Gaby
HouseWife shares insights on cosmetic culinary arts, skin nutrition, anti-wrinkle masks, eye exercises, and maintaining facial muscle tone.
How to Protect Your Skin in the Cold: Precautions
Exposed skin reacts to low temperatures and wind with loss of elasticity, redness, bruising, and flaking. Cold weather causes blood vessels to constrict, disrupting circulation in the tissues. This leads to decreased function of the sebaceous glands and dry skin. The dermis loses moisture from wind, cold, and dry air in heated indoor spaces.
What to do:
- If you have frostbite, drink warm fluids, warm the affected area, rub frostbitten fingers, cheeks, nose, and ears with panthenol or petroleum jelly, and then wrap them in a scarf;
- Massage your face to improve circulation and apply a thick layer of cream to exposed areas before spending extended time in the cold;
- In strong winds, soften skin with almond oil;
- Nourish your skin in the morning and at night with a rich cream;
- Avoid facial peels and scrubs during winter because skin is more sensitive;
- Use lip balm to prevent chapped lips;
- Replace antibacterial cleansers with soaps that have higher glycerin content;
- Avoid harsh gels and hot baths—hot water dries out the skin;
- Keep your hands in your pockets and wear gloves to prevent drying;
- Use a humidifier in winter, since heating systems and radiators can dry out the air.
Being Cold is Not Attractive
A healthy blush is flattering — a red nose from the cold is not, especially if it doesn’t fade over time. Cheeks and noses are constantly exposed to the elements, and cold and wind can cause a visible network of small blood vessels to form on those areas. The condition of blood vessels that have lost elasticity is known as couperose. Persistent redness occurs due to disrupted circulation and the expansion of subcutaneous capillaries.
Sensitive skin and hormonal imbalances contribute to couperose on the face, and frostbite can trigger it, along with habits that weaken blood vessels and poor nutrition. The appearance of the vascular network typically affects people who work outdoors in winter and summer. A lack of silicon in the body can start the loss of capillary elasticity, since silicon helps capillaries constrict and dilate.
What to do:
- Eat foods rich in silicon: oatmeal, buckwheat, corn, peas, beans, and Jerusalem artichoke;
- Eat foods high in vitamins C, K, and P to support blood vessel health;
- Reduce fatty foods such as cheese, liver, and sour cream;
- Avoid excessive spicy seasonings, canned foods, and coffee;
- Quit smoking and drinking alcohol;
- Avoid cosmetics that contain alcohol or acetone;
- Avoid scrubs and exfoliation if you have couperose;
- Manage high blood pressure and increase physical activity;
- Avoid extreme temperatures: saunas, hot baths, intense sun, and frost;
- Make a mask from a teaspoon each of potato starch and sea buckthorn (or substitute cranberry, raspberry, or strawberry). Mix, mash, apply to clean skin, and rinse off with cooled tea or water after 30 minutes;
- Steep four tablespoons of chamomile in a glass of boiling water, cool and strain, then apply a cloth soaked in the infusion to the red area for 15 minutes every evening;
- Grate a raw potato, apply it to your face, and rinse off with chamomile infusion after 20 minutes;
- In freezing weather, apply oil to your hands at night and sleep in cotton gloves. Soften dry skin on your elbows with grated cheese or boiled potatoes mixed with honey.
Wrinkle Remedies
Cold stress makes wrinkles more visible, so winter care should include masks that boost skin elasticity and fight sagging. Use these masks once and rinse them off with water—no soap.
Bean Mask
If you have dry skin, try a nourishing bean mask that smooths wrinkles. Soak a quarter cup of beans in cold water for a couple of hours, then boil until soft. Mash the cooked beans into a paste, add melted butter, and apply to your face for 15 minutes.
Sour Cream and Yeast
Active ingredients tighten mature skin and reduce wrinkles. Mix a tablespoon each of sour cream and mint tincture with a teaspoon of olive oil, half a teaspoon of ground oatmeal, and a gram of yeast. Stir until the texture matches sour cream and apply the mask to your face for 20 minutes twice a week for two months.
Egg Yolk Mask
For skin firmness, beat an egg yolk with half a teaspoon of buckwheat honey, add five drops each of lemon juice and olive oil, and thicken with ground oatmeal. Apply the mixture to your face for 20 minutes and rinse with cold water.
Cottage Cheese Mask
Mix a teaspoon each of cream or fatty cottage cheese, olive oil, and warmed honey, mash, and add a tablespoon of boiled milk. Apply the mask warm for 15 minutes.
Bread Mask
Warm five tablespoons of oil in a water bath, dip breadcrumbs into it, and apply to the skin around your eyes for 20 minutes.
Honey Mask
To reduce wrinkles between the eyebrows and at the outer corners of the eyes, mix two tablespoons each of water and alcohol with 50 grams of honey, apply the mask to the problem areas for 15 minutes, and then rinse off.
Eye Exercises
Strengthen facial muscles with these exercises:
– Place two fingers parallel to the eye line on the frown line and frown; repeat 50 times, five times a day;
– Close your eyes and slowly open them, counting to five without raising your eyebrows; this strengthens the eye muscles and tightens the surrounding skin.
Nutrition for Radiance
Poor skincare, bad habits, lack of sleep, low-calorie diets, and cold weather all harm skin elasticity and complexion, leaving the face dull. Improve skin from the inside with proper nutrition.
Water
Drink five glasses of clean water a day to help prevent wrinkles. Tea and coffee don’t replace water—caffeine dehydrates the body.
