Winter Skin, Summer Skin (I)
Part I: Perfect care during the cold season
by Dr. Huong Nguyen | Editor: Dr. Sabine Nunius | March 22, 2022
I'm still not a winter fan. Maybe it's my Southeast Asian genes. From February onwards I will reach out to every little ray of sunshine. When spring is finally here, I literally soak up the light and warmth. My metabolism is also changing now. So it's time to adapt my skincare routine to the warmer months.
The right skin care for every season
By the way, this doesn't just affect me: in latitudes where there are different seasons, it is recommended to adapt your care routine to the changing seasons in order to optimally support the skin. Because your skin moisture and therefore your skin metabolism and the regeneration of your skin are significantly influenced by the ambient temperature and the relative humidity. In other words: The requirements for ideal skin care depend heavily on where you are. If you live in the tropics, where it is warm and humid all year round, you need different care than in Central Europe, where there are noticeable differences between summer and winter.
Fact of the day
In Central European latitudes, the following rule will help you: In winter, your skin needs protection from dryness and in summer, protection from radiation.
Winter care: freshness and moisture for your skin
Especially in our latitudes, we spend a lot of time indoors in winter. The air there has a lower humidity due to the lower outside temperature and the therefore necessary heating. This has a direct effect on your skin. Because the humidity of the environment you are in influences your transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and thus also your skin moisture.
Small digression:
The release of water from the epidermis into the outside atmosphere due to evaporation is referred to as transepidermal water loss, or TEWL for short. Air humidity, TEWL and skin moisture are closely related, as the table opposite shows you.
Air humidity, TEWL and skin moisture are closely related
We cannot influence the humidity in our environment. What we can improve, however, is our skin's ability to retain moisture. In addition, we can ensure that water loss is as low as possible. So ultimately we do two things:
1) We reduce water loss and
2) increase storage capacities. This creates a real moisture boost that refreshes even the most tired winter skin!
You can use these building blocks perfectly:
• Moisturizing factors such as sodium PCA, amino acids, lactate or hyaluronic acid
• selected fats in good doses, e.g. B. Shea butter, cupuacu butter, vegetable waxes - you may have to experiment a little until you find exactly the right amount for your skin
• Formulations containing ceramides and phospholidides
In case you are wondering how best to bring these individual building blocks together: Shea butter, cupuacu butter, ceramides and phospholides are all contained in Liquid Barrier!
sequel follows
The jump from winter to summer routine - find out more in Part II!