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Cold Weather Skincare Mistakes You Might Be Making
Wondering why, despite your best efforts, your skin seems to lose its glow once the weather turns colder?
It’s surprisingly easy to make mistakes with winter skin care, since this is a time when your skin is particularly vulnerable. If you want to turn things around for your complexion, keep reading as OROGOLD talks through some of the most common skincare mistakes that people make in the winter, along with tips on what you can do to put things right.
Exfoliating Too Often
Let’s start with over-exfoliation. Although it’s often talked about, it’s still one of the most common mistakes that people make at this time of the year. It’s easy to underestimate just how vulnerable your skin barrier is in the winter. Even just slightly over-exfoliating in a way that your skin would have tolerated in the summer could spell disaster for your complexion once the weather turns cold and dry.
What makes things tricky is that there isn’t a single answer to the question of how often you should be exfoliating in the winter. There are so many variables that come into play, from skin type to lifestyle habits. With that said, as a general guideline, those with dry skin will likely only need to exfoliate once a week in the winter. Meanwhile, oily skin will need to be exfoliated a couple of times a week.
One extra exfoliation tip: make sure that your exfoliator is winter-friendly. Pick a formula that uses gentle exfoliants that won’t damage your skin barrier, like the OROGOLD 24K Multi-Vitamin Deep Peeling + Mandelic Acid. This exfoliator also boasts a selection of antioxidants to give the complexion an extra boost.
Skipping Sunscreen
Forgetting about sunscreen is such an easy mistake to make in the winter. After all, on those bitter days when the sun barely makes an appearance from behind thick clouds, is sunscreen really necessary?
While it may seem hard to believe, the sun’s UV rays are just as capable of causing serious damage to your skin cells in the winter as they are in the summer. In fact, snow and ice can reflect and magnify UV rays. They bounce them all around you so that they’re hitting you from every angle, rather than just from above. With UVA rays capable of penetrating glass, your skin isn’t safe when you’re indoors either.
Skipping sunscreen in the winter may not seem like a big deal when you’re young. However, sun damage accumulates in the skin. Go through several winters without protecting your skin from UV rays, and you’ll start to pay the price later on in life.
This makes it so important for SPF to be a regular part of your winter skin care routine. What should you do if you keep forgetting? Start by adding it to your morning routine. An SPF moisturizer, like the OROGOLD 24K Skin Tone SPF 30, makes this easy. Then, set some reminders on your phone so that you remember to reapply your sunscreen every couple of hours. If you want to splurge, UV-detection accessories are becoming more popular. From stickers to wristbands, these items change color once sun protection starts to dwindle. They’re a useful visual reminder for when sunscreen needs to be reapplied.
Using an Unnecessarily Harsh Face Cleanser
Over-cleansing is another winter skin care mistake that could be causing severe damage to your complexion. While over-cleansing is bad news no matter the time of year, your skin is much more susceptible to it in the winter months. Once temperatures and humidity start to drop, sebum production slows down. Since sebum forms an integral part of your skin’s natural protective barrier, preserving sebum, rather than trying to clear away every last trace, should be your priority. Sure, excess sebum needs to be removed. However, cleansing away too much of this will leave your skin barrier weak and vulnerable.
Over-cleansing can be caused by a few different things, such as cleansing too frequently. However, more often than not in the winter, over-cleansing is due to using a cleanser that’s too harsh for the skin. The winter months call for gentle, moisturizing cleansers. You need formulas that aren’t going to strip away your skin’s natural barrier. While powerful cleansers may be required in the summer when sebum production peaks, they’ll only do more harm than good in the winter.
How can you tell if a cleanser is winter-friendly? Take a look at its ingredient list. Make sure that it uses gentle cleansing agents, such as plant-derived surfactants instead of sulfates. Ideally, it should also contain plenty of barrier-loving ingredients – the OROGOLD 24K Mousse Cleanser is the perfect example. Infused with the likes of argan oil, chamomile extract, and shea butter, it’s packed with ingredients that are known for leaving the skin feeling replenished.
Over-Moisturizing
One of the winter skin care tips that you’ll likely hear time and time again is to swap out the light moisturizer you were using in the summer for a thicker and richer version. After all, the thicker your moisturizer, the more effective it will be at slowing down moisture loss as it will form a thicker seal over your skin’s surface.
While this is a crucial tip to keep in mind, it’s also essential to avoid overdoing it when it comes to your cold-weather moisturizing habits. Your skin can only absorb a certain amount of a product. By all means, be generous when slathering a moisturizer over your skin. However, applying too much will only end up being detrimental to your complexion. Not only can this lead to pilling, which is when skincare products clump into tiny balls that sit on your skin’s surface, but it could also interfere with natural oil production and disrupt skin barrier function. This will make dry skin even drier, no matter how much you moisturize, while oily skin will only get oilier.
How do you avoid over-moisturizing? Start by making sure you’re using a moisturizer that’s suitable for both winter and your skin type. Rich formulas, like the OROGOLD 24K Deep Moisturizer, are great for dry skin, whereas oily skin would do better with a blend like the OROGOLD 24K Termica Completion Cream.
Another way to prevent over-moisturizing is to always apply your moisturizer to damp skin, rather than dry skin. Damp skin is more permeable. This results in better absorption, meaning that there won’t be as much moisturizer left behind on your skin. With that said, don’t rush your winter skin care routine when layering your products. Give each one enough time to absorb before applying the next.
Not Considering the Potency of Your Actives
Powerful active ingredients in skincare products can often be a godsend. They have the potential to stimulate the complexion in a way that really brings about some big changes in the look and feel of the skin. From retinol to glycolic acid, these ingredients are being increasingly incorporated into skincare routines because of how effective they are.
As game-changing as powerful actives may be, high-potency ingredients can often be too much for the skin in the winter. At this time of the year, skin barrier function can decline. Between the drop in sebum production and the beating it takes from the harsh elements, the winter season tends to leave the skin barrier compromised. This can cause the skin to suddenly become sensitive to ingredients that it was previously tolerating with no issues, just like the high-percentage actives in your skincare products.
Does this mean that you need to ditch your favorite actives in the winter? Not necessarily. Instead, simply adjust how you use them. Let’s use retinol as an example, with this powerful form of vitamin A being an industry favorite. While a potent retinol serum may have worked wonders on your complexion in the summer, switch this up for a retinol moisturizer in the winter months, just like the OROGOLD 24K Multi Vitamin Night Nourishment + Retinol. The richer ingredients in this cream will help to buffer the effects of the retinol, enabling it to work its magic in a gentle way while your skin barrier feels safe and protected.
Not Drinking Enough Water
Winter skin care isn’t solely about the products you apply topically. Instead, if you want a glow this season, you’ll need to consider your lifestyle habits too. One of these is how much water you drink. Just like wearing sunscreen, this is something that’s easier to do in the summer than it is in the winter, when thirst signals are lower. If you’ve noticed that you seem to be drinking less water now that the weather has turned colder, this needs to be changed ASAP for the sake of both your health and your skin.
What, exactly, will drinking more water do for your complexion? Firstly, water is required for every single process that takes place in your skin, from protein production to sebum regulation. It’s crucial for detoxification too. If you don’t drink enough water, your skin will soon start to look congested and dull. Plus, the more hydrated you are, the plumper and more elastic your skin will feel.
While a cold glass of water may not seem very appealing on a chilly winter’s day, tea makes for the perfect substitute. Herbal teas are particularly beneficial. They’ll give your body extra antioxidants, which is always beneficial for the skin.
Of course, water can be eaten as well. From oranges to winter squash, many fruits and vegetables have a high water content. Incorporating more soups and broths into your winter diet will also help to increase your fluid intake.
Winter Skin Care From OROGOLD
The winter months can be a huge challenge for your skin, making it important to ensure that you’re truly giving it the best possible care. Hydration and protection should be your priorities – this will help to see your skin through the season, ensuring that it remains radiant well into the spring.
Click here to upgrade your winter skin care routine with more bestselling products from OROGOLD.
