The dryness of indoor heat, cold weather and the whipping winds really does a number on your skin. No matter your skin type, when winter moves in you have to tweak your skincare routine if you want to keep your skin healthy and glowing until spring. Here are easy adjustments you can make when you have a little bit of know-how and a few products you may not normally consider using.

If your skin is dry already, winter can really wreak havoc on you. Remember that washing your face strips all the natural oils that your body produces to protect your skin. Instead of washing your face every morning, opt for a warm water rinse followed by a light moisturizer infused vitamin E and aloe. When washing your face at night our rule is no soap and no lather. This eliminates bar soaps, gels and foam soaps. These are too harsh and you need a cleanser gentle enough to be wiped off with a tissue. Rinsing is fine as long as you follow with a pH balancer and moisturizer that contains hyaluronic acid or glycerin to pull water into your skin and shea butter to lock that moisture in.

Weekly exfoliation is a must for you because it helps prep your skin to receive and hold moisturizer. Try an at-home lactic acid peel. Don’t let irritated skin go without treatment. You can try a 1% hydrocortisone cream, but if that doesn’t give you almost immediate relief, contact your dermatologist or doctor.

Combination skin may experience the least amount of change during the seasons, but it will still become drier in winter months. To keep your skin glowing, switch to a moisturizer with humectants to draw water into the skin. You have to be careful when reducing oiliness from your skin so you don’t cause your skin to over-produce oil to compensate. To blot your skin, use a cotton ball soaked in .5% salicylic acid.

Simple changes such as switching to a creamy exfoliating scrub and decreasing the frequency in which you use any alpha hydroxy acids will keep your skin fresh and clean without over drying during the winter.

Even oily skin does not produce as much oil in the winter. If this is your skin type you may find that you need to wash your T-zone with a 2% salicylic acid and your cheeks with a milder cleanser because your cheeks experience the most dryness during this time of year. You may also require a moisturizer even if you normally don’t use one. Moisturizers help balance the oils in your skin especially when weather changes affect your pH balance. Because you’ve started to use a moisturizer, add a weekly mask that will help dry your skin and unclog your pores.

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