Winter Skincare Mastery: Stay Hydrated and Youthful All Season

Winter brings with it a host of challenges for our skin, transforming it into an arid landscape. In this episode of the “Anti-Aging Insights” podcast, Dr. Teri Fisher explores how to maintain a radiant complexion during the colder months. With a focus on combating dryness, dullness, and sensitivity, Dr. Fisher shares a comprehensive winter skincare game plan that ensures your skin remains youthful and vibrant.

As the cold air and indoor heating reduce humidity, skin can lose moisture, leading to redness and irritation. Dr. Fisher emphasizes the need for an adaptable skincare routine by introducing hydration-heavy products—a switch to gentle, hydrating cleansers and layered moisturization using serums like those with hyaluronic acid. Also, cooler showers and the addition of a humidifier can significantly preserve the skin’s moisture.

Hydration extends beyond topical treatments; Dr. Fisher recommends incorporating water-rich foods such as cucumbers and oranges into your diet. Despite the winter chill, UV rays remain a concern—broad-spectrum SPF 30 sunscreen remains essential. Gentle exfoliation using PHA or lactic acid about once a week is advised to avoid over-sensitizing the skin.

Lips and hands, often neglected, also need extra care. Dr. Fisher suggests hydrating balms and barrier creams to protect against the harsh elements. Additionally, winter offers an ideal period for professional treatments like chemical peels and laser therapies, which are less risky in terms of pigmentation due to reduced sun exposure.

Incorporating niacinamide, ceramides, and omega-3 fatty acids further strengthens the skin’s foundational barrier. Avoiding excessive alcohol and caffeine can help maintain skin hydration levels. Ultimately, these small adjustments, combined with professional treatments, can significantly enhance your skincare routine, leaving you ready to face winter’s challenges. Dr. Fisher invites listeners to share their own winter skincare struggles and to explore more insights on Instagram.

Key Insights

• Winter skincare challenges include dryness, dullness, and sensitivity, primarily due to cold air and indoor heating reducing skin hydration.
• Recommended winter skincare routine adjustments: use gentle cleansers, hydrating serums, and richer moisturizers; avoid hot showers; consider adding a humidifier; and maintain hydration through diet.
• Importance of sun protection during winter: SPF should be worn daily, with broad spectrum protection of at least SPF 30, despite the absence of summer heat.
• Professional treatments like chemical peels and laser procedures are ideal during winter, offering benefits like improved skin texture and reduced pigmentation risk due to lower sun exposure.
• Emphasizing barrier repair: incorporate niacinamide and ceramides in skincare, limit alcohol and caffeine, and consume omega-3 fatty acids for optimal skin health.

Episode Transcript

Dr. Teri Fisher: It’s freezing outside. The air feels like a vacuum for your skin. Your lips are cracking. Your hands feel like sandpaper. Sound familiar? Winter is here and your skin knows it, maybe too well. But don’t worry. Today we’re tackling exactly that. Stick with me here because by the end of this episode, you’ll have a winter skincare game plan that’s going to keep your skin looking radiant and youthful all season long.

Yes, we are talking about winter specific skincare challenges today. Dryness, dullness, sensitivity, and the solutions. From the best treatments to simple tweaks to your routine, I’ve got you covered.

I’m Dr. Teri Fisher and this is the latest edition of Anti Aging Insights podcast. If you are someone who wrestles with winter skin, then feel free to stick around because I’ll tell you, you are not alone.

Let’s dive into this. Why is winter so rough on our skin? Well, the key culprit here is simply the cold air. Because what does that mean? It means less humidity. And then when there’s less humidity, our skin tends to lose moisture faster to that surrounding air where there is low humidity.

Here’s the kicker. When we’re inside, indoor heating sucks out even more moisture, and when you combine that with a barrier function of your skin that gets a little bit more weak, then you become more prone to redness, sensitivity, and irritation. And on top of all that, UV rays are still a threat. Yes, even in winter, snow in particular reflects UV light. So if you’re in an area where there’s some snow, then this affects you even more so because this is a way that not only is the UV light coming down from the sun, but it’s now being reflected back onto you a second time. So, what worked for you in the summer, and fall for that matter, won’t cut it in the winter.

It’s time to adapt and we need to get into what the skin is asking for from you for the winter season. So let’s do just that. Let’s get into the winter skincare routine upgrades. Things that you can do that are quite easy to do. Just takes a little bit of commitment to it.

First of all, the hydration game needs to be strong. We need to switch to a gentle cleanser, something that has a lot of hydration properties to it. Say bye bye for now to those foaming cleansers that strip oils. A good way to do this is to layer it up. So you start with a hydrating serum, look for hyaluronic acid or something like that. Seal it in with a richer moisturizer.

And on top of that, you want to avoid some hot showers. Sorry. I’m guilty of this myself. I love hot showers. They feel amazing, but they do zap the moisture out of your skin. And so avoid hot showers. Bring that temperature down a bit. And if you really want to take this to the next level, add a humidifier to your space. This is a true game changer for dry skin.

Also think about what you can do to hydrate yourself from the inside. Drink lots of water, but also add some hydrating foods, cucumber, oranges, celery, that sort of thing.

Now, what about exfoliation? Yes, winter skin still needs exfoliation, but we can tone it down a little bit. We want to switch to a gentle exfoliant, something like PHA or lactic acid. They’re both great. They’ll soothe while removing the dead skin cells. But don’t overdo it. Once a week or so is probably great to prevent the sensitivity.

Now the next thing that we should talk about is SPF. Because, just because you can’t feel the sun on your skin, it doesn’t mean that it’s not there. And so sunscreen is a must. It’s non negotiable. SPF should be worn every single day, broad spectrum, UVA, UVB protection, and at least SPF 30. And you get some extra bonus points if you use a sunscreen that has some hydrating ingredients.

Now, what about also some specific treatments that you can do during winter? Well, adding a sleeping mask to your routine can be very beneficial. Think of it as a superpowered moisturizer while you sleep, and you can apply it as the last step in your routine when you go to bed. Things like hyaluronic acid, peptides, they’ll help to lock in the hydration.

Now, when you think about specific problem areas, some of the areas that come to mind immediately in the winter are the lips and the hands. Think about all the times you have chapped lips or you get hands that are dry or flaking. We can’t forget that these are the areas that usually pay the biggest winter price tag. So for lips, go for a hydrating balm and for hands use a thick barrier cream, especially before bed.

And what about professional treatments? Winter is actually the prime time for certain treatments, chemical peels and laser treatments. With less sun exposure, that means that we have less risk of pigmentation. Because unfortunately, sometimes you can get some pigmentation after certain treatments. The risk is very, very minimal, but you can get something known as PIH, post inflammatory hyperpigmentation, and this can come from different treatments. So when we have a time of year when there’s less sun exposure, it’s a great time to do chemical peels, great time to do laser treatments, particularly for discoloration, smoothing texture and boosting your collagen.

Winter is all about supporting our skin’s foundation. We want to incorporate products with niacinamide for redness and barrier strength, ceramides, they are some of the glue that keeps our skin cells together, and also be mindful of the diet. As I mentioned, water is very important, but so are omega 3 fatty acids. Things like salmon, flaxseeds, they are your skin’s best friend.

Stay clear of too much alcohol or caffeine, which I know can be hard during the winter holidays, but they can dehydrate you as well.

So to wrap up key takeaways, winter skincare is all about hydration, protection and barrier repair. And the small changes do go a long way. Professional treatments in winter can maximize your anti aging goals as well, and it is a great time to do this. And also keep in mind that you can mix and match some of these tips that I have shared with you and find what works best for you.

So I’d love to hear from you. What do you struggle with? What is your biggest winter skincare struggle? Feel free to get in touch with me, drop a comment if it’s on Instagram, on YouTube, or if you’re listening to this in the audio form, feel free to come and visit me on Instagram at DrTeriFisher, D R T E R I F I S H E R.

As always, if you found this helpful, then feel free to share with a friend who’s in need of that winter routine reboot. And until then, stay warm, take care of your skin, and I’ll see you next week for more anti aging insights. I know you’ve got this. Happy holidays. Talk to you soon.