How to look after your skin in winter

Winter is around the corner and it’s time to switch up your skin care routine, the cold air outside and the warm air inside removes moisture from your skin resulting in dehydrated skin which increases fine lines, leaving your skin looking dull and giving you a feeling of tightness.

As a Murad Partner Pro Salon we learn that the best way to stay hydrated is to eat our water.
But what does that actually mean?
We are always conscious of the need to drink water and the benefits of drinking 2 litres every day but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

It doesn’t sound a lot, but where do you find time to drink 2 litres? Weirdly enough it’s easier to find time to drink a few glasses of wine or a couple of gin and tonics than it is to drink 2 litres of water.

Wait – Doesn’t wine or gin contain water I hear you ask?

Yes they both do, in fact gin is about 60% water (so is vodka) and wine is made from  grapes making it about 80% water!

But while you can enjoy a tipple, sadly alcohol will never help to keep you hydrated and that’s what is important here

The best way to tackle dehydrated skin is to incorporate water rich fruits and vegetables into your diet. This will release water into the body slowly over time instead of flushing water through the body drinking glass after glass of water.

When you drink your water, though, much of it runs right through you as urine; however when you eat water-rich foods—such as fresh fruits and vegetables, which are about 80% water—your body has time to absorb the water, along with the other healthy ingredients, such as antioxidants, phytonutrients, and the vitamins and minerals that fresh produce contains.

Awaken your body.
Move your body. Movement makes us feel better—especially movement we enjoy, be it walking, hiking, swimming or dancing. We were not designed to sit for long periods of time but in the current climate post Covid, if you are still working from home, you are probably missing out on the exercise you used to do on your daily commute.

Moving is not only healthy it gets the heart and lungs pumping and the blood flowing and it also builds muscle.
Muscle is 70% water, whereas fat is only about 10% water.
Exercise is also a great stress reducer—stimulating the production of endorphins, the “feel good” hormones, and getting us out of our heads, where worry is generated, and into our bodies.
Stress, both life and environmental stress plays havoc with your skin too and let’s be honest the past 12 months have been pretty stressful to say the least.

Be kind to your mind.
Cultural stress is with us virtually 24/7, so it’s up to us to counter our stressful environments with positive self-talk and affirmations, plenty of rest and relaxation and step off social media, switch off Netflix, even for a few hours each day.
I bet if you kept a daily diary of how many hours each day you spend on social media or on Netflix watching “just one more episode”, you would be quite surprised.

Nourish your skin.
Your skin is your body’s largest organ. It is literally the “first line of defense” between you and the world outside and the “last line of defense” for keeping your body hydrated.
When you nourish your skin—through healthy eating, exercise, rest, and daily protection from the elements, along with moisturising—you are nourishing your body.
Skincare is healthcare. And when you treat your body right, it shows in your skin, the body’s window to wellness.