In addition to changing with age, your skin can also change from day to day. The environment and the climatic conditions in which you live are major influences on the condition of your skin. Long distance travel is a specially stressful situation for the skin. However, if you make simple adaptations to your skin care routine, you can stop problems before they start, avoiding the need for rescue operations that require time and effort.
Dry, Heated Atmospheres
Air-conditioning and central heating make life difficult for your skin. The humidity in some offices is lower than the Sahara Desert! As a result, the atmosphere robs your skin of precious moisture, leading to general dryness and flaking, and chapped—even cracked—lips.
Normal, Dry and Sensitive Skins
These skin types suffer especially in dry atmospheres. The skin on your face may feel tight and you will be able to see fine lines on its surface. If this happens, use a richer, more high-powered moisturizer.
Oily and Combination Skins
If your skin tends to be oily and your indoor environment stimulates the sebaceous glands and makes the situation worse, use an oil-free moisturizer, blot any oil coming to the surface of the skin with a tissue and be sure to cleanse thoroughly night and morning.
How to overcome the effects of dry & hot atmosphere
- Place bowls of water near radiators. The drier the room, the faster the water will evaporate. Alternatively you could invest in a humidifier.
- Keep a check on the temperature indoors and, if possible, turn the thermostat down.
- Drink water throughout the day rather than tea or coffee. Remember that they are diuretics and cause water loss.
- Don’t sleep in an over-heated room. This can cause fluid retention in the face, leaving you with a puffy complexion and bags under your eyes the next morning.
The Deep Freeze
Cold, harsh weather conditions are the worst environmental challenge your skin will face.
Chilly temperatures restrict the blood circulation to the skin, so it looks pale and devitalized. They also make the texture of your skin rough when touched and it often looks dull. The protective acid mantle is reduced too, as the glands are less active in cold weather. In addition, cold winds and dry atmospheres take moisture away form your skin. After the age of thirty your skin’s moisture levels naturally decreases, so it is even more vulnerable to adverse environmental conditions.
The effects of cold weather has on your skin are as much as fourteen times worse when the air is also dry, and can be ten times worse in high winds.
If you are skiing, your face is in for an even tougher time. At high altitudes, the lack of oxygen increases the skin’s sensitivity to cold and the sun’s ultraviolet rays dehydrate and age the skin.
How to overcome the Effects of Cold Weather
If you wash your face, do so at least half an hour before you go outdoors. This gives your skin a chance to dry thoroughly. If your face is slightly damp, the wind has an extra-drying effect.
Wear a richer moisturizer.
Apply night cream to replenish moisture lost from the skin during the day.
If your skin is flaking, avoid abrasive scrubs. Use a very gentle complexion exfoliator.
- Remember to take care for your hands and nails, too, as the skin here can also suffer in cold weather.
- Always apply waxy lip salves or balms to your lips which are especially vulnerable to dehydration.
- Add oils and moisturizing gels to your bath and apply body-lotions every day.
- Never come in from ice cold weather and immediately roast yourself in front of a hot fire, as you will dry your skin excessively; the rapid contrast in temperature can also break capillaries, leading to red thread veins.
- If you are skiing or are outside in sunny, but cold weather, apply protective lotions on any part of exposed skin. In cold weather you will not be warmed by the heat of the sun on your face so that it may be burning. If there is snow it will reflect on the sun, increasing its damaging effect. You will need special sun protection products if you are going out in sub-zero temperatures. Other products contain a higher percentage of water and may freeze on the skin, breaking the tiny capillaries. Use products specifically formulated to protect the skin in cold and windy conditions and use sunblocks on your lips. Reapply sun protection products frequently during the day.
Humid Heat
In humid, hot climates, cleansing is a top priority in order to remove oil and dirt, especially if you have oily or problem-skin.
How to Overcome the Effects of Humid Heat
- Keep a mini skincare kit with you. Pack in it small or travel-sized bottles of wipe-off cleanser and toner and, if you need to, cleanse quickly at midday, morning and night, using tissues.
- Just use moisturizer where you need it and choose light or oil-free types rather than heavier creams.
- Wear a water-based foundation, especially if your skin is oily. If you prefer not to wear foundation during hot weather, just sweep on a little translucent or bronze powder to control and shine.
- Look out for oil-blotting lotions that can be worn under foundation to keep your skin matte and shine-free. Apply only over the T-zone.
- If you are working in a city, consider having facials more regularly to cleanse your skin of pollution residues. Your pores open up in hot weather and so absorb these residues more readily than when it is cooler.
Hot Dry Weather
Warm climates are not necessarily humid. When the weather is hot and dry, it is important to ensure that you protect your skin against moisture-loss by using a moisturizer.
Apply a light, oil-free moisturizer where your skin tends to dry out easily and reapply it during the day, if necessary.
Pollution
Air pollutants such as exhaust and industrial fumes, and indoor pollutants such as dust and cigarette smoke, are absorbed by the skin’s hydrolipidic (water and oil) film.
Over time exposure to pollutants means that, instead of performing its role of protecting the skin, this film starts to act as a skin irritant which can result in weakened, compromised skin function and a complexion that becomes noticeably more sensitive.
Pollution also increases the production of free radicals which accelerate skin ageing. Cell inflammation also leads to damage. Some dermatologists believe that passive smoking is more damaging than the sun over long periods of time.
You should remember to cleanse your face thoroughly, but do so gently every evening. De-sensitizing facials, that also deep-clean the skin, are available in beauty saloons.
Air purifiers are sold in general stores and chemist shops. You can also surround yourself at home and in the office with plants which will absorb some of the pollutants.
Flying
The air in planes in notoriously dry, leaving you feeling dehydrated and lethargic and your skin drained of energy and moisture. The tissues beneath the skin can become congested, too, and puff up, making you feel even more uncomfortable.
How to Overcome the Effects of Flying
As part of your final preparations before leaving, apply body lotion after you’ve showered or bathed. If you are travelling to a hot country, use of self-tanning moisturizer will give your skin a colour boost.
Carry a skin care kit in your hand luggage. As soon as you can, remove your make-up, freshen your skin with toner and spritz it with a mineral water spray. Apply moisturizer and eye gel to ease any tendency to puffiness. If you are on a long-haul flight, repeat this routine when your skin feels dry, or use a moisturizer with extended moisturizing power—some moisturize the skin for up to twenty-four hours.
Drink plenty of water and fruit juice to prevent dehydration.
Avoid alcohol, tea, coffee and cola drinks as these actually have a diuretic effect.
Move around as much as you can to stimulate your circulation.
In one test, carbon monoxide reduced cellular functioning by 24 percent, exhaust fumes reduced functioning by 65 percent and cigarette smoke affected it by 70 percent.
Moisturizers and make-up, that include ‘anti-pollution complexes’ with skin shielding, soothing and anti-inflammatory ingredients, are increasingly available.
These complexes include plant extracts such as horse chestnut, ginseng, linden flowers, seaweed and some vitamins, especially A, C, E and B5.
Check that your diet contains good quantities of vegetables and fruits that are high in the A, C and E vitamins too, to protect your skin-cells from the inside out.
Impairing the hydrolipic film can also leave the skin vulnerable to dehydration. Moisturizers, which restore suppleness and which provide a protective barrier (known as filmogenic) to cut down moisture loss, are particularly important in a polluted environment. These moisturizers should also contain ultraviolet filters.
