During the colder winter months, many of us suffer with dry skin due to the cold winter air as well as spending more time in dry, heated rooms. This can manifest as dry hands and face or chapped lips. The good news is that there are some steps we can take to prevent our skin from drying out over the winter months to have glowing skin all year round.
Here are my top tips for supple winter skin:
– Increase your healthy fat consumption – many people think that dry skin is due to lack of hydration, but often it’s a case of lack of healthy fats in the diet. Prioritise saturated fats such as butter, ghee and coconut oil for cooking, and organic olive oil for drizzling over cooked food. Oily fish once a week is also a great way of including more healthy fats into the diet. Avoid inflammatory fats such as vegetable oils (rapeseed, sunflower oil, corn oil, soybean oil): these are often found in processed and packaged foods, as well as takeaway meals and even in plant milks. Learn to read the labels.
– Include Vitamin A, collagen and Vitamin C rich foods to your diet – adding antioxidant rich fruits to your diet can help the formation of free radicals which contribute to premature ageing. Vitamin C is essential for collagen formation and can be found in foods such as citrus fruits, kiwis and peppers. Start your day with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice with a pinch of salt with your breakfast, and listen to your cells sing! Vitamin A (retinol) is a key nutrient for skin health and can be found in animal products such as liver, egg yolks and dairy. When eating meat, choose gelatinous cuts such as ox tail, ox cheeks, shoulders, legs and rumps. Drinking or using bone broth for soups is another way of adding extra collagen rich foods to your diet.
– Hydrate with mineral rich fluids. During the winter months we might feel less inclined to drink a lot of liquids with the colder weather. Rather than drinking huge amounts of water, I recommend increasing your liquid intake by including mineral rich fluids such as herbal teas (hibiscus, comfrey, calendula and plantain are lovely herbs for skin health), coconut water, fresh orange juice or including more soups (made with bone broth!) into your diet. Reducing alcohol can also help with keeping your skin moist as it is quite dehydrating to the body. I also love shilajit resin or a warm mineral rich tea.
– Invest in a humidifier to add moisture to your home or office and keep skin from drying out due to central heating.
– Avoid hot baths or showers, or shorten the length of time your skin is exposed to hot water. A good rule of thumb to see if your water is too hot is to check if your skin turns red. Try using lukewarm water to wash yourself and using gloves if washing dishes with hot water.
– Avoid heavily scented cosmetics and creams as these can often irate and dry out the skin further. Opt for more natural creams such as pure shea butter (fantastic for dry hands and chapped lips), squalane or creams containing plantain and calendula. I adore tallow based creams at night to soothe and hydrate my skin overnight. Grassfed tallow is rich in fatty acids which can not only repair dry skin but also promote youthful skin. I love using the oil cleansing method with jojoba oil for my skin. This leaves it wonderfully soft and is even effective for oily or acne prone skin. I am all about fats for healthy skin, can you tell?
If you’re struggling with skin issues and would like some support, why not book a free discovery call to see some bespoke diet and lifestyle changes can help your skin flourish!
