I recently moved from a humid climate to a cold climate - what can I do to retain moisture in my skin?
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I moved from a super humid tropical climate in Southeast Asia to Minnesota during the winter months a few years ago. As you can guess, it was a drastic change. I have a few tips I wish someone would tell me before I got here.
1. Your skin would be dry ALL the time. Have a nice thick moisturizer and use it at least twice daily. Cetaphil, Cerave, Aveeno all have good moisturizers. Weleda has one for hands and feet.
2. Vaseline is your friend. My lips were cracked and dry every morning. There was dry spot on my skin. It hurt, and with the cold weather, it was the worst. Use Vaseline as lip balm or Aquaphor healing ointment but opt for petroleum jelly over anything else. You can also put that on your dry skin spot, hands, feet and elbows.
3. Showering was a bit tricky. I didn’t know how often to shower to keep my body clean but also not dry out my skin. Use a very gentle, hydrating, non stripping cleanser on your body the way you do your face. Only use soap on skin folds or where you were sweating. Shower with only water daily and soap when you feel sweaty after a long day or exercising. The Cetaphil one is good. Vanicream also has one or the Dove beauty bar is very hydrating. Moisturize immediately after.
3. Listen to your skin. I have to adapt and change with the weather a lot to find my routine but the standard cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen would be a good start.
Hope this helps you. Please ask me if you have anymore questions.
As for what can you do to retain moisture in your skin, layering hydrating serum (Aveeno oat serum is a good one for sensitive, irritated skin), seal that moisture off with a nice thick consistency moisturizer (Cerave moisturizing cream or the Cetaphil one both are in tubs) then top that of with an oil(lightweight oil like jojoba and rosehip ifyour skin can tolerate facial oil or body oil) or a balm (like Aquaphor, Vaseline, body butter).
I have oily, acne prone skin so I find that just a very gentle hydrating cleanser and a good moisturizer is enough to keep me from drying out.
A few suggestions:
- I would skip the morning cleanse all together. The skin isn't dirty in the morning if you've cleansed it at night, and the extra cleansing step strips the moisture.
- I'd also drop the Pixi mist because of the risk of irritation from the essential oils used (and risk of irritation is higher when your skin is dried out by the climate)
- Add a night-time moisturizer, for example, Inkey List has a good new option: https://whatsinmyjar.com/product/the-inkey-list-omega-water-cream-moisturizer