How to Change Your Skin Care Routine for Autumn/Winter

When the season changes from summer to autumn and winter, cold weather, harsh winds, and dry indoor air can really dry out your skin. Here are our top tips on creating the right winter skin care routine and which Korean beauty products can protect your skin in cold and dry weather.

Winter is already here! Hooray for winter sports! Boo-hoo for my skin. During the winter months, our skin really feels the negative effects of the cold, dry air.

These easy-to-do things really made a positive change on how the skin feels through the cold seasons. It’s better to start early protect your skin in order to prevent the skin from feeling parched and fragile.

What happens to skin during winter?

There's no denying that cold weather is tough on your skin, especially with low humidity and high winds—these harsh conditions cause your skin to lose its natural oils, leading to moisture loss.

This not only happens when you are outside in freezing temperatures, but also when you turn on the heating and taking hot showers indoors. It can damage skin tissue and cause your skin to feel dry, itchy, rough, and sometimes a burning sensation.

Why does my skin feel tight in winter?

Both dry and cold air conditions can disrupt the skin's natural protective barrier and cause moisture loss from the upper layers of the skin. As a result, your skin feels dry, tight, and stretched, making your skin problem worse, which can begin to crack or peel.

What causes dry skin (in winter)

• Low outdoor temperature
• Low humidity, indoor or out
• Hot baths and showers
• Indoor heating
• Vitamin D or mineral deficiency
• Harsh soaps and detergents
• Overuse of sanitizers
• Skin conditions, like atopic dermatitis (eczema) or psoriasis

How to prevent dry skin in winter

Switching to a Cream or Balm Moisturizer

The easiest way to combat the dryness is replacing a lighter moisturizer with a heavier cream one. During the harsh fall/winter months, our skin is much thirstier and sensitive compared to the spring/summer months so It’s better to switch from a lighter, gel and lotion-based formula to a thicker cream.

Creams are thicker in consistency than lotions and provide a barrier that keeps the skin ultra-moisturized. The richer formulas lock in moisture to better moisturize and keep skin supple and plump.

Korean moisturizer that we love to use

We love to use Torriden SOLID-IN Ceramide Cream because we love the fact that natural ceramides are added to this wonderful face cream and the boost in all-day moisture that it provides. 

Ceramides are a helpful cosmetics ingredient for dry skin as it helps maintain a healthy and strong natural skin barrier. This allows your skin cells to lock in moisture!

Exfoliating Regularly

Exfoliating should be included in your routine year-round, but we want to mention its importance in winter. Keeping your pores clear and regularly clearing away built-up dead skin cells helps prevent breakouts but also makes our skincare routine more effective at each step!

🌟 Korean exfoliator that we love to use

For chemical exfoliation, we like using the Some By Mi AHA BHA PHA 30 Days Miracle Toner. Because it's fairly gentle on skin and highly effective, leaving the skin cleaner and more radiant than before.

This exfoliating toner contains not only exfoliating acids, but also highly concentrated tea tree extract that helps soothe acne, brightens acne scars and controls sebum production.

For a physical exfoliation, we love the Beauty of Joseon Apricot Blossom Peeling Gel. This facial scrub is a gommage type exfoliator, enriched with 19% prunus mume flower water and 8% plant based cellulose to remove built-up dead skin cells and debris!

Use Face Mask More Often

In an effort to provide dehydrated skin with as much hydration to overcome the winter dryness, we are force-feeding the skin with nourishment and moisture.

🌟 Korean facial masks that we love to use

Face masking three times a week switching between our all-time favorites from Torriden DIVE-IN Low Molecular Hyaluronic Acid Mask Pack, Ma:nyo Bifida Biome Ampoule Mask, to Benton Snail Bee High Content Mask Pack.

These sheet masks deliver intense moisture and nutrients, and your skin soaks up all of the serum in the mask, which is loaded with powerful ingredients for quick complexion makeover.

Before bed, we like to supplement these hydrating masks with Cosrx Full Fit Propolis Honey Overnight Mask or Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Hyalu-Cica Sleeping Pack. This is an awesome nighttime face mask/cream to give my face new life whenever my skin looks tired and parched. The extra boost in moisture you’ll have in the morning really helps start the next day off right.

Still Applying UV / Sunscreens

Wondering if you need to use sunscreen in winter? The answer is yes, wearing sunscreen in winter is a necessity. Despite it being cold out, the sun is still emitting UV rays that can cause damage that can range from premature wrinkles to dangerous skin cancer.

It is important to make sure that your skin is protected from sun damage year round, which slows down the rate of cell turnover. This leads to dull, dry skin, uneven skin tone, and even blemishes.

🌟 Korean sunscreens that we love to use

For added benefits and to combat winter dryness, a hydrating sunscreen is essential during the winter months such as the Tocobo Cotton Soft Sun Stick SPF50+ PA++++, Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun Rice + Probiotics SPF50+ PA++++ or Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel SPF 50+ PA++++.

With its PA ++++ rating, these lightweight sun creams offer extremely high UVA protection while moisturizing on the skin.

Avoid Harsh Soap or Facial Cleansers

Have you ever experienced that your skin feels particularly dry after cleansing or sudsed-up with your favorite soap? Using a bar of soap can be harsh on dry, sensitive skin as the main ingredient of modern detergents is anionic surfactants.

Typically this strong soap is alkaline, which drastically raises the pH of the skin and deprives our skin of its natural oils and demolishes hydration.

Our top tips are to look at the ingredients list when purchasing a product and avoid using harsh ingredients like SLS or SLES (Sodium Laureth Ether Sulfate).

🌟 Korean facial cleanser that we love to use

A light, gentle cleanser helps your skin from drying out, which you can really feel in winter.

Here are some facial cleansers we love to add to our facial care mornings and evenings. The ‘cult-favorite’ Cosrx Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser and Etude House SoonJung pH 6.5 Whip Cleanser, which both fits the bill perfectly.

These clean beauty products are Low-irritant, weakly acidic that works gentle on skin and keeps your skin moisturized and soothed while cleansing.

Running a Humidifier

Not directly related to your skincare routine, but we found keeping a humidifier in the living room, bedroom and office made a positive difference.

Just plug in a humidifier—This is a super easy way to curb the dryness, and it will help restore moisture levels in the air and keep the skin hydrated it needs. You may have one lying around unused at home so be sure to take advantage of this from right now!