Crazy winter weather ruining your skin? Local skin-care experts explain how to fix it

Michelle Rees, owner of Mrs. Rees’ Vintage Beauty Parlour in Belleville (here working with Nicole West), says drinking lots of water, using sunscreen and exfoliating your skin will help protect it. Photo by Lori-Anne Little QNet News, Belleville

By Lori-Anne Little

BELLEVILLE – Is your skin-care routine enough to keep up with this year’s crazy winter?

Skin-care experts say that moisturizing is a must this time of year.

“In the winter, if you’re living in Canada, you’re going to have some dehydration. It’s the extreme temperatures. We go from really hot to really cold quickly, plus the wind. All those factors really dehydrate the skin,” says Laura Zegouras, a skin-care professor in Loyalist College’s esthetics and spa management program.

Winter’s cold temperatures leave the air outside very dry, while indoors, furnaces dry out the air. All that in turn dries out your skin.

“We hear it from our clients all the time. As soon as they turn on their furnaces, we start getting calls: ‘Oh, my skin feels so tight and dry,’ ” Zergouras told QNet News.

When winter comes around, you have to change up your facial moisturizing routine, she said. She suggests something similar to Clinique’s three-step cleansing, toning and moisturizing routine twice daily. Cleansing washes away dirt, sweat, makeup and excess oils; toning cleans any leftover dirt and debris, balances the pH of your skin and closes your pores; and moisturizing does exactly what it sounds like: replenishes moisture.

And you don’t need expensive products, Zegouras said: “There (are) plenty of great products out there that are budget-friendly. I would suggest going to Shoppers (Drug Mart) and talking to one of the estheticians that work there. They could definitely help you figure that out.”

If you want to go above and beyond, she said that adding serums – which reach deeper into the skin for moisturizing and help with problems such as acne – as well as regular facials – one per season, or as often as once a month – are really beneficial for the skin.

Michelle Rees, the owner of Mrs. Rees’ Vintage Beauty Parlour in downtown Belleville, says she suggests three things to people looking to take better care of their skin: drinking plenty of water, wearing sun protection year round, and dry brushing to exfoliate skin on your arms, legs and other parts of your body.

“When you dry brush your skin, you fluff off all the dead skin cells (but) you don’t lose all the moisture in your skin that you do in the water,” Rees said. “When you use a loofah in the shower, you lose a lot of extra moisture.”

Saving money when giving your skin a little extra TLC is possible by making an all-natural face mask at home, she said.

“One of the best things that I can suggest is mixing one teaspoon of honey and one teaspoon yogurt and put that on your face and relax for like 15 (or) 20 minutes. Honey and yogurt are the two best things that you can put on your skin. I promise you that if you do this, your skin will feel like baby skin.”