HappyLifestyleJournal
As soon as the winter comes and cold weather starts irritating and drying our skin, we try to find the best solutions to keep our skin up to the challenge. But as much as we hear about this advice from our friends, fashion magazines or the Internet, a lot of it is actually useless. So it’s best to be well informed than to fall for these myths that generally tend to be pretty ridiculous and not helpful at all.
1. Lip balm is the only thing that can fix your lips
Lips are one of the first parts on our body that feels the cold weather. Pretty soon, they become dry, chapped and painful and that isn’t a nice sight. So we get ourselves a lip balm and pick it out of our bags every five minutes in order to keep them moist and protected. But, although lip balms are a good solution, they aren’t the only solution. You can make your own scrubs to use at home by using simple ingredients. One of the simplest ones is brown sugar & olive oil scrub where the sugar eliminates dead skin while olive oil hydrates and nurtures the lip tissue.
2. You can stop shaving during the winter
Isn’t it awesome when you don’t have to worry about shaving throughout the winter months since all you wear are jeans and leggings? But before ditching that razor until you get into those shorts and skirts, you might actually want to keep shaving every once in a while even during the winter. When you shave, you don’t only remove the hair, you also remove the dry, dead skin that appears much more often during cold weather. As long as you don’t forget to use moisturizer afterwards, shaving is actually beneficial. But don’t worry, you don’t have to do it as often as in the summer.
3. Cold weather dries out your skin
Sure, you can feel the effects of the cold weather as soon as you go out to that freezing, windy air but cold weather is actually not the main reason your skin becomes dry during the winter. It is actually the heating inside that does that. The heating makes the air inside the rooms extremely dry and with such low humidity levels, your skin becomes super dry. There is one thing you can do, however. Get yourself a handy little humidifier that will not only benefit your skin but also your overall health during the winter.
4. Thicker creams are better for hydration
You don’t need to get an extremely thick cream to keep your skin moist and hydrated. Actually, such creams contain a ton of lipids which can clog your pores and retain toxins and cause lots of problems. Instead, when you choose a moisturizer for the winter, pay attention to the ingredients, not the thickness. Get one that contains natural oils, like avocado oil, and hyaluronic acid because these ingredients keep your skin hydrated, soft and healthy.
5. Getting your cheeks red in the winter air is healthy
Well, not so much. That redness that appears on you face after you’ve been exposed to cold air and wind for a while is actually broken capillaries in the skin. And if you constantly expose your face to the same treatment, it can even become permanent. In order to prevent it, make sure you have a comfy scarf to protect your face and always have a layer of protective moisturizer before you step outside the house. And put some gentle cream on your cheeks after you get back inside.
6. Keep exfoliating for smoother skin
Yes, exfoliators and moisturizers are your best friends during the winter, but it’s important to know not to overdo it. Make sure you exfoliate regularly so that your skin is rid of those dead cells, but if you keep doing it unnecessarily, you will only expose your skin to even more damage. This will result in chapped and red skin, and you certainly don’t want that. If after exfoliating you still feel like your pores are clogged, use some gentle gel-based peels that will have the same effect on the dead skin, but won’t further damage the healthy tissue.
7. Too much lip balm causes chapped lips
Sometimes we tend to overuse lip balm, applying and reapplying it almost automatically without even noticing. But, although this isn’t the best policy, it’s not the lip balm that’s causing chapped lips, it’s licking and pressing our lips together. When we have too much lip balm on our lips, we unconsciously lick our lips or press them together which causes saliva to stay on them and it eventually dries them out. To avoid this, stick with the lip balms that contain natural oils.
8. You don’t need sunscreen during the winter
The sun isn’t as strong during the winter, so we can totally skip on the sunscreen during those cold months, right? Wrong! Ultraviolet sunrays are just as dangerous on cloudy winter days as they are in the summer and we need to stay protected at all times. So don’t ditch that sunscreen just yet, and keep using it even during the winter. And if you’re not using it altogether, you should definitely include it in your skin protection routine, your skin will thank you.
