The winter glow – changing it up for hydrated, healthy and robust skin

You may be happy to say goodbye to humidity, frizzy hair and perspiration now that the warmer temperatures are behind us, but the change to cooler weather coupled with spending more time indoors can bring significant changes to your skin. You may begin to notice drying lips and dry, flaky patches on your skin.

Skin behaves differently in the summer months compared to winter, along with changing environments. Being your largest sensory organ, skin is the first to feel the change in weather. As the temperature begins to drop, there is less moisture in the air, leading to less moisture in your skin, and leaving it feeling dehydrated, drier, itchy or inflamed. During these cooler months, your skin also slows its metabolism, which means that our cell turnover is slower too. Chronic skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, acne and rosacea can also flare up in cooler temperatures due to the lack of moisture in the air.

So, what happens to your skin in these seasonal changes?

Your skin’s functions adjust to seasonal changes. To be more specific, there are three main areas that your skin makes changes in cooler weather:

• Proteins called filaggrin monomers found in the cellular layers of your skin, which are responsible for epidermal homeostasis (a ‘happy’, balanced skin flora), slow down producing amino acids that are important for balanced skin.[1] When in balance, filaggrin monomers work with keratin to release amino acids, which help to retain water in your skin, keeping it hydrated, healthy and assisting with a balanced pH.
• Capillaries in our skin adjust to temperature changes particularly when we go from a cold environment to a hot or warm environment[2] – in other words, coming in from the outdoor cold to the warmth of inside. This change in temperature causes the capillaries to expand and contract quickly, which can cause stress or sensitivities to the skin during these times.
• Your skin microbiome also notices this change in temperature and adjusts its activity to accommodate the environment. In cooler weather your microbiome can move to other areas on your skin to where it is more protected. So, it is important to take extra care of our skin microbiome function through this change in season. How do we do this?

Do you need to change things up?

Just as we like to change our diets from season to season, for example preferring salads and cold raw meals and drinks in summer, to warm, hearty meals and drinks in the winter, your skins microbiome is much the same. It’s like getting cozy with a blanket. We tend not pay a lot of attention to our skin in the winter months, as our focus diverts to keeping warm with hot food, heaters and hot showers. But all this, along with the dry, cool air can be very drying on your skin. So the cooler months are a perfect time to feed your skin microbiome with rich, nourishing and moisturising ingredients to ensure your skin is well hydrated, healthy and robust, and ready to be seen in the warmer months.

Switching your skincare from a light weight moisturiser that you used in summer to a richer moisturiser is one of the first steps for well skin in the winter months. You don’t just wear a t-shirt in the cool weather like you did in summer, and your skin is much the same. It needs more sustaining products to keep its flora community balanced. Using the right combination of ingredients will help your skin go from dull and dry to looking hydrated and supple. The Summer Land Camel Milk beautiful Rejuvenating Day Cream and Anti-aging Night Cream, although light, will deeply nourish your skin leaving a comfortable and agreeable feeling on your skin.

Other things you can do to help your skin in the cooler months:

• Protect your skin from harsh weather like wind or sun exposure, even on the cloudy days where UVB rays can burn and damage skin.
• Drink plenty of water. Around 33ml per kilo of body weight of water per day.
• Eat a wide variety of plant based foods. Make this about 75% of your diet.
• As tempting as it is during the cooler months, avoid having hot or long showers, as they can dehydrate your skin.
• Introduce a humidifier in your home. This will help maintain good moisture levels in the air and stop your skin losing its hydration, or epidermal water loss, which results in a dull, dry and unhappy skin.

What does your skin need to be nourished, hydrated and supple?

There are several key ingredients that your skin cherishes and ‘soaks up’ to be at its best, including vitamins, minerals, good fats, proteins and carbohydrates. It sounds like a smorgasbord, but it happens to be the same diet that would be consumed to be healthy! Using skincare that has all of these beneficial and active ingredients found naturally can be a challenge. Particularly using products that can give your skin everything it needs without compromising the skins natural immunity to give you pliable, flexible and supple skin.

How to get the balance right

Camel Milk has been treasured for thousands of years for its benefits to hair and skin health and is associated with beauty. Cleopatra is renowned for bathing in camel milk as part of her beauty regime. When camel milk is analysed to identify its constituent ingredients, this legendary reputation for skin health and beauty makes absolute sense.

Camel milk is packed with all the good stuff your skin requires to be healthy internally and externally. Due to the actives naturally found in camel milk, it has been shown to treat many skin conditions. It’s packed with vitamins including A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, C, D and E, minerals, iron, calcium, and potassium which all support the skins natural immune, regeneration and healing processes.

The unique fatty acids found in Camel Milk are tiny molecules, which enables them to penetrate deep into the skin layers to deliver antioxidant, moisturising and inflammatory responses. Along with these vitamins and minerals, Camel Milk is high in immune proteins which have been found to have anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties – a wonderful cocktail to support skin wellness.

You may have heard of the benefits of prebiotics for recalibrating your skin microbiome. The oligosaccharides found in Camel Milk are a wonderful source of prebiotic nourishment for your skin biome. 

Camel Milk is a balanced diet for your skin. So this winter, nourish your skin with something new and lovely, like our Camel Milk skincare Moisturising Pack, which includes the award-winning Body Cream, Hand Cream and Lip Conditioner. It really is a superfood for your skin.

Summer Land Camels Skincare Moisturising Pack includes award-winning Body Cream, Hand Cream and Lip Conditioner and a Peppermint Cleansing Bar.

The Summer Land skincare range is made with natural ingredients and pure, liquid Camel Milk. It is designed to make your skin well and to support and restore your skins natural processes, including your skin microbiome. View our entire range for your face, body, hair and hands here.

[1] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjd.16150

[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z4khvcw/revision/2