As the weather changes, so can your skin: dry air leads to drier skin, cold wind can lead to redness and irritation, and indoor heating can mean major disturbances for your complexion. Your skin enjoys consistency, so adjusting to new seasons can be tough. Give your skin a helping hand by tweaking your skincare routine to prep and strengthen your skin for harsher conditions ahead. Here’s how to switch up your routine for fall.
Exfoliating for fall and winter
Despite its many benefits, exfoliating—removing dead skin cells to reveal younger, brighter skin cells beneath—can leave your skin more vulnerable to sun damage. With less direct sunlight, now is a great time to exfoliate to correct sun damage accumulated through the summer. Your game plan: enjoy the skin-renewing, glow-boosting goodness that exfoliation has to offer in the fall, before cutting back exfoliating in the winter to just once or twice a week, especially if you have sensitive skin. For this, we grab our Enzyme Exfoliant, which uses physical, acid, and enzymatic exfoliation to gently smooth and brighten dull and congested skin. Unlike many exfoliators, it includes moisture-boosting ingredients, so your skin is left soft and glowing, not dry and tight—even in the dead of winter.
Layer your moisture
As the weather gets colder and the air gets drier, the best way to protect your skin against dehydration is to layer hydrating products from thinnest to thickest consistency. Look for humectants that bind water to the skin and lipids which strengthen the skin’s natural barrier. For layering moisture, we recommend starting with either the Absolute Purity Toner (if you’re concerned with uneven skin tone and blemishes) or LotuSculpt Activator (if you’re concerned with visible signs of aging) straight after cleansing, before following up with the Firming Serum and then the Face Resculpting Cream, which uses Rosehip and Black Currant Seed Oils to lock moisture in while softening and protecting skin from environmental damage.
Build your barrier with essential fatty acids and ceramides
Speaking of dry skin, one of the most important things to do before the cold weather hits is to start strengthening your skin’s natural barrier. Dry skin is caused by transepidermal water loss—water evaporating into the air from your epidermis, the top layer of your skin. While this is a natural process, it is worsened by a damaged skin barrier, and this in turn can cause visible signs of aging along with dry skin and conditions like eczema. To protect your skin barrier, avoid harsh cleansers with sulfates and always wear sunscreen. To repair and strengthen your barrier, turn to a moisturizer with ceramides and essential fatty acid-rich oils like the Face Resculpting Cream. These ingredients can help you achieve a healthy, resilient skin barrier with better water-retention.
Cleanse gently
Using a harsh cleanser can leave skin stripped of the natural oils that protect your skin from environmental aggressors (wind, sun, pollution). If skin feels very dry and sensitive, try cleansing only at night with a sulfate-free cleanser like the Amla Purifying Cleanser. In the morning, cleanse with just water and then swipe down your skin with the Absolute Purity Toner, a hydrating and balancing essence that contains naturally antibacterial botanicals. This can help you avoid stripping skin of its natural oils, while still feeling like you’ve done a proper refresh in the morning.
Get a humidifier
Our favorite non-skincare way to combat the damaging effects of dry air is simple: add water back into it! A humidifier is a super easy way to increase hydration levels in indoor air, which means it’s less likely to pull water out of your skin. A humidifier will also help skincare humectants like hyaluronic acid work better, so you wake up dewy and refreshed.