanser at this time of year can remove dead cells and dirt, bring a glow back to your skin and also shield it from the worst effects of the cold.
Ingrown hairs are more likely
One of the main causes of unsightly, painful ingrown hairs is having clothing rub constantly against the surface of your skin. In the winter, when you will be swaddled in layer upon layer of garments to keep out the cold, the chances of ingrown hair developing are dramatically increased.
Again, exfoliation offers up the answer to this conundrum. If part of your morning routine is to scrub your body head to toe in an appropriate product, you will keep hairs from being pulled out too soon and regrowing awkwardly.
Moisturizer effectiveness might be diminished
There are a multitude of reasons to remove the dead skin cells from your body, and perhaps the most important one is that if you don’t, any moisturizer you then use will be incapable of achieving optimal effectiveness.
Dead cells form an absorbent barrier that will suck up moisturizer, and prevent it from getting through to the living cells underneath that need it most.
Think of exfoliation as spring cleaning. It can blast away the cobwebs and give you happier, healthier skin all year round, not just when the sun is out.
Planning ahead is important
Your skin is an important organ, and it takes time for it to recover from any damage that it suffers. So if it spends months at a time being neglected over the course of the winter and spring, then it really won’t be ready for the big reveal as summer starts to bathe the land in warmth.
As such, you should see your wintertime exfoliating efforts as an investment that will pay off big time in the months to come. The more work you put in while cloistered indoors, the more you will see the benefit when you are finally able to get out into the world without being shrouded in clothing.
Of course, you should still take your own personal skin type into account, and avoid over-exfoliating, because it is possible to go too far in the other direction.
Using high-quality products and following the instructions to the letter will deliver the best results, and also help you to keep your skincare budget in check.