Winter Hair & Skin Tips!

Winterize Your Hair & Skin! 

Winter is well upon us. It’s the time of year that calls for layering your clothes, scarves, hats, and gloves. And as we change the type of clothing and outerwear we wear, hair and body regimen tweaks are something to also consider. The cooler and drier it gets outside the more prone our hair and skin are to dryness and the more it craves moisture.

Here are a few tips for keeping both hair and skin moisturized:

Shampoo Less: frequent shampooing strips hair of sebum. Try shampooing every other week instead. Or if your hair is prone to build-up try co-washing (conditioner only washing) in between shampoo sessions. 

Beware of Breakage: If you are seeing breakage in a couple places vs all over (for example just around your edges) It may have nothing to do with how you’re currently caring for your hair, but much more with what you wear on it. Wool hats and scarves rob hair of moisture and cause it to break. Try placing a satin cap or scarf under your wool hat or tuck hair in a bun to help keep it off of harsh wool coat collars. 

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Deep Condition More Often: The heat that blows through our homes and offices can be drying to our hair. Use a good deep conditioner about once a week. Or try an Ayurveda treatment! :) 

Consider using less heat: Using flat irons, blow dryers, and curling irons can also draw moisture out of your hair. During the winter opt for using wet set techniques like pin curling, curl formers, etc that don’t require heat.

Consider Protective styling: Protective styling can help to keep hair ends up and out of the way (off of scarves especially). Try braids, buns, topknots, twists and French rolls to help keep hair up and out of the way but also when it’s combined like this it has a tendency to hold on to moisture longer. 

Beware of Humectants: Humectants are ingredients that draw moisture from humid air and attract it to our hair. During the winter months when air is less humid, humectants have the opposite effect drawing moisture out of our hair and into the dry atmosphere. Common humectants include honey, glycerin, panthenol, hydrolized wheat protein and propylene glycol. With that being said some humectants can still work for some year round. For example, I have no problem with glycerin in the winter months depending on how far up on the ingredient list it is (the higher up on the list the higher the % in that product). But do consider this, if one of your favorite products works great for you during the summer months but lately you’re wondering what the heck happened, check the ingredient list, a humectant may be the culprit! 

For Skin:

Before stepping out of the shower try using a light oil such as jojoba, almond, or grapeseed oil over your body while it’s still wet. Let it sit for about a min then pat (NOT rub) dry with a towel. Opt for heavier butter based moisturizers like shea or mango butter to finish off. 

Also use a sugar or salt scrub to exfoliate skin. By sloshing off dead skin cells you help your moisturizers sink into skin better and hold on to moisture better as well! 

How do you keep your hair and skin moisturized during the colder months? Please share your tips and suggestions in the comment section below ;)