A Guide to Winter Skin Care

Winter conditions that affect your skin:

• Cold temperatures
• Harsh wind
• Dry air
• Moist, raw air
• Sun and its reflection off snow
• Overheating indoors
• Going in and out from one temperature extreme to the other

When it's cold most of us spend more time indoors than out, so overzealous heating systems are the elements that most affect skin. According to "The Doctor's Book of Home Remedies" (Rodale Press, 1993), most unhumidified homes contain a moisture level of 15% when the heat is on --- that's as dry as Death Valley. Other moisture-thiefs: electric blankets and saunas. Moving from chilling winds outside to stuffy heat inside also makes for dry, itchy, sore skin.

How to hydrate:

• Humidify your environment wherever possible.
• Maximize moisturizing. Use a heavier product than you do in the summer, day and night.
• Give you skin an extra drink once a week, as from Intensive Facial Hydrator Peel-Off Mask. Use it after your moisturizer.
• Take warm, not hot, baths and showers.
  

Though wet heat hydrates, hot water can pull moisture from skin. Add moisture to your bath or shower, like Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil. A fragrant after-bath body moisturizer like one from Naturals, applied to damp skin to help lock in hydration, relieves thirsty skin. When skin's especially dry, reach for Moisture Therapy Intensive Body Lotion. All Moisture Therapy products are hospital-tested to relieve dry skin instantly.

• Protect your lips from the drying effects of wind and cold. Unlike skin, lips contain neither natural oils nor protective pigment, melanin, so they sunburn easily Especially in the glare of sun on snow, as when skiing. They also dry out in winter's indoor heat. Try not to lick your lips because as the moisture from your tongue evaporates it takes some from lips, too. Apply a sunscreen-enhanced lip balm frequently; keep tubes handy at work, in the car, in your briefcase, purse, and coat pockets. Gently exfoliate lips every couple of days by lightly scrubbing with a warm wet washcloth, followed by balm.
  

• Also good in winter: Maximum Moisture Super Hydrating Complex, a gel to use in addition to moisturizer when your skin feels especially dry.
  

• Take care of windburn by supplying extra oil to skin, since wind dries its natural oil layer. Prevent it the same way, before you go out. Like layers of clothes, moisturizing that feels too heavy indoors is probably what's just right outdoors on a cold, windy day. Wind dries your skin, so before going out, apply extra moisture.
  

• Use sunscreen daily, at the highest available protection if you're doing snow sports. The reflection of the sun off of snow makes for high-risk exposure.