Win the war against the season’s ashy wrath.
This article was originally published on December 16, 2021.
Winter and dry skin just go together. The pairing may be unpleasant, but it’s perennial. Kind of like Tom and Shiv on Succession or Fitz and Olivia on Scandal. As the enfant terrible of the skincare world, chilly weather tends to unearth issues that otherwise get literally glossed over by summer’s dew. By the time the first snow falls, there’s often a new emergence of cracked lips and skin so dry that it can be likened to a chalkboard. Winter is a universal adversary against hydration, but it’s particularly pressing for darker skin tones, on whom these skincare issues can be more pronounced.
We all feel winter’s ashy wrath, but you’re more likely to actually see it on deeper hues. “In melanin-rich skin there can be increased water loss from the epidermis along with a faster rate of shedding these layers of skin,” explains NYC-based dermatologist and 4.5.6 Melanin Skincare founder Dr. Carlos Charles. “When taken all together, these factors contribute to what is often colloquially termed ‘ashy skin,’ which will typically get worse in the frigid winter months.”
There obviously isn’t a one-size skincare solution for all people of colour, but to build our winter skincare cheat sheet for darker skin tones, we tapped Dr. Charles and esthetician Orica Smart, owner of Ajax-based skin clinic The O Spot, to answer our top-of-mind q’s.
Are some ingredients more winter-friendly than others?
Knowing which ingredients to look out for comes down to understanding what our skin is lacking in the winter. “Black skin and Asian skin doesn’t naturally produce a lot of ceramides, which are natural fats that protect our outer layer of skin.”…
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