While winter in the Inland Northwest can be a stunning and picturesque time of year, the season's cold, harsh nature often brings its own set of challenges to our skin.
"The cold weather just pulls the moisture out of everything, including your skin, so you can get dry, itchy and flaky," says Octavia Lewis, a master esthetician and the owner of Inter-Tribal Beauty in north Spokane.
To address these issues, some small, simple changes to your skin care routine may be in order.
Of course, Lewis recommends visiting an esthetician to learn more specifics about what issues your skin may be more prone to and to gain access to a wider array of products that you can't find in most stores.
But she also suggests that if you're looking for products to help bring your skin back to life from the winter frost, key ingredients to seek out are hyaluronic acid, glycerin, copper peptides and ceramides to help your skin retain moisture.
Analisa Martin, a master esthetician and the founder of The Glow Co in downtown Spokane, has curated a multistep regimen that helps hydrate your skin and can be easily customized by her or another professional to keep your skin looking alive and glowing.
While there are many products out there, Martin works primarily with skin care lines from Laurel Whole Plant Organics and Face Reality. She recommends starting off by using a cream cleanser like Laurel's Effortless Cleanser.
"A lot of times if someone is using a gel or a foaming cleanser, it can be quite drying for the skin," she says. "We don't want that squeaky clean, tight feeling after cleansing, and for the wintertime especially, it's great to create that shift by using a more creamy, hydrating cleanser."
Next she recommends using Laurel's Hydrating Elixir to increase product absorption for all of the products that go on your skin, followed by Face Reality's Hydrabalance to target skin dehydration.
"Dehydration occurs either from not ingesting enough water or also just from a lack of water in skin care ingredients in the regimen," she says. "Oftentimes, someone will come in thinking they're dry, but they're actually dehydrated, so we need to target it with that specific hydrator."
Next she advises using Laurel's Antioxidant Serum to bring more radiance to the skin and Face Reality's Peptide Cream to add a final layer of hydration to the skin.
And to seal in all of the moisture that adds to the skin, Martin says to finish off with Laurel's Day Balm or Night Balm.
"It gives the skin a really gorgeous, finishing glow," says Martin. "A lot of clients really love that dewy look, so something like finishing your regimen with a balm can give you that instant radiance and dewiness."
Another thing to keep in mind is curating your skin care routine to address the different needs that develop as we age.
Lewis recommends the use of products with vitamin C for those in their 30s to protect skin from environmental damage, such as free radicals; retinol or products with vitamin A for those in their 40s to address fine lines and wrinkles; and more serums and hydrating products for those in their 50s and up.
But one of the main products that Lewis thinks everyone should use consistently is SPF, especially in the winter.
"The sun on the snow bouncing onto your face, it's harsh, it's really harsh," she says. "In a perfect world, everyone would have a simple skin care routine that always includes SPF."
Both Lewis and Martin recommend keeping a humidifier in your bedroom, and possibly keeping a second one in your living room or another room in your house to provide your skin with more moisture.
"The humidifier just helps the skin to retain that hydration," says Martin.
Lewis also recommends when changing your routine to start out with one product to see how it reacts with your skin before adding on more products.
"Just take it slow because you don't want to overwhelm the skin; that's the worst thing you can do," she says.
One of the biggest pieces of advice that Lewis has for people is to book a consultation with an esthetician to find out their specific skin needs.
"An esthetician will have tools that can actually tell you exactly what your skin type is based on your skin analysis," she says. "I treat everyone specific to what their goals are and then exactly what I see, and we come up with a plan together."
While the price of facials, visiting a professional and buying different products can be high at times, Lewis's client Rayanna Tensley says it's definitely worth it.
"When I first saw [Lewis], I went to go see her because I burned my face with a mask that I was trying to do myself to get rid of a lot of dark marks," Tensley says, who started seeing Lewis in August 2020.
By November of last year, Tensley noticed a dramatic improvement in her skin; most of the marks were faded, and her skin appeared to be noticeably clearer.
"Just trust the process," she says. "The investment in the products and the investment in the time for the monthly facials is definitely worth it."
