9 Winter Skin Care Mistakes We All Make
As the mercury goes down and the cool breeze takes away the moisture from everything, we need to be a little more careful with our skin. It starts giving signals pretty early as winter arrives but aren’t we all guilty of skipping winter skincare or doing it wrong?
Well, whether out of sheer laziness or lack of proper information, these mistakes in winters can cost heavy on our skin. But to save you we did our homework and came up with this list of the most common mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Not changing skin care routine as per climate
Be it your skin, lips, or hair, everything needs to be taken care of as per the climate around. It is often assumed that moisturizer is required only for dry or normal skin, but moisturizer for oily skin is as essential as for other skin types. Other common assumption is that our skin requires hydration only in summers but again busting the myth, it needs hydration even in winters.
During winters, changes like lower humidity, colder winds, exposure to warm water, etc. make our skin super dry. Therefore, in this season we need moisturizer for dry skin. Whereas in monsoon, the increased level of humidity still requires moisture but with a non-sticky, pH balancing and oil control formulation. This brings us to a final verdict that no matter what the season is our skin requires a proper regime but as per the weather:
- To maintain hydration according to skin type and climate.
- To include ingredients that work as per the weather.
- To add more steps, if required to our skin care routine. It can be an extra conditioning session for your hair, a 30-sec scrub for your lips, or a deep moisturizing hand cream. It depends on what works for our skin and body.
Our range of Winter-Care essentials is here to help you sail smooth through the winter season.
2. Going easy on sunscreen
As the temperature drops, a sun-kissed morning seems to be everything we need. No matter how comforting it might be, the sun’s UV rays harm our skin and cause problems. So, if you think winters are okay without SPF, you need to quickly add one to your cart.
Do not want one extra step in your regime? Thinking about how you can fit in a face moisturizer and SPF together into your daily routine? Fresh Whipped Face Malai is the answer for you!
- It covers both face moisturization and sun protection
- It is a malai, freshly whipped out of raw milk, great for hydration during winters
- It is made up of completely natural ingredients
- It goes through a 4-step ayurvedic process to finally arrive at a super activated face rejuvenator
- There are different variants to meet skin requirements for different age groups and specific skin issues
3. Not drinking enough water
While the need for external moisturization is emphasised upon repeatedly, we often forget that there’s no alternative to internal hydration. The consumption of liquids comes down drastically in winters but it shouldn’t be the case. You can skip cold ice-based drinks, replace them with:
- Hot milk-based drinks
- Homemade preparations which also help in building immunity during winters (green tea, ayurvedic concoctions, etc.)
- Hot lemon water
- Cinnamon drink
- Lots and lots of water ( a little warm if it is too cold )
4. Not moisturizing enough
Skipping skin moisturization during summers is sometimes acceptable if your skin allows you to, but in winters, all skin types need moisturization that helps in retaining hydration. It does sound like a task to moisturise our dry skin again and again that’s why choosing the best moisturizer for dry skin matters a lot.
Nat Habit’s Fresh Whipped Skin Malai is pretty much all you need for your body this winter.
- It moisturizes skin for up to 48 hours.
- Made out of whipped raw milk, pure butters, cold-pressed oils, and handful of other natural ingredients that are known to provide hydration
- Works wonder for different skin issues like acne, dullness, extreme dryness, etc.
Our Freshly Whipped Multi-Nut Shea Omega-3 Skin Malai can significantly control body acne while moisturizing your skin for up to 48 hours.
5. Not caring for lips
Our lips have thinner and more sensitive skin than the rest of our body. Tough winter conditions only damage them. Licking them again and again (We caught you!) is not going to moisturize, instead quite the opposite! Here comes the rescue, a compact and handy lip balm. Being softer and thinner, your lips require repeated applications throughout the day. Also, Lip exfoliation to remove dead skin cells and is the perfect add-on to lip care.
Exfoliation: Nat Habit’s Fresh Crushed Lip Mura is made with fresh crushed fruits and spices in desi ghee and raw honey for gentle exfoliation. This lip scrub is rich in anti-oxidant properties that prevent skin cell aging.
Moisturization: Nothing works more than a natural lip balm made of power ingredients like desi ghee and raw honey with slow heat infusion of fresh fruits, flowers, and leaves for hours. Nat Habit’s Fresh Infused Lip Butter promises you the same, and more. It is available in different variants, all of which are completely natural and freshly made in our ayurvedic kitchens.
6. Taking long/hot showers
Taking hot showers might feel super relaxing and comforting during winters but they can actually dehydrate and dry out your skin even triggering body acne. Even for hair, such extra hot or steam showers are not so healthy. They destroy and damage hair follicles and can even lead to increased hair fall. While it’s evident that cold water is too much to handle in such weather, you can just do the last hair rinse with normal temperature water. In fact, you must use a light natural after wash balm on your hair after wash to retain moisture and render strength and sheen to the hair shaft.
7. Mechanical and chemical exfoliation
Exfoliation of dead skin is important but when done with harsh chemicals, large-sized granules or mechanical tools, it can go completely downhill. Use of such harsh scrubbers especially in winters can dehydrate and damage skin causing rashes and skin peeling. NatHabit’s Fresh Daily Ubtans have medium-fine grounded natural ingredients and power components like grams, grains, charoli etc to provide very gentle exfoliation to the skin. It also has besan, milk, pure oils etc as the base that provides perfect nourishment for the weather.
Facial skin being different, needs additional care. Our Fresh Exfoliating Mura (face scrub) is essentially made up of fruits, flowers, rice, sugar, milk, clay, and other ingredients that help you get a clean and clear skin without being too harsh. The best exfoliating face wash is the one which helps you cleanse deeply and naturally while nourishing and moisturizing the skin - our Exfoliating Muras are just that!
You can also try various home-made combinations as face scrubs. Just ensure that the ingredients you are using are skin-friendly and won’t add to the dryness of winters.
8. Using the same hair oil for all seasons
So much for the skin, what about your hair? Hair tends to get frizzy and unmanageable in winters. Using hair oil hardly suffices, let alone using one oil year around without giving a thought of changing it.
All of us are guilty of melting coconut oil and applying in winters because it is ‘great’. While there is nothing wrong in using coconut oil in winters, using warming oils as base can be both convenient and nurturing. Oils with warmer potency such as mustard oil and sesame oil ensure warmer scalp temperature. Just like nature has different seasons, different ingredients are better suited for tackling different issues.
The best hair oil is the one which works best for your hair as per the season and not one that is ‘just okay’ year around. Our range of ayurvedic hair oil is climate specific. For winters, we have Winter Dasabuti Hair Oils to deal with all hair problems of the season. It is made up of warm oils infused overnight with more than 15 herbs.
9. Applying alcohol-chemical based skin care products
We are often guilty of using quick solutions to get quick results, but in winter as our skin becomes more sensitive they do more harm than good. For example, Glycerin in most moisturizers might work quickly, but actually dehydrates it from within drawing out lipids. It is a form of alcohol. Similarly, products containing chemical and paraben might seem to work quickly but it comes at its own cost.
Natural products work more deeply and effectively, unlike the chemical based products that harm your skin.
Conclusion
Winters are pretty short in most part of the country but it doesn’t give us the license to ignore our body, be it skin, hair, or other organs. Damage caused during winters means you will spend the rest of the year rectifying it. We certainly don’t want that for you!
