What are the best skin care tips during winter?
1. Soap is a Dirty Word! Cleanse Without Stripping.
Your skin is already struggling with moisture loss from low humidity and overheating in air conditioning. Do your skin a favour and cleanse without stripping with a cleanser free of harsh surfactants and detergents. This means AVOID anything that foams when you add water.
Furthermore, a good cleanser should also hydrate your skin (look for glycerin) AND have anti-inflammatory ingredients to protect from environmental damage like B3 and Chamomile.
My Concentrated Cleanser is not only soap free, but also boosted with anti-inflammatory Vitamin B3, soothing botanicals and hydrating glycerin. Designed and tested for all skin types.
2. Moisturise! Moisturise! Moisturise!
Lower humidity in the atmosphere means drier skin. You will probably find you will need a more enriched nourishing moisturiser in winter than in summer due to the lower humidity and overheating. That’s why I’m not a big believer in skin type as our “type” literally changes with the weather.
If we are in a humid environment, like Singapore, we need a lighter moisturiser, but if we are in the Alps in winter, we are dry, needing heavier moisturisers that contain more humectants (moisture / water binding ingredients, think glycerin, hyaluronic acid) and occlusives (things that stop water and moisture loss).
My top ingredients are: glycerin (a humectant, meaning it binds and holds water into the skin), medical grade lanolin (the closest thing to natural skin oils), shea butter (filled with essential skin vitamins and free fatty acids) cocoglycerides (extracted from coconut oil) and hyaluronic acid. All found in the dr.NC Concentrated Hydration+ boosted with 5% vitamin B3. Integrates so you don’t feel oily BUT holds moisture in all day (12-15 hours) AND doubles up as an eye cream.
Did you know Niacinamide actually stimulates production of ceramides (an essential moisturiser in skin)? So having this in your moisturiser is ESSENTIAL.
3. Don't Forget the Body Skin!
Forget foaming and soap-based products. Swap these out for non-foaming body cleansers like the dr.NC Concentrated Hand & Body Cleanser. Infused with Niacinamide, glycerin and lavender, it gently cleans, hydrates and soothes your skin.
Moisturise frequently, and always IMMEDIATELY after you come out of the shower to prevent dehydration by evaporation and lock the moisture in.
Moisturisers containing substances such as glycerin and shea butter help seals in moisture and fortify the skin’s barrier function. Our dr.NC Concentrated Hand & Body Butter is the perfect anti dote for dry body skin. This 3-in-1 body butter hydrates, renews AND exfoliates. Rich in consistency, it seamlessly absorbs without the residue with 24-hour lasting hydration. Formulated with aloe vera, shea butter, glycerin, coconut oil to give body skin deep dermal hydration. A one-of-a-kind body formulation that also regenerates the body skin with exfoliating AHA (lactic, glycolic, mandelic, tartaric) and BHA (sal acid). Removing dull skin cells and exfoliating the dull winter skin away. Hydrate and exfoliate all in one, leaving body skin looking like its fresh out of the day spa.
We have just launched our dr.NC Concentrated Body Lotion. This delicious lighter formulation contains a blend of lipid rich botanical oils (Seabuckthorn, olive, macadamia) plus Shea Butter and Glycerin. Not to forget Vitamin B3 (niacinamide) and Vitamin E. Designed to rebuild the skin's moisture level and strengthen the barrier without any greasy residue. A smidge of lavender leaves you feeling calm and soothed.
4. Enrich with Vitamins
If your skin is feeling dry and sensitive, combat with a soothing facial B3 niacinamide serum, under your enriched moisturiser. Niacinamide reduces inflammation that occurs from the wind and overheating. It strengthens the epidermal barrier function, protecting your skin from the winter elements. Winter wears down your barrier so B3 will protect against this. It also increases your natural moisturising ceramide levels (one of most important natural moisturising factors). Finally, it is the single best anti-inflammatory ingredient that exists in skincare today, so it will sooth inflamed winter skin and rosacea. This is the why behind why Niacinamide is infused across the dr.NC product range. More is more when it comes to B3 in a layer upon layer approach.
5. Ditch Scrubs and "Chemo" Exfoliate
Get rid of mechanical exfoliants. Not only are they bad for the environment but they are bad for you and your dermis!
I don’t believe in them at any time of the year, but they will be even more irritating in winter. They literally destroy the very important barrier layer of the skin; increasing ageing, sensitivity, dehydration and damage.
Same goes for dry body brushing, but more on that later.
Instead, invest in cell-exfoliating ingredients to remove dry, dull lack lustre skin cells. Look for lactic acid and other AHAs like glycolic, mandelic and tartaric. Lactic is my pick as it exfoliates, cell renews AND is a humectant, which means it can exfoliate and hydrate at the same time. I love multi-tasking ingredients. We put ALL of these AHA’s in our Concentrated Micropeel Wipes, Concentrated Hand & Body Butter and Concentrated Clarifier.
6. Protect from Pollution
Pollution and Pollu-ageing are buzz words that are being increasingly debated and discussed in international dermatology circles over the past 2 years. Many experts feel it could be as damaging as UV!
Pollution in the form of fumes, dirt, smoke and dust create free radicals that accelerate ageing. Free radicals can also damage the skin increasing irritation and aggravating conditions like eczema.
The Concentrated Illuminator is a 3-in-1 powerful hybrid antioxidant serum containing B3, C, E, glycerin, HA and peptides. The perfect solution to prevent pollution ageing or poll-u-ageing. This powerhouse will combat the damage in 2 ways.
Firstly, the B3 / niacinamide strengthens the barrier layer stopping pollution particles getting in. Secondly, it is filled with a cocktail of antioxidants that mop up and eradicate the oxidative damage created by the pollution and UV itself.
In addition, choose moisturisers that protect against environmental aggressors. Look for anti-oxidant Vitamin B3 (niacinamide) and Vitamin C found in all of dr.NC moisturising face and body products.
7. Don't Get Caught in the UV Trap
You still can be damaged by the sun’s UV rays during winter. In fact, potentially more as you stay out longer as it is not so hot! You could say you get a false sense of security and in fact, create more damage as you don’t “feel” the warning signs like heat or burning.
I’m a fan of physical blockers, so zinc and titanium dioxide-based sunscreens are my favourites. Even better with and environmental protection antioxidants like niacinamide. That’s why I created both the dr.NC FaceShield SPF True 50 and the Concentrated CC+ Cream SPF 30 boosted with B3 (niacinamide).
Always apply your SPF after moisturising.
My rule is 2 applications every 2 hours if you are actively outdoors. DON’T forget the hands, especially when driving. The other area not to underestimate getting damages in winter is the décolletage skin. Prevention goes a long way. NEVER forget to add some sunscreen here!
More than skin deep for winter skin.
Anything we should be eating or drinking for more radiant skin, preventing that ‘dull’ appearance?
Supplements are super beneficial for the skin.
- Niacinamide: Repairs and replaces ALL our bodies cells engine room known as the mitochondria. The mitochondria slows down and deteriorates with age. It also repairs UV induced DNA damage. AND is one of the most powerful antioxidants. It increases the strength of our barrier layer AND upregulates levels of one of our most important moisturising factors in the skin: ceramides. Recommend 500mg daily. Also found in food groups like tuna, chicken, mushrooms and vegemite.
- Vitamin C: For collagen. It is an important co factor in collagen production and acts as a powerful anti-oxidant, preserving it in the skin.
- Fish Oil: Hydration and reduces inflammation.
- EVO: Load up on olive oil. Anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory essential for skin cellular health. Contains Oleic acid (one of the key ingredients) that miraculously will slow down cellular ageing AND minimise cancer!
- Vitamin D: You’re getting less UV exposure with shorter days so you need to take Vitamin D supplement regularly. I recommend 1000 – 2000 iu a day.
- Red Foods: These are packed with carotenoids. Compounds that are powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatories: think tomatoes, capsicum and carrots. Go for tomato and carrot soup! The tomatoes have one of the best of the carotenoids in them known as Lycopene. The trick is though, the Lycopene is all in the skin of the tomato and is only absorbed when cooked, so don’t throw away the skins!
- Learn from Lentils: Add lentils to your soup. These are so underestimated and pack with a tonne of beneficial nutrients. Powerful natural probiotics they reboot the gut biome. High in protein and fibre and vegan friendly. Soup up your soup by adding in anti-inflammatory spices in the form of ginger, turmeric and cumin.
Don’t let the winter chill steal your glow! With dr.NC, you can keep your skin hydrated, healthy, and luminous all season long.
Stay Warm and Hydrated.
DrNC x
