Reverse Sun Damage From The Summer & Protect Skin From Winter’s Cold

 

5. Restore Your Gut-Skin Axis:

 

Did you know that the microbiome in your gut is tied to the microbiome on your skin, and alterations in the gut microbiome is linked to a large number of skin diseases?

Deficiencies in your gut microbiome is linked to an altered immune response and an increase in the development of skin diseases such as eczema, psoriasis, acne, rosacea, alopecia and skin cancer.  If you want to read through the medical evidence of how the gut microbiome plays a role in tons of common skin disorders, this review, published in Microorganisms in 2021 is a fabulous overview to start with. [10]

Enter a new way to treat skin conditions: probiotics.  A medical literature review published in Nutrients in 2023 [11] gives strong evidence that probiotics are crucial to long term skin health, and are even anti-aging. As a result of this latest information on the role of the gut microbiome and long term skin health, I’ve added my favorite skin supportive probiotic formulation to my Skin Repair Protocol here:

7. Exfoliate with Baking Soda or Dry Brush Your Skin:

Many of us stop exfoliating in winter as our skin isn’t on show as much. But giving your skin a quick daily or even just a weekly exfoliation will sweep away dead skin cells and allow your skin to better absorb your moisturizer afterwards as well as decreasing the layer of dead keratinocytes on top, which can help decrease the likelihood of your skin cracking.

For Your Body:  To exfoliate skin on your body, simply make a paste by mixing baking soda and a little water in the palm of your hand and us it to gently scrub your skin to remove dead skin cells in the shower or bath.  Alternatively, you can dry brush your skin using a natural bristled brush before stepping in the shower or bath, or an all natural hemp exfoliation mit while in the shower or bath.

For Your Face: To exfoliate your face, I have included my favorite Instant Resurfacing Facial Pads in my Skin Repair Protocol here:

8. Bathe In Honey:

Add a half cup of honey to your bath water to nourish your skin and speed the healing of any winter chapped skin. Findings published in 2012 in the International Wound Journal [12] show that when raw honey was used on all types of wounds, it:

• • promoted healing
  • minimized necrosis
  • minimized the amount of skin that sloughed off the wound
  • reduced wound size
  • decreased affected area around wound

Not only did it help speed wound healing, but it made a measurable improvement in over 84% of wounds!!!!  We are talking:

• • post operative wounds
  • general skin wounds
  • infections
  • burns
  • ulcers
  • pressure sores and more!

Honey is all natural, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial, accelerates wound healing and decreases the risk of scarring…. making it the perfect skin supportive, holistic bath soak.

9. Seal In Moisture After Bathing:

Use a beautiful, all natural, super healing organic oil directly on skin — such as coconut oil or sunflower seed oil (these are my two favs because they are both medically shown to repair the lipid bilayer best.)

Oil seals in moisture better than a lotion or cream which both are water based and will not provide a skin barrier the way a pure oil will.  You want to apply an oil on top of skin that is already hydrated, so it’s perfect to use right after bathing, or on top of a water based moisturizer that you apply first.

And be sure you are drinking tons of water in the winter, not just bathing in it.

You want to internally hydrate your skin too, by drinking fresh filtered water all winter long. Because if you are not internally hydrating your body, there is no amount of external moisturizer you can put on your skin that will effectively hydrate it. So all winter long, drink lots of pure, filtered water all day, every day. Even though it’s so much easier to remember to stay hydrated in the summer when we are hot and sweating, please don’t ignore your hydration status in the winter when it is every bit as crucial, if not more so.

Dry skin is dehydrated skin.

10. Protect Your Nasal Mucosa With a Humidifier + Coconut Oil:

Humidifying room air and keep well-hydrated internally by drinking water copiously — these two steps will prevent the tendency to develop chapped tight skin and dry, uncomfortable nasal passages.

If you only have one humidifier, place it in your bedroom so that you can sleep in a moisturized environment at night.

You can also use a cotton swab to apply a little coconut oil just inside the nasal openings to help protect your nasal mucosa from drying out!  Apply nightly and you will be shocked at how much better your nose feels this winter!

11. Make Coconut Oil Lip Balm to Use Throughout the Day:

It’s so easy to mix up your own homemade lip protection, it takes less then one minute and you can even use it as an intensive hand and foot salve.

Simply melt 2 parts coconut oil with one part beeswax (for example, 2 TBSP coconut oil and 1 TBSP beeswax) in a microwave or over a double broiler. Stir and add a few drops of Vit E (I simply snip the end off of a capsule of Vit E and squeeze it right in) and stir again. You can add a drop or two of honey for sweetness (and honey is incredibly skin supportive as a topical treatment for wound healing, as mentioned above) and pour the mixture into a clean, recycled container or small jar.Empty skincare jars or mint tins work well.

Use liberally to protect your lips and save them from winter dryness!

12. Get Extra Sleep:

What does sleep and sleep quality have to do with skin health?  

Recent studies have found a direct correlation between sleep and collagen integrity, suggesting that beauty sleep is real.  Researchers found that poor sleep actually caused a decrease in the structural integrity of collagen with an increase in collagen misalignment. [13]  So over a lifetime, decreased sleep quality may literally be visible in your skin as your collagen becomes more misaligned, weaker, less elastic, and contributes to accelerated aging. Conversely, improving sleep over a lifetime may help provide skin healing and even anti-aging benefits by boosting collagen integrity and skin repair while you sleep.

One tip (shared above in #1) is that daily grounding will help. Studies on grounding and sleep have shown that being grounded to the earth deepens restorative sleep, normalizes cortisol, helps to relax muscles, and boosts mood. [14] Confirming this was an interesting double blinded placebo based study that found that a 30 minute grounding session was enough to make a statistically significant improvement in quality of sleep in Alzheimers patients. [15]

So take advantage of the longer nights, the soft indirect lighting of winter and the natural urge to hibernate more to repair your sleep deficit and stock up on restorative beauty sleep.  And I’ll be sharing much more about how to maximize your sleep in the winter on my blog in the upcoming winter months.  If you are not yet signed up to get my weekly blog post into your inbox, you can sign up right here so you don’t miss this important article:

Bonus Tip: Re-evaluate your boundaries:

Your skin is always speaking to you.  Because our skin replicates so quickly, it is a wonderful mirror for what is going on with the rest of our body and mind:

• If we are anemic, it shows us quickly.
• If we are dehydrated, it shows us quickly.
• If we are malnourished, our skin will lack that robust glow that healthy skin gives.
• If we have been neglecting our selves in other ways, our skin will reveal us.
• If we are unhappy, our skin literally sags.
• If we have lost connection with joy, our skin tells it.
• If we feel ugly, our skin mirrors that.

And because it covers our entire body, every thought we think and every word we say and every intention we ever have passes through our skin on its way to communicate with the outside world.

So it doesn’t just protect us from the world… quite the opposite is true too: it translates our inner being to the surface. It shows the world what is going on inside of us.

It is constantly in contact with and intimate with our inner workings. Because of this, skin reflects how we feel about ourselves.  Skin forms our barrier, our identity. It forms what we perceive as *us* and delineates *us* from *the rest of the world*.

In short, skin represents our personal boundary.

And every winter… during the darkest, coldest months, we get an invitation to go inward re-evaluate our boundaries before we emerge this coming spring fresh and new.

Grab a journal or get into an open meditative mindframe and ask yourself:

• Are you grinning and bearing something that you’d secretly like to say a firm no to?
• Are you letting someone in your energy space that constantly irritates or drains you?
• Do you need to set some healthy boundaries at work?
• Do you need to set clearer boundaries around your personal time? We all have the same 24 hours in a day, but if you are doing activities you don’t feel aligned with or tending to emotional needs of others constantly, you will find much of that time will disappear and you won’t even know where it all went.
• Do you have a friendship that needs some boundaries clarified and strengthened?
• Do you have a family member that you need to create firmer boundaries and consequences of boundary violations with?
• Do you need more personal space when you are home? Do you have a place where it’s clear to everyone sharing your home that they are not to disturb you?
• Do you need to set boundaries in your sexual relationships?

Double-check that you say no when you need to and have clear boundaries that allow you to do what you truly want to do and enjoy that without guilt.

If you find your skin is stressed out, ask yourself what boundaries need to be strengthened in your life and meanwhile give your skin a little TLC with the other 12 steps listed above and watch the energy shift and your skin improve dramatically.

To your beautiful, radiant, ever repairing skin…

xoxox,

Laura Koniver MD