How To Get The Better Of Sad, January Skin
Put a pep back in your skin’s step by flooding your skin with gentle, brightening ingredients and all the moisture.
With cold weather; short, gray days and the depressing aftermath of the holiday season it’s no wonder January has officially been deemed America’s least favorite month of the year. And it’s not just your mood that can be affected by the aptly named January blues – your skin often feels it, too.
Reckon your complexion needs some extra love right now? Then read on for five simple ways to fix the most common winter skin woes…
1. Your Skin Is Dull As
Dullness is super annoying because its causes are hard to pin down. Skimping on moisturizer, poor cleansing practices, smoking (gasp!) and dehydration... the list is of potentials is endless. But whatever is causing your skin to look sad and weary right now (often a combination of the above), one solution is clear to anyone who knows anything about skincare. And that’s vitamin C.
Topical vitamin C is one of those ‘no BS’ antioxidants that gets the job done. And how. Need a quick reminder of the sheer brilliance of antioxidants? No problem. Antioxidants are molecules that neutralize the damaging force of free radicals which form in your skin when it’s been exposed to things like UV radiation, pollution, stress, alcohol or a poor diet. If left to their own devices free radicals attack important proteins in your skin, breaking down collagen, screwing up elastin and even doing a number on your DNA. Of course, free radicals are around all year long but in January, after a month of food and booze excesses, they can really build up, making your skin look extremely sorry for itself.
This is why we say a big ‘yay’ for antioxidants like vitamin C which nix free radicals in the bud before they get time to do their dirty work. But that’s not all. Vitamin C is, for sure, one of the GOATs of the antioxidant world, but it also helps fade dark spots by inhibiting melanin production. Major result for patchy, dull skin. It’s also pretty safe and therefore ideal for most skin types.
Get involved, people. Like now.
Try: Vitamin C Super Serum+
2. There's Never A Good Morning
If you’re feeling very familiar with dry, morning skin right now, you’re not alone. The combination of less humidity in the air, coupled with dry indoor heating is a real killer on your skin’s moisturization levels. Of course, keeping your skin well moisturized throughout the day is a major step towards softer, healthier skin, but it’s even more important to up your lotion game before bed.
At night, your skin’s sebaceous glands slow down, producing less sebum and leaving your barrier function slightly compromised. Without this protective layer of natural oils, water is allowed to escape more readily from the skin’s surface, leaving it open to dehydration and dryness. Your skin also becomes warmer and more permeable when you’re asleep which further allows moisture to escape. All in all, this is asking for trouble unless you get ahead of the curve by applying a deeply moisturizing night cream before bed.
About that…
Try: Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream
3. Feeling Rough
Dryness often comes hand in hand with roughness, thanks to a lack of moisture in your skin which causes the surface to crack. But dryness isn’t the only offender of poor texture – dead skin cells also play an important role.
Your skin has a natural turnover rate in which cells are created in the deepest layers of your epidermis, travel to the surface and then naturally shed. This whole process takes around 28 days in an average young adult, but as you age the process naturally slows down to over double that. What does this mean for your skin? Well, when dead skin cells hang around at the surface they build up, blocking your pores and ruining both the texture and tone of your skin.
Exfoliation often feels a little ‘too much’ for winter skin that feels dry, dehydrated and sometimes even a tad sensitive. But, on the contrary, it’s still super important to encourage healthy cellular turnover, whatever the weather. In fact, gentle exfoliation can actually help reduce dryness by allowing your moisturizers and hydrating serums to work better. Who knew? The key, however, is to ensure you exfoliate with care and attention by avoiding harsh scrubs that can overstimulate your skin and weaken your barrier function. Instead, we recommend using gentler, non-abrasive exfoliating acids to reveal brighter, smoother skin. Simple as that.
Try: 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant
4. Redness Is Your Weakness
Facial redness can be a regular occurrence in the winter – especially if your skin is naturally dry, sensitive or dehydrated. Fluctuating extremes of temperature as you move from forced indoor heat to the chilly outdoors is the obvious offender, but this is usually temporary as your body rushes blood to the surface of your skin in a bid to warm itself up. Then there’s washing your face in scorching water, taking hot baths or using too many active ingredients in your skincare regime. All these factors strip away your barrier function and leave it open to irritation.
A great way to avoid facial redness during the winter months is to a) cover your face with a scarf when you’re outside and b) rethink your cleansing routine. Stick with lukewarm – never hot – water, and take a stock of your face wash. Is yours laden with strong active ingredients and/or harsh surfactants or preservatives like sulfates and parabens? Then toss these aside and tone it down with more nourishing ingredients like oat and rice milk.
Try: Soothing Cleansing Milk
5. Where Has All The Moisture Gone?
It’s no secret that winter air contains much less humidity than that in the summer. This means there’s much less free moisture for your skin to grab hold of to help keep it hydrated. Artificially heated homes don’t help matters either because this sucks even more moisture from the air. Most people's home humidity levels drop to as low as 15 percent in the winter, which is way lower than HVAC’s recommended 30-50 percent.
To counteract this wintry lack of hydration and help your skin stay healthy and soft, you’re going to need to get your moisture from other means. First up, help reduce the amount of water that evaporates from your skin in low humidity, by treating yourself to a humidifier. Humidifiers increase moisture levels in your home by emitting water vapor or steam to counteract the drying air. They're honestly a great investment for your skin (and your overall health!), especially if you place yours in your bedroom – the room in which your spend most of your time.
Another way to increase moisture in your skin is through your skincare regime. If you love your moisturizer and don’t want to try something richer or heavier just because the weather has turned, we get that. But the good news is you don’t have to. Instead, add a hydrating treatment serum into the mix. This is an incredible way to boost the moisture levels in your skin without upsetting your routine too much. After cleansing, apply yours to damp skin to help lock in even more moisture, then apply moisturizer over the top.
Try: Niacinamide Facial Serum
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![5 Unusual Things That Can Trigger Breakouts]()
No idea why you’re getting an influx of acne right now? Many lifestyle habits can trigger your breakouts – and sometimes they’re found in the most unsuspecting places.
As you know, acne is caused by one thing and one thing alone: an excess of sebum that causes your pores to become blocked with oil, dead skin cells, bacteria and other impurities. Eating too much chocolate doesn’t give you pimples. Neither does moisturizer. Sure, they can trigger breakouts if you’re genetically susceptible to them, but acne isn’t caused by uncleanliness, a poor diet or crummy skincare routine. It’s caused by blocked pores. End of.
OK, so this begs the question: why bother trying to cure them if your breakouts are totally out of your control? Well, here’s the thing. You can’t change your genes, that’s for certain. However, what you can do is keep acne-triggering factors under control to help lessen the blow. Sleeping well, reducing emotional stress and eating a healthy, well-balanced diet; all these things are important for maintaining balanced sebum and therefore reducing the likelihood of you breaking out week after week.
But there are also some less obvious reasons why you face might be suffering with regular breakouts. So if you’ve already dispensed with things like smoking, poor cleansing and too much exfoliation, but you’re still getting pimples on the reg, it might be time to look at some of the more unexpected areas of your life.
On that note, read on for five slightly more unusual causes for your breakouts.
1. Your Pillowcase
Getting enough beauty sleep is crucial for the health of your skin, but if you’re sleeping on a dirty pillowcase for a solid eight hours every night dirt and bacteria is inevitably going to build up and irritate your pores. This is especially true if you sleep on a synthetic pillowcase because man-made fibers don’t absorb sweat as effectively as natural fibres like cotton or linen.
The answer? Go natural all the way, for starters. Also, cleanse and moisturize your skin before bed to reduce the amount of grime getting on your pillowcase. Tea Tree Super Cleanser+ is a great acne-fighting cleanser that balances and clarifies your pores. Follow this with Retinol Moisturizer to lightly hydrate and moisturize your skin while boosting cellular turnover to keep your pores free of dead skin cells.
Finally, wash your pillowcase every three or four days. And ditto, your face towel. Old, dirty towels that are used by the whole family for drying their hands and who-knows-what-else are another breeding ground for germs and bacteria. Do you really want to be swiping this all over your freshly cleansed skin? Thought not. So, invest in a couple of cotton face towels for you and you alone and wash them every other day.
2. Your Makeup & Hair Products
Your skincare routine might be spot on, but what about your makeup and hair products? Rich hair conditioners, for example, are notorious for containing heavy ingredients like cocoa butter and coconut oil which, granted, are incredible for moisturizing your precious locks, but are not so great for acne-prone skin. Of course, we know you’re not smothering your face with conditioner but still, it can settle on your face when you rinse your hair so always cleanse your skin after, never before conditioning.
Makeup can similarly clog up your pores, especially if you use formulations that contain oil. So don’t do that. Instead, look out for noncomedogenic products (this means they’re less likely to block pores) and use powder rather than liquid formulations whenever possible.
3. Your Workout Routine
Do you love to get a good sweat on when you’re working out? High fives to you. However, allow all that sweat and grime to sit on your skin and your pores are going to clog up quicker than your instructor can say ‘hit the floor for ten push-ups.’
Cleanse your skin thoroughly and swiftly after exercising (the longer you leave your skin doused in sweat and grimy workout gear, the more bacteria is likely to breed), and always use a mild but effective cleanser that helps to detoxify your skin without drying it out. Our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser is a goodie as it harnesses the powers of coconut-derived activated charcoal which destroys skin-smothering impurities to offer a deep, gently purifying clean every time.
4. Your Winter Cover-Ups
Any fabric that rubs against your skin can lead to unwanted issues in the long-term. Remember how face masks were causing ‘maskne’ back in the pandemic? This was all due to friction from the mask combining with the obvious culprits of sweat, dirt, oil, bacteria and humidity which caused dryness, irritation and pimples.
Thankfully, for most of us, the days of having to wear a mask 24/7 are over. However, if you spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter and like to wrap yourself up in woollen hats and thick, heavy scarves, these can cause similar problems, trapping sweat and increasing friction around your chin, jaw, neck and forehead.
To help reduce breakouts caused by beanies, scarves (and even turtleneck sweaters), avoid synthetic fabrics and launder your winter cover-ups regularly. Weekly, at least.
5. Your Laundry Detergent
Speaking of laundry, your choice of detergent is also imperative. Just like your beauty routine, certain ingredients in your laundry detergent can be super irritating – especially if you have extremely sensitive or acne-prone skin. Fragrance, for example, can be a real Debbie Downer, as can harsh dyes, essentials oils, strong surfactants and preservatives.
To reduce the likelihood of your laundry detergent triggering those pesky breakouts, first up, choose liquid over powder detergents. Why? Because these leave behind less residue on your clothes and fabrics (who knew?!). Also, never use more detergent than is recommended on the label, avoid fabric softeners and try double rinsing your laundry after washing to remove as much residue as possible.
5 Unusual Things That Can Trigger Breakouts
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