Your skin needs extra help in the cold and dry winter months. Here are some tips from Shawna Akin, a medical skin care specialist at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett’s Plastic Surgery Clinic, to protect your skin during cold weather.
Moisturize
Use a moisturizer that really works. Akin recommends CeraVe, an over-the-counter moisture cream that costs about $14 at most drug stores. It works because it helps replenish the lipids, or fats, on your skin’s surface.
Exfoliate
That’s a fancy way to say scrub hard. Use a loofah or soap mixed with sugar or other coarse ingredient. This helps remove flaky, dried skin and encourages a more natural rejuvenation cycle.
After exfoliating, try rubbing rich almond or avocado oil on your skin when the skin is still wet from bathing.
Sunscreen
Just because it’s cold doesn’t mean the sun can’t do harm. Use sunscreens on top of other moisturizers. It’s best to avoid moisturizers that have sunscreens mixed in as the sun protection factor tends to be less.
Stick to sunscreens with zinc oxide and titanium, as they work best.
Fish oil
Treat skin from the inside out. Be sure to follow a diet rich in fish oils and other essential fatty acids, or consider supplements.
Get help
If you seem to have a problem that defies treatment at home, see a professional. Save the $60 from a fancy jar of skin cream and instead go to a skin care doctor who can suggest a solution that’s medically proven.
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