Winter beauty survival tips

Posted on 14 July, 2016

Winter is here, and don’t we know it.

When you think of the Canberra cold you think frost, below zero temperatures, warm coats, beanies and gloves.

When the temperature drops, so does the level of moisture in the air, with no humidity to keep our hands and hair soft and looking their best – even more of a reason to take extra care of your hair and skin.

Shiny (winter) hair

Senior hairdresser at Off London Ezara Rooney says the cold takes its toll on our locks.

“It’s a must to use a deep conditioning treatment in your hair once a week and I recommend the Wella SP hydrate mask,” she says.

“I also recommend using the Wella Luxe Oil reconstructive elixir after your hair is washed and before you blow dry.

Wella Luxeoil

“It’s a lightweight oil that’s non-greasy to help moisturise the hair and help tame the frizz.”

Marc Anthony hydrating coconut oil treatment

One of my personal favourite conditioning treatments is the Marc Anthony hydrating coconut oil with shea butter. I like to leave it in for at least an hour, often overnight.

Favourite moisturisers

For your hands, here are my three tried and tested favourites.

L’Occitane Rose el Reines

L’Occitane has a beautiful rose hand and nail cream containing shea butter and vitamin E. It also strengthens your nails, which can become brittle in winter.

Lush Helping Hands

Lush helping hands hand cream is made from almond, cocoa butter and chamomile. It’s thick and doesn’t necessarily smell amazing but will soothe your skin.

For those who need something a little more industrial, Eulactol hand balm is for you. It’s packed with ingredients including rosemary oils and vitamins E and A. You’ll need to really rub this stuff in for it to absorb.

Sunscreen – your new best friend

Sub-zero temperatures don’t do much to dull the sun’s damaging rays.

Founder of Clear Complexions, Suzie Hoitink, says the need for sunscreen is often underestimated.

“Some of the common misconceptions are that you don’t have to wear it every day, especially if you work indoors. But we age up to 80% faster than we are genetically pre-determined to age due to environmental factors, namely UV exposure,” she says.

“It’s the incidental, frequent exposure over years that damages our skin, such as popping out to get a coffee, sitting outside at lunch and even hanging washing on the line.

“You are aging yourself well in advance of your years if you don’t wear sunscreen.”

But sunscreen doesn’t have to be the bane of your existence when it’s in our moisturisers and foundations. While in winter an SPF 15 will suffice, the higher the SPF the better. Suzie recommends going as high as SPF 50 in summer, and that’s where superfluids come in.

Rationale Superfluid – SPF 50+

“They are the latest innovation that combine skin health with sun protection and they are incredible,” she says. “I love cosmeceutical range Rationale’s new B3-T superfluid sunscreen SPF50 and their Beautiful Skin luminizing superfluid SPF50.”

Mecca’s superscreen

At the moment I’m using Mecca’s SPF50 superscreen, which is lightweight and glides on so easily.

Add these steps to your winter beauty routine and your skin will thank you for it.