Why Your Skin Looks Older When The Heating Comes On
Ok, so we're in the cooler months now. Hats and scarves will slowly be making their way into our daily wardrobes and the heating is starting to fire up again.
Is it just me, or do you find your skin starts to change when the heating comes on? It's like it starts to feel a little bit tighter and those fine lines you had over summer suddenly look a little more defined and noticeable.
I swear the central heating switch warms the house and sucks the moisture out of our skin at the same time!
The question is though, is your skin dry or is it dehydrated?
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DRY AND DEHYDRATED SKIN?
So, dry skin tends to be more of a skin 'type' and can be something you're naturally prone to. It's generally lacking in oils, can feel rough or flaky and really likes lipid-rich face creams packed with ingredients like ceramides to help nourish and support the skin barrier.
Dehydrated skin is slightly different. It's more of a skin 'condition' than a skin 'type' and lacks water rather than oils. It can feel tight, look quite dull and show fine dehydration lines. This type of skin can benefit from humectants to help attract and retain water, alongside barrier-supporting ingredients to help prevent TEWL (transepidermal water loss, which is basically when water escapes through the skin).
It's also good to bear in mind that you can have dry and dehydrated skin at the same time too.
HOW DOES WINTER AFFECT OUR SKIN?
Well, central heating can lower the humidity in our homes, which can encourage more moisture to escape from our skin. Colder weather can also affect how well our skin barrier functions, potentially increasing water loss even further. Then you've got things like hot showers and baths, heating in cars and cold walks outside, which can all affect our skin.
And then those fine dehydration lines start appearing to make matters worse!
It's also worth noting that these lines aren't necessarily permanent. When they're caused by dehydration, they can become less noticeable once the skin is properly hydrated again.
Finally, if you're wearing makeup, you might notice it doesn't sit quite as well on dehydrated skin. It can settle into those fine lines, look a little patchy and make the skin appear more aged than it actually is.
MY FAVOURITE INGREDIENT FOR DEHYDRATION
I've been a huge fangirl of Forlle'd for years now, and hyaluronic acid is one of their star ingredients.
Hyaluronic acid works wonders for dehydrated skin because it's a humectant, meaning it attracts and binds water. This helps improve hydration levels, plump up the appearance of the skin, soften those fine dehydration lines and generally make everything look a little smoother.
Don't forget though, it's not just about applying hyaluronic acid (HA) to your skin and expecting to see a change. It's all about the formulation and also the molecular size of the HA, as different molecular weights can work in different ways within the skin's surface layers.
So, if you've tried HA in the past and it hasn't worked particularly well for you, it might be that the formulation simply wasn't right for your skin.
THE PRODUCT THAT DOES IT ALL
Don't get me wrong, I have so many hyaluronic acid options in my clinic that I've probably lost count, but there's always one that stands out...
The Forlle'd Reliance Gel has to be a firm favourite of mine. It's light, soothing, cooling and, above all, incredibly hydrating.
One thing I love about it is that it has multiple uses. You can apply it underneath creams as a serum for an extra boost of hydration. It can be used as a super lightweight daily moisturiser, morning and evening, and it can also be applied in a thicker layer and left on as a hydrating face mask.
When it comes to dehydrated skin, as tempting as it is to layer on a very rich face cream, that might not always be the best thing for your skin.
Dehydrated skin needs ingredients that help attract and retain water, alongside a healthy skin barrier to keep that moisture where we want it. So, while oils and richer creams certainly have their place, they're not always the whole answer.
Hyaluronic acid is probably my favourite ingredient for helping with this.
If you're still unsure where to start with it all, why not book an online consultation with me here or fill out my free Skin Check-In form here, and we can get your skin exactly where you want it to be.
Thanks so much for reading,
Emmaline
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