Skin Care for the winters

Winter is here; time to put away your summer items and make room for winter; get out your long sleeves shirts and T-shirts, your corduroy pants and boots. But keep your sunscreen, sunglasses and hats handy. If you think the cold and the snow will keep at harms length from the UV rays you are wrong; you can still get sunburns, the cold temperatures do not block the UV rays. If you are in a region where it snows, you can still get snow blindness and the higher the altitudes the worse it gets. You can cause yourself severe long-term damage if you are not protecting yourself in the winters. In such cases, good tips on skin care for the winters will be really useful.

Effects of winter on skin

Dry, itchy, cracked and flaky skin goes hand in hand in the winters. The change in temperature, hot water baths and showers, indoor heating causes the skin to lose important oils and moisture from the skin making it dry, flaky and cracked. Read on below for some tips to help you take care of your skin in the winters.

Some tips to protect yourself from the winter

Limit your time in the afternoon sun

The sun rays are the strongest in the afternoon, hence limit your exposure whenever possible during the afternoons.

Wear a hat

Give protection to areas that are particularly prone to overexposure to the sun like your eyes, face, ears and the back of your neck. Wear a wide brim hat that can offer you good protection.

Cover yourself up

Wear loose-fitting, tightly woven and full length clothing like sweaters, jackets, coats to protect your skin from the UV rays.

Wear Sunglasses

Choose a pair of sunglasses that will give your eyes 99% to 100% protection from UVA and UVB.

Always wear sunscreen

When you are going out in the sun, apply a broad spectrum sunscreen with an SPF (Sun Protection Factor) of at least 15 or higher. Reapply after every two hours especially when you are spending extended periods of time outside.

Avoid Tanning beds and parlors

Tanning beds, tanning parlors and sun lamps are a new in, however the light source from these can damage the skin and eyes. Avoid any kind of artificial source of UV light.