Skin can take a bit of a battering in winter. For many people with chronic skin conditions, it’s the time they struggle most, because of the combination of low temperature, low humidity, cold winds and central heating.
But what can you put on your skin to keep it soft and well-moisturised in winter? Let’s take a look at which natural oils are best suited to looking after winter skin.
Why does winter affect skin so badly?
That perfect storm of winter assaults on the skin can leave it dry and damaged. The colder temperatures and drier air combine to strip moisture out of the skin and leave it less resilient, and more open to irritants and further damage. The skin’s barrier doesn’t work as well to keep moisture where it’s needed, and as a result a vicious circle of dehydration, damage, inflammation, itchiness, more damage and further dehydration is set up - and that cycle is very hard to break.
However, there is hope! Emollients can reinforce the skin barrier, slowing down moisture loss and helping fragile or dry skin to rebuild its defences. You can use creams, balms or oils as emollients, and can even add nutritious oils to your creams to boost their effectiveness.
Rosehip Oil
Rosehip oil is one of the very best natural oils to give your skin in winter. It’s made not from the petals but the seeds of the rose bush; these seeds are found in the bright red or orange rose hips the bush produces in autumn, and contain a fantastic amount of nutrients. When pressed, they make a rich, golden oil which has been prized for centuries for its skin-nourishing properties.
The secret to its rosehip oil’s success is in the nutrients the seeds contain, which feed depleted skin with vitamins, essential fatty acids, minerals, and antioxidants. It also contains natural anti-inflammatoraies which are good for calming down skin suffering from a winter flare.
We recommend: Balmonds Intensive Facial Oil
This super-charged blend of oils is rich in rosehip, as well as lavender, chamomile and calendula. Apply to sore, dry, damaged or depleted skin as if it were a natural vitamin supplement, which will help feed your skin with the building blocks for regeneration and repair. You can use it as a facial oil, but you can also add a few drops to your favourite moisturiser, or massage it into dry cuticles and brittle nails.
Hemp Seed Oil
Hemp seed oil is another great oil to combat winter skin! Hemp seeds are rich in a whole range of nutrients: they’re particularly packed full of skin-kind essential fatty acids such as Omegas 3, 6, & 9, but also contain antioxidants such as Vitamins D and E, twenty different amino acids as well as phytosterols, phospholipids and minerals including calcium, magnesium, sulfur, potassium, phosphorus.
Like rosehip, think of hemp seed oil as a kind of supplement for skin that needs a little extra help in winter, to help calm down inflammation triggered by extra sensitive winter, and to protect and nourish broken, cracked or itchy skin. Over time, the nutrients in hemp seed oil can help support your skin’s natural cycle of regeneration.
We recommend: Balmonds Bath & Body Oil
Our Bath & Body Oil is a great multipurpose product that works brilliantly to replenish dry or flares winter skin. It’s rich in hemp as well as lavender, chamomile and safflower oils, and works really to lock in moisture after or during bathing. Although winter baths might be calming, they can also dry out skin if they’re too long or too hot. A good splash of Bath & Body Oil in warm water will help prevent that dehydrating effect of a hot bath - and will double down on the calming effect with its delicious, soothing scent of chamomile and lavender.
You can also smooth it on as soon as you get out of your bath: just pat your skin dry and apply on as much oil as quickly as possible! The longer the leave it, the more likely freshly bathed skin is to start feeling dry and itchy.
Recommended products:
Balmonds Intensive Facial Oil
with rosehip, calendula, lavender & chamomile
Bath & Body Oil
with lavender, hemp and olive
