Autumn and Winter Skin Care

Cool, crisp mornings are perfect for long walks—but may be tough on your skin. Try these natural solutions for healthy skin.

“When ambient relative humidity dips below 40 percent, moisture from the skin passes into the surrounding air and skin becomes dry,” explains Jerome Litt, MD, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Case Western Reserve University. Want to protect your autumn beauty? Start by drinking at least 64 ounces (or eight glasses) of water a day to help keep your body and skin well hydrated.

Although skin produces an oil called sebum that slows water evaporation from the surface of the skin, sebum cannot prevent dryness if skin lacks moisture. “Dry skin is not caused by a lack of oil, as was once thought, but by water loss from the skin’s outer layers,” adds Dr. Litt. Other factors that can dry skin include wind and sun exposure, using harsh, alkaline soaps, dietary deficiencies, and indoor heating systems, which sap moisture from the air.

Keep Moisture In

To help keep your largest organ—the skin—soft and smooth, use moisturizers and body lotions that help skin attract and retain water. Choose moisturizers with shea butter and plant oils like sesame, borage, jojoba, and macadamia nut. Natural ingredients resemble the chemical composition of sebum, so they are able to mix with this important lipid barrier, helping to replenish it. Humectants like hyuralonic acid and vegetable glycerin also help retain moisture. To seal water in, apply lotions and moisturizers after bathing or showering when your skin is still damp.

Fight Aging

Skin also becomes drier as we age, and its top layer begins losing its ability to hold moisture. This process doesn’t have to be as ominous as it sounds. Ceramides, which can be found in many natural moisturizers, are lipid molecules that work to strengthen the skin’s intercellular cement and slow the evaporation of moisture.

Choosing the right soaps and cleansers to clean without drying is critical. Avoid products with harsh synthetics or detergents like sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate, which can remove sebum. Instead, select soaps and creamy cleansers with gentle, emollient ingredients like goat’s milk, vegetable glycerin, and olive and coconut oils.

Exposure to excessively hot water also depletes skin oils. It’s wise to cut back on long, hot showers and baths, which can rob skin of moisture.

Skin Care from the Inside Out

Nutrition is also important when it comes to keeping your skin healthy through the fall and winter. “Foods such as salmon, halibut, sardines, albacore, trout, herring, walnuts, flaxseed oil, and canola oil should be incorporated into the diet as much as possible,” says Jennifer Nevels, NMD, at the IntegraMed Center in Mesa, Arizona. “They are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are beneficial because they contribute to cell membrane formation and support the barrier function of the skin, helping to prevent moisture loss.”

Other useful foods include whole grains, legumes, and wheat germ, which provide the body with pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), an important nutrient in the synthesis of fats and oils.

Also consider nutritional supplements that can help skin stay soft and supple. Dr. Nevels suggests 1,500 mg of fish oils twice a day.