The Sneaky Thing Sabotaging Your Skin This Winter
Baby, it’s cold outside — no surprise there. The immediate effects of the chilly weather are pretty obvious: Flushed cheeks, chapped lips, and dry hands. But when it comes to your beauty routine, there’s more going on than what meets the eye —and it could wreak havoc on your skin.
For small changes in temperature, your body knows exactly what to do. But when there are bigger drops — say, if you go from a comfy home to sleet outdoors — it throws your skin for a loop, beginning with the teeny blood vessels that deliver vital oxygen, nutrients, and the like to your skin’s surface.
“Skin microcirculation has a normal flow at room temperature,” explains Ni’Kita Wilson, a cosmetic chemist. “Its primary function is to maintain the heat balance in the body.” But when skin gets cold, heat is re-directed to the core of the body (aka homeostasis), and in order to compensate for this loss, the microcirculation activity in your skin slows down.
The immediate effect on skin isn’t pretty: It impairs skin’s barrier function and throws skin’s immunological balance out of whack. “Since the blood in the vessels supply oxygen and nutrients to the skin, normal upkeep for it — like cell turnover and collagen production — is diminished,” says NYC-based dermatologist Dr. Neal Schultz, MD, DermTV.com host and creator of BeautyRx by Dr.Schultz. “It also compromises skin’s ability to repair itself, so healing from day to day trauma like scratches, sunburns and even picked pimples is decreased by as much as 40 percent.”
Not only is your skin less capable of properly healing, but it’s also more prone to irritation. When circulation slows, the delivery of essential immune cells and proteins nosedives, which weakens skin’s natural defenses. “The epidermis becomes thinner, which compromises the barrier function of the epidermis,” says Schultz. This makes it easier for germs and foreign materials to penetrate—and potentially irritate.
This skin sabotage happens no matter your skin type — although oilier types do have an advantage. “Oil on the skin is occlusive,” says Schultz. “Therefore, it acts as an emollient type of moisturizer.” Worst of all: It doesn’t necessarily have to be polar vortex proportions of cold outside for this to happen. In fact, on average, the effects begin once the temperature dips to the 50s and worsens with a wind chill.
The best way to counteract it is to treat skin like the rest of your body in the winter: Cover up. “Ingredients that form adhesive films on the skin can help act as a insulator and protect the skin from fluctuations of temperature,” says Wilson. They also help prevent evaporation, adds Schultz, which can have a cooling effect on skin. Look for moisturizers that contain waxes, such as carnauba (a natural, plant-based wax) and beeswax. Two good options to try: Lumene Sensitive Touch 5 Min SOS Cream ($22) and Weleda Wild Rose Smoothing Facial Lotion ($29). Or, alternately, you can stay inside and watch Netflix all season long.
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