How to care for your skin in winter?

During winter, skin is particularly vulnerable to unfavorable external factors, such as wind, frost, central heating, and rapid temperature changes. First, the skin's natural pH is disturbed, making it more susceptible to moisture loss. Consequently, winter skin becomes rough, dry, dull, and lifeless. It then quickly loses its elasticity, which contributes to the formation of further wrinkles.

How to care for your skin in winter to protect it from the cold winter days? We asked cosmetologist Agnieszka Kozłowska for her answer.

Where should we start if we want to take proper care of our skin in winter?

The first step in skincare is regular exfoliation, which will improve its tone and texture. It will also prepare the skin for better absorption of moisturizing and nourishing ingredients. At home, you can perform a fine-grained or enzymatic peel. The most common non-invasive treatment performed in beauty salons is cavitation peeling. The use of ultrasound creates cavitation, which is the bursting of gas bubbles in a liquid, causing dead cells in the stratum corneum to break off, causing flaking. Cavitation peeling allows for non-invasive cleansing of the skin of cosmetic residue and other impurities. As a result, the skin is refreshed, oxygenated, and regains a healthy appearance.

Winter is the perfect time to perform a series of intensive acid exfoliations. The type and concentration of acids used are individually tailored to the skin's needs. This treatment normalizes excessive oiliness, reduces scars and fine lines, reduces enlarged pores, eliminates discoloration, smoothes the skin, and visibly brightens it.

How to properly moisturize and nourish your skin in winter?

  – The best solution here is to use low- and high-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid, which binds water molecules in the epidermis. This is essential for skin dehydrated by prolonged sun exposure and exposure to hot air, as well as for skin irritated and dried out by air conditioning.

To improve skin hydration in winter, we can opt for ultrasound treatments, which effectively increase the absorption of active ingredients into the skin, as well as needle mesotherapy treatments. Through controlled skin punctures, needle mesotherapy stimulates fibroblasts to produce collagen and elastin. This results in skin regeneration, increasing elasticity and firmness. And through the microchannels created by the punctures, active ingredients penetrate deeper into the skin, effectively moisturizing it.

In addition to properly moisturizing the skin in winter, it's also important to nourish it and strengthen its hydrolipid barrier. This barrier protects our skin from external factors such as wind, frost, and pollution. It prevents excessive water evaporation, allowing the skin to retain proper hydration. When we don't moisturize our skin sufficiently or use soap, we wash away valuable nutrients, weakening the skin's hydrolipid barrier.

What cosmetics should you choose for winter?

"On winter days, cosmetics that solely moisturize quickly evaporate and don't adequately protect our skin. To prevent active ingredients from evaporating quickly, they must be protected by a protective barrier composed of lipids. Therefore, a winter cream should contain fats: ceramides, vegetable oils, waxes, and fatty acids—ingredients that form the lipid layer that prevents water from evaporating from the epidermis.".

Vitamin supplementation is also recommended. Vitamin A supports the epidermal renewal process, and vitamin E improves skin hydration and firmness.

  The final essential element of proper winter skin protection is the use of sunscreen, regardless of the season. In autumn and winter, we are also exposed to the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation. Therefore, to protect your skin, you should use a sunscreen with an SPF of 50 daily.

Thank you for the interview.