How to: Smooth Winter Skin and Hair

It’s getting to that time of year again. The harsh wind blowing in your face, red hands because you keep losing gloves as often as you lose socks, chapped lips, split ends and dry skin. Winter is such a bully. It’s time to stand up for yourself.

Lips

One of my pet peeves is having dry, chapped lips and sometimes a lip balm just isn’t enough to keep dry lips at bay! (Although I do recommend Honey Trap from Lush and The Body Shop’s coconut lip butter). One thing I like do is to exfoliate my lips: I have a lip scrub from The Body Shop, but frankly, it does not taste good, and I only really like to put products that smell and taste delicious on my lips. So I have devised my own little concoction – butter and sugar. It may not be for everyone but it works like a charm, and it’s practically free! Another part of my regime is to use my toothbrush to get rid of any dead, peeling skin on my lips. Who said that a toothbrush was just for teeth?

Skin

In wintertime I tend to forget that I have skin on the rest of my body other than my face. I exfoliate and moisturize less, just because my arms and legs aren’t on show. I love the Lush exfoliators; ‘Buffy‘ is my personal favourite. Once again though, save your pennies and make an exfoliator. A personal favourite of mine is almond or coconut oil mixed with either sugar or salt. If your skin is particularly crocodile-like, I suggest going for the salty concoction. The oils hydrate and smooth your skin, and I sometimes find that I don’t need a moisturizer afterwards, while the salt or sugar grains eliminate any nasty bits of dead skin. (Don’t forget about your feet now!)

For your hands use a good hand cream: budget-friendly but not so luxurious E45 cream does the job, or if you’re looking for something a little more fragranced The Body Shop and Soap and Glory have some gorgeously yummy scents.

Face

I suffer normally from dry skin, so when Autumn and Winter come around, I’m in dehydration hell. Regardless of the time of year, I never use make up wipes. They are far too drying; instead I prefer using a liquid make up remover along with cleanser, toner and most importantly moisturizer. I have different creams for day and night. At night I use a thicker lotion that you can find in Holland and Barrett: ‘Manuka Honey Rescue Cream’ by dr.organic, and during the day I use Steam Cream.

My beauty regime includes using facemasks once a week, and there’s no need to rush out and buy one! Be inventive and see what your kitchen cupboard is stocked with. Here are some of my facial recipes:

Dry skin: Mix one tablespoon of natural yoghurt, one teaspoon of honey and one mashed avocado. Spread over your entire face, leave for 10-15 minutes and then rinse off with warm water.

Normal/Combination skin: Crush a few thick slices of cucumber into a pulp, blend with one teaspoon of yoghurt and add a few drops of rose water. Apply, wait, rinse.

Oily skin: Mix one tablespoon of yoghurt, one teaspoon of honey, one teaspoon of porridge and one mashed peach. Then spread over face, leave for a few minutes and rinse off.

Hair

I have to confess that I treat my hair with no respect, exposing my poor locks to all the elements. To repair the damage I do to it, I use coconut oil as it’s inexpensive and you can find it in solid form at Boots or Superdrug. I use it as a mask once a week by melting it in my hands and smoothing it through all of my hair. Sometimes I leave it overnight (put a towel down on your pillow if you do this) if not I leave it for 15 minutes before washing it out. Beware though: shampoo your hair two to three times and do not use conditioner to avoid greasy hair! I use a heat protecting serum from John Frieda on a daily basis, but frankly I find that most hair serums are all the same.

So there you have it! Follow through with these personal tips and leave winter without an excuse to beat you down.