Dry skin can be difficult to cope with, especially throughout the colder winter months. It can become sore, itchy and more sensitive, and in need of extra nourishing care.
Why do I have dry skin in winter?
As the seasons change to winter and the temperature drops, you may find yourself questioning, “Why is my skin so dry?” There are a number of seasonal changes that can lead to dry skin.
Dry skin is caused by the outer layer of the skin not producing enough moisture (sebum). Dry skin can appear on any part of your body and can often make skin feel tight, rough and itchy. This could also lead to irritation causing redness and further sensitivity.
Although dry skin can happen anywhere on the body, your face is more vulnerable as it is continuously exposed to the climate around you.
Soothing skincare solutions for dry skin
Weather
Different weather conditions may affect your skin and how it acts. Your skin tends to be the driest in winter because both the temperature and humidity levels have dropped. This can lead to harsh, dry and cold weather creating dry, itchy skin.
Heat
If you’re the type of person who loves having the central heating on in the house so it’s snug and cosy, or love sitting in front of the fire in the evening then you may suffer with dry or dehydrated skin. This is because the heating source dries the surrounding air and causes low humidity which causes dehydrated skin.
Cold temperatures, harsh and dry weather conditions, as well as indoor heating, can cause the outer surface of the skin to become dehydrated in winter, leading to uncomfortable or sore skin.
Central heating can be a cause of dehydrated skin in winter
Harsh Products
Some products designed for your skin can feature harsh synthetic chemicals and surfactants (foaming agents), which can be especially irritating if your skin becomes drier during winter months. These products can strip your skin of its natural oils leading to dryness and skin feeling tight and uncomfortable.
Why do I have sensitive skin in winter?
There are many things that may cause or result in sensitive skin. Here are a few of the most common:
Dry Skin
Extremely dry flaky skin can often give way to skin sensitivities. When your skin loses too much water and oil and dries out it can begin to crack and scale. This can make skin sensitive to certain conditions and harsh ingredients, which can be especially true in winter and cold weather.
Rosacea
This is a common skin condition, often categorised early on by flushing or blushing in the face. This condition can often make skin sensitive and in some cases may cause burning or stinging sensations on the face.
Stress
Stress can affect your skin in many ways. One of which being that it can affect the hormone levels in your skin and aggravate any existing sensitivities. It may be one of the triggers for eczema and other sensitive skin conditions. It can also affect the effectiveness of your skincare routine, from disrupting your routine through forgetfulness or tiredness to affecting the way your skin reacts to your skincare products.
Blue Velvet Ceramide Serum helps to calm, soothe and hydrate stressed, dry skin
Allergies
If you experience extremely sensitive skin you could actually be unknowingly allergic to a common ingredient that is used in your skincare routine. What you are interpreting as sensitive skin could be an allergic reaction. If you feel you have tried everything and cannot get your skin to react well or if your skin seems to calm when you are not using any products it may be worthwhile to get tested for common allergies to try to understand your skin better and be able to avoid any ingredients that cause it to react.
What ingredients are best for winter skin?
Look for hydrating, nourishing ingredients which can help to keep skin smooth and nourished and restore your skin barrier layer.
If your skin gets more sensitive in winter, look for skin soothing ingredients like Ectoin, Prickly Pear or Chaga Mushroom.
Pro+ Ectoin Soothing Cream contains Ectoin and Chaga Mushroom extract
Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic Acid is a natural building block of skin which helps to lock moisture into the skin for long lasting hydration. Although this is naturally produced in the skin, as we age our levels can drop and some people have naturally drier skin than others. Look for products that contain Hyaluronic Acid for extra hydration to prevent moisture loss. You can use it all year round but it is particularly helpful in the colder months.
Our global bestseller for hydrating skin: Hyaluronic Serum 200
Ectoin to soothe your skin
Ectoin is a multi functional, clinically proven skincare active that can help to protect dry skin and sensitive skin in winter. It is an amino acid derived from a bacteria that was found in a salty lake in Egypt. This amino acid helps to structure the water around the cells of the bacteria and protect it from the harsh environment it lives in.
Ectoin is a soothing skincare ingredient originating from bacteria found in the Wadi desert
Ectoin has a multitude of benefits when used on the skin. It forms a protective barrier around skin cells, helping to restore the skin barrier layer and is clinically proven to double skin hydration. It also reduces scaling of the skin’s surface by 72% and skin roughness by 83%. It protects against extreme temperatures which can often cause sensitive skin to flare up in the winter. It also has powerful benefits against skin ageing and is clinically proven to boost skin elasticity and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. You can find it in our Pro+ Ectoin Moisturiser, which is a fragrance free cream designed for ultra sensitive skin.
Pro+ Ectoin Soothing Cream soothes and protects sensitive skin
Ceramides
Ceramides are part of the skin’s natural barrier layer. Harsh winds and cold weather have a drying effect and can damage this barrier layer. We can help to replenish this layer by using natural ceramides.
What is the best Winter skincare routine?
When you suffer with dry flaky skin you need to find products and a routine that will nourish, heal and protect your skin whilst locking in moisture. Dryness can often make skin appear dull rather than healthy and glowing. With this simple step by step winter skincare routine using our products, you’ll be moisturised, nourished and glowing in no time!
Cleanser for dry winter skin
The first step in any good skin care routine is to use a good face cleanser. This will remove any dirt and unwanted bacteria from your face, allowing your following skin care products to absorb and perform better.
Our Gentle Cleansing Melt is great for gentle and effective cleansing as it is specifically designed for normal to dry skin, and as the name suggests, it is particularly gentle to avoid any skin irritation. It contains nourishing organic Baobab Oil which soothes and hydrates the skin, as well as natural sugar extracts which turn the cleanser into a creamy melt that easily washes away. This leaves the skin clean, calm and hydrated.
This can be used day or night as it’s a great makeup remover too! Just massage the cleansing balm onto your dry face - including your eye area - apply warm water to turn it into a creamy milk and simply rinse away. Don’t use hot water as it can dry out the skin.
Winter skincare starts here: nourish and cleanse with a gentle cleansing balm
Use a hydrating moisture mist
Before applying any serums or moisturisers, your skin barrier needs to be prepared and refreshed. In steps our Daily Defence Moisture Mist. This product works to refresh your skin and prepare it for the products that come later in your skincare routine. The ingredients in this product include Prickly Pear extract and Hyaluronic Acid, ingredients known to soothe and calm skin. Apply this onto damp skin to lock in moisture.
Hydrate and soothe skin with Daily Defence Moisture Mist
Apply a treatment serum to boost the skin’s moisture barrier
After cleansing and misting skin, it is important to apply a face serum. Facial serums are great for thirsty skin as they can help to lock in even more moisture to really help against dryness from within.
Our multi-award winning Hyaluronic Serum 200 contains 200mg of Hyaluronic Acid per 30ml bottle. But don’t be scared off by the use of the word acid - Hyaluronic Acid is proven to hydrate the skin from within. It can hold up to 1000 times its weight in water so it is great for extra hydration.
You can apply this directly onto your face and neck to reveal hydrated and plumped skin. For a formulation specifically designed for the thinner skin around the eyes, you can even opt for our Hyaluronic Eye Complex.
Hydration Heroes for face and eyes formulated with Hyaluronic Acid
Another option is our Blue Velvet Ceramide Serum, our favourite for dry and sensitive skin. If you want a serum to further protect your skin, prevent any loss of hydration, and protect against flakiness you need look no further. This product contains Blue Tansy, plant based Squalane and Oat Ceramides to restore your skin's glow and keep your skin looking its best. This can be used on its own, or after Hyaluronic Serum 200, to create soothed and hydrated skin.
Soothe and Hydrate skin naturally with this duo for dry, sensitive skin
Moisturisers for dry and sensitive skin in winter
Moisturising is one of the most important steps for dry sensitive skin as it restores moisture back into your skin and by choosing the right product it can help to strengthen and protect the skin barrier layer.
We offer a range of organic and natural moisturising creams that will really help nourish both dry and sensitive skin. What's more, these are great moisturisers for winter skincare as they are designed to hydrate, replenish and restore the appearance of your skin. Our new moisturiser, Pro+ Ectoin Soothing Cream, has been specifically made to help soothe dry and sensitive skin. Ectoin and Camellia Oil help to reduce redness, protect skin, moisturise and bring relief to dry, flaky and sensitive skin, whilst Chaga Mushroom extract helps to boost skin resilience.
Nourish and protect dry sensitive skin with Pro+ Ectoin Soothing Cream
Our award-winning Daily Renew Facial Cream visibly restores normal to dry skin with its blend of oils. It contains organic Argan Oil and Shea Butter to nourish and Hyaluronic Acid to replace lost moisture, soothe and hydrate from within.
As well as nourishing dry skin, our Multi Peptide 360 Moisture Cream is designed to visibly reduce the signs of ageing. This rich nourishing moisturising cream contains a range of superfoods including Sacha Inchi Peptides and Prickly Pear extract which is used to calm the skin and Cacay Oil which is packed with Bio-Retinol and Linoleic acid to support the skin barrier layer and to lock moisture into the skin.
To soothe dry sensitive skin and stop it feeling dry, apply your chosen moisturiser to face and neck after cleansing in the morning and evening.
Discover the best daily creams for moisturising dry, sensitive skin
Use a lip balm to stop dry lips in winter
UV rays and the environment can be a real challenge for the skin barrier, especially when it comes to the skin on the lips. We’ve all experienced having a pair of cracked, sore, chapped lips and wished we had planned ahead. Well, with our Lip Treat - you can be prepared to solve these issues. This vegan lip balm contains organic Jojoba and Rosehip Oil which retain the moisture of the lips, alongside a 100% vegan wax blend to protect from the colder weather in winter.
Nourish dry lips with organic Lip Treat
Apply a nourishing treatment mask for extra care in winter
Give dry sensitive skin, a weekly pick-me-up and nourishing treat with Bio-Retinol Gold Mask. It’s made with Bio-Retinol, a natural extract from the plant Bidens pilosa which delivers similar rejuvenation and cellular renewal benefits to Retinol, but without any irritation. It also contains organic Argan Oil and Rosehip Oil to deeply nourish and moisturise your skin.
Discover the collagen-boosting benefits of Bio-Retinol, in this gorgeous gold face mask
Shield against harmful UV rays even in winter
A common misconception is that SPFs are a summer only product, but if you live where the sun is shining, the same harmful rays are still reaching your skin. If it’s been snowing recently, you also might have the UV rays working overtime reflecting back off the ground and onto your skin a second time, increasing your UV exposure. Not to mention that the clouds only block roughly 20% of the sun’s rays. Key lesson - don’t be fooled by the temperature!
To remain protected from the sun, you can use our Climate Defence Facial Cream SPF 30, specially formulated for facial skin care, protecting on a broad spectrum offering both UVA and UVB protection. It also contains Hyaluronic Acid and Prickly Pear extract to further hydrate your skin and keep it calm.
Wear a broad spectrum daily sunscreen to protect skin from UV damage
For those with visible tattoos, this SPF cream can also act as handy protection for when those parts of your face, hands or neck are exposed to the sun's rays, keeping your ink looking fresher and crisper for longer. The sun is your tattoo’s biggest nemesis, so it's great to have this on hand as a daily SPF for your tattoos. All of our products are natural and vegan friendly, so they can be used by anyone!
See related blogs: “What is hyaluronic acid…”, “Moisturising made simple:...”, “How to help: Sensitive Skin”
