Make winter work for your skin

We’ve all heard the saying “summer bodies are made in winter”, but did you know that summer skin is better made in winter too?  Cape Town is really laying it on thick this year, with cold days that dry your skin out, and thunder showers that prevent even the bravest from leaving the comfort of their couch, and what better time to work on your skin quality?

For some of us the excuse of not having to shave our legs turns into general skin neglect, where the no shaving turns to no moisturising, and the no moisturising turns to not taking your make up off at night and before you know if you look like a combination of a Chewbacca and Pete Doherty after a rough night.  We are all for the wild leg hair situation, but to make your winter productive you should take the time you’ve saved on the legs and use it to perfect your glorious face!

Of course moisturising in winter is imperative, and while you’re at is you may as well take the time to accustom your skin to retinoids.  If you aren’t already using a product that contains a retinoid you NEED to start IMMEDIATELY.  This miracle molecule is a type of Vitamin A (similar to Roaccutane or other acne-busting oral medications) that acts topically to combat fine lines, wrinkles, pore-size and breakouts.  Retinoids increase cell turnover, which is fabulous since this means that they accelerate sloughing off of the skin, and so the top layer is always shiny and new rather than old and dull.  This however is part of why you need to acclimatize your skin to retinoids: in the beginning your skin may appear flaky and drier than usual, and you may need to use it every second or third night in the beginning to make sure your skin doesn’t totally freak out.  Once you’ve become tolerant to the product this stops.  Retinoids also boost collagen production, and help clear dead skin cells and oils from the surface of the skin…seriously, what’s not to love?  (Note that all vitamin A formulations sensitize your skin to sunlight and so should only be used at night, even in winter, unless otherwise stated.)

Winter is naturally a better time to do any procedures that involve skin “injury” like Dermapen, mesotherapy, peels, microdermabrasion, and even injectable options.  This is because the bad weather means we are indoors more and have less exposure to UV rays that will damage recently “injured” skin more than usual.  Note that UV is as present in winter as it is in summer, and penetrates cloud cover, so if you are as outdoorsy in winter as you are in summer then perhaps this doesn’t apply to you.  For the rest of us a bit of selective hibernation will do your skin a world of good.

Procedures like Dermapen treatments that have a bit of down time afterwards are for obvious reasons (less sun exposure, less socializing) more convenient in winter, and you can always blame the redness and peeling on a sunbed…if anyone would actually believe that in this day and age you would do anything as ridiculous as use a sunbed!

For injectable treatments like Botox and fillers, winter also provides a great excuse not to have to attend social engagements in case of bruising or swelling.  As we all know, any time a needle penetrates your skin you do have a chance of developing a bruise – aesthetic doctors are always very careful to avoid any visible vessels but the skin on our faces is incredibly vascular, and it is impossible to see and avoid every tiny capillary underneath the skin.  If you do have the misfortune of bruising, these are usually easily covered by makeup, but if you would prefer to avoid any risk of detection at all you can always use the “it’s raining and my hair might mince” excuse to stay home and nurse your gorgeous face!

The moral of this story really is that we should all be using the hibernation time that winter offers us to our advantage; so that by the time summer comes we know we look better than before!  To find out more about retinoids, or Dermapen, dermal fillers or Botox make a free appointment for consultation by calling (021) 6833048 extension 1 or send us an email on info@capeaesthetics.co.za