When the warm months come to an end and the seasons start to change, so does our skin! As we invite the holiday season, prepare our winter gear and head into the colder time of the year, making some changes to your skin care routine can be so beneficial in keeping up with your glow.

While the colder weather can be harsh on our skin, there are many ways to ensure we are doing what we can to protect and enhance it. One of the most common changes you will see with your skin in the cold is dryness. Of course, using your staple moisturizer is helpful. However, you may find that you get to the end of that jar a bit quicker than usual. 

A great tip for adding moisture to your skin without overusing your moisturizer would be to add hyaluronic acid (HA). There are so many benefits to using a moisturizer with HA or to adding a HA-based gel to the moisturizer you love. For starters, Hyaluronic acid is a compound that holds a thousand times its weight in water. Therefore, the solution is constantly pulling in moisture, increasing hydration, and locking in what your moisturizer is providing you. This will help in extending the time between applications. 

Hyaluronic acid will also help to repair your skin faster when excessive drying occurs as the product encourages the skin to expand and mend. Here at clara, we offer a hyaluronic acid and peptide-based product called Hydra Gel which would be the perfect HA addition to your favorite moisturizer this winter.

In general, altering to more gentle products in the cold can make a big difference in keeping your skin healthy and comfortable. A few additional things you can consider would be switching to a cleanser that is more gentle on the skin or temporarily swapping your tretinoin for retinol. In switching from tretinoin to retinol, it will slow the rate at which your cell turnover is occurring with tretinoin. This will decrease the slight peeling or dryness you may experience with your tretinoin which could be perfect for winter.

Another thing to consider when handling dryness is to have multiple options for moisturizers. Because all moisturizers are a little different, what works for you in the summer, might not cut it in the winter. With the weather being so unpredictable, what your skin needs will vary. By having options, you can judge what your skin requires in a moisturizer each day leading to comfortable, more hydrated skin.

Clara’s Replenish and Recovery Cream are two great examples of different moisturizers to have through the winter. Replenish is a lightweight, HA based moisturizer, perfect for everyday use to help manage and maintain the skin's barrier and promote hydration. On the other hand, Recovery Cream is a more intensive moisturizer that will promote, and significantly repair, the skin's natural barrier while reducing intense irritation and redness accompanied by dry skin. Each moisturizer increases the skin's hydration to prevent dryness, however; they are created to maintain and repair the skin very differently, making them both great options to have on hand through the cold.

Moisturizers in cold weather are vital to caring for our skin. But above all, we want to ensure our skin is protected. Sunscreen is the most important step to any skin care routine. There are a multitude of products and steps we can use to enhance our skin but without sunscreen we can only get so far. Just because the sun may be hiding behind those cold clouds and fog, does not mean we don’t still need a strong and physical protective barrier on our skin. 

At clara, we have 17 different sunscreens for you to choose from to find what works best for your skin depending on the time of year. In the cold, you may be looking for a more hydrating SPF or maybe something with a longer water resistance to last while you head down those Colorado ski slopes. Whatever the need, we’ll find what feels best for your skin in the cold.

In addition to products, there are various lifestyle tips you can consider to maintain your skin through the cold. 

• Avoiding extreme cold conditions and coving up in high winds will help to further prevent discomfort and dryness. Dry and cold conditions will pull the moisture from our skin, making it hard to manage and keep up with hydration. 
• Sleeping with a humidifier at night will allow your skin to pull back the moisture loss from the day and enable you to wake up with more hydrated skin. This will also allow your skin to take in more moisture when applying your products in the morning. 
• Avoid hot showers or face washes. I know, it's cold outside and most of the time the one thing that sounds the best is a long, hot shower. However, sticking to shorter, luke-warm showers will prevent your skin from over-drying and allow it to manage it's own moisture better. 
• Gentle exfoliation will refresh the skin and provide a smooth surface for moisturizers and products to penetrate. You can exfoliate using a gentle exfoliating product like the Revision Pumpkin Enzyme Mask, gently rub with a gentle exfoliating cloth, or steam your face over a bowl of hot water which will allow the dead skin to loosen and rub off. You want to be sure when exfoliating to avoid damaging the skin. However, getting that top layer of dead skin off is a great way to promote your skin health and comfort in the cold.

Overall, changes in weather, either hot or cold, have a significant effect on our skin. In preparing for the colder season, find what works best for you to keep your skin hydrated and protected.