How I Healed My Dry Winter Skin
Disclaimer: Some of the references above include affiliate links, which means at no cost to you, I may earn money when you click through to make purchase.
Living life a mile high here in Denver has come with all kinds of surprises: the most glorious "bluebird" skies, breathtaking sunsets, and also winters with such dry air, it feels like my skin has been turning to dust.So earlier this season I set out to find my own personal winter skin survival strategies, as per usual, with help from my Twitter followers (thanks, y'all!).These tools and tactics made a huge difference in keeping my skin moisturized going into 2019 - especially my hands and face, which were feeling it the most after countless airplane rides and another winter in super-dry Denver.
Crude Oil Cleanser
Ok, hear me out. I know you've heard me talk about this incredible, life-changing oil cleanser (which I've been happily buying for over a year now) in the past for how it helped clear up my adult acne. But wait - there's more!Seriously, though. This winter my biggest problem has been my dry, cracked cuticles. I already struggle with the bad habit (gasp!) of picking my nails and nail beds - which leads to massive, irrational amounts of mani-pedi anxiety at the nail salon on the rare occasion that I go - but this winter things got even worst in the cold, dry weather. Cleanse to the rescue!One night after using it to clean my face, I used the eye-dropper applicator to drizzle each of my cuticles with a single drop of the magical elixir and then went to bed. In the morning, I saw massive improvement, so I kept it up. Within a week my cuticles were looking 100% healed.I honestly cannot recommend Crude products enough - especially the oil cleanser, which has done wonders to protect my skin's microbiome and help me maintain nourished, healthy skin. If you do choose to give it a try, use code bossedup at checkout to save 20% OFF!
Jet Lag Mask
While we're talking about magical skincare elixirs, let me add Summer Friday's Jet Lag Mask to the mix.I'll be honest: I didn't think it lived up to the Instagram hype when I first picked it up on one of their rare sales (it retails for $48 + shipping and that 2.25 fl oz tube is a lot smaller in person that it looks on the 'gram). Before winter weather struck, it actually left my skin feeling too oily and I still find that it doesn't wear well under makeup.That said, I was so grateful that I kept it when winter arrived and my plane travel picked up, because when I use it after stripping my face of makeup from the day, it feels like giving my face a big glass of water.Lately I've been using it in the under-eye area each night before bed, and about once a week during the winter I've been using it all over and applying it with a circular motion from my fingertips. It incorporates chestnut oil as a chemical exfoliant, so I find it helps to gently take away a layer of dead skin without using much friction.
Burt's Bees
There are two Burt's Bees products that I've had on my dresser all winter long. First, to help with my cuticle-healing efforts, I've relied on their Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. It's got a lightly greasy feel, but a little goes a long way in maintaining my good cuticle health. Plus it's got a fresh lemon-y scent that feels nice to start my day with. While I use the Crude Cleanser as an overnight treatment, the Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream is light enough for daytime use.In addition to my face and cuticles, my lips have been feeling the dry weather here a lot this season, too. Mercifully, Burt's Bees also makes an Intensive Overnight Lip Treatment that feels like a face mask for my lips! I slather it on thick just before bed (so get any teeth-brushing and/or goodnight kisses out of the way before you apply for maximum absorption) and wake up with plump, conditioned lips.
A Humidifier + Diffuser
One the best investments I made this winter was picking up a humidifier for use in our bedroom. I did a bunch of research and decided on the Honeywell Germ Free Cool Mist Humidifier because of it's good consumer reports, large water tank that can go longer without re-filling, and reasonable price. I got mine for just under $65 on Amazon.Even though I went with this option for it's larger tank, I still end up refilling it every other day since I sleep with it set to maximum hydration, meaning that there are other settings you can opt for when you need less moisture added to the air. With our door closed in our small bedroom, it makes a difference you can actually feel in the air. It's also really helped Brad, who sometimes gets a dry-weather cough that's aggravated when he lies down to go to sleep.I paired the humidifier with an essential oil diffuser, which I fill with water and a few drops of cypress oil each night before bed. I know, I know, the rise of essential oils in recent years originally struck me as bogus. And for the record, a lot of them still are! But I'm reading a great book - The Nature Fix - about the healing powers of nature and forests (gifted to me by my wonderful mother-in-law, Gail), and have learned a ton about the healing properties of cypress trees. When I read the researchers and scientists quoted in the book admitted to using cypress oil in their own diffusers at home, I wanted to give it a try.I've only been using it for about a month, so I'm not sure I can attest to any overnight transformation, but it's added a nice little element to my nighttime routine that I find comforting and the aroma makes me feel like I'm sleeping in a densely wooded forest.What are your dry-weather tips for healthier skin?I'd love to hear from you in the comments below! And if you try out any of the above, be sure to let me know!