Give Your Body The Fall & Winter Skincare It Deserves

We are now in full cocoon mode but that does not mean that we should lower our body beauty game in any way or form. If summer was about gleaming gams and showing off, the cooler months are about developing moisturized curves that radiate confidence. Read on to learn how to cocoon so that you will emerge like a butterfly with some key skincare tips for the body. 

Fall and winter remove the scourge of sunburns and mosquito bites but they also bring dry skin, ashiness, and scars created from scratches.  These body beauty challenges are easily overcome if you adhere to the following principles: 

1. Identify your beauty challenge.
2. Use the appropriate products.
3. Pamper your body daily.

It is intimidating to shop for body products because there are as many products as there are people on the planet. Therefore it is important to understand your beauty challenge(s), which I have classified into the following categories:

1. Stress reduction
2. Dryness
3. Time constraints
4. Special Issues

STRESS REDUCTION

A hot shower after a day of participating in online calls, or navigating public spaces is stressful and unpleasant.  A warm shower is the perfect tonic, as it calms the muscles.  The experience can be further enhanced by using a scented shower cream, not gel, such as Laura Mercier Almond Coconut Milk Crème Body Wash.  It is milky and creates a gentle lather and smells like kulfi. This product smells so good that I wish I could eat the shower steam.  The creaminess permits me to massage my muscles and it lathers off quickly.  

I like to continue the sensorial experience with the matching Laura Mercier Almond Coconut Soufflé Body Crème.  I am delighted by how this thick looking cream is actually light to the touch and is rapidly absorbed by the skin.  It is easy to massage the cream into the body and I love smelling like dessert! Gourmand scented products that come in richer formulations are a great option for cooler months when we want to stay home and cuddle under the blankets.

The moisturizing step can also be used to firm the body. If you have noticed some slackness in the arms, glutes, stomach or thighs, I suggest using a firming cream after a warm shower. The muscles are relaxed and it is easier and pleasant to work a firming cream into body. I’ve alternated the Laura Mercier cream with the Caudalie Vinosculpt Lift & Firm Body Cream that is designed to tighten the arms chest, stomach and your butt. After 2 weeks of steady use the slackness above my knees decreased and my stomach looked flatter. Overall, the organic shea butter softened my skin.  I see my mini massages as an investment towards gaining body confidence.

DRYNESS

Is it truly fall without dry skin?  I hazard to guess that the answer is no. Dryness has a triple impact on South Asian beauties in that not only is the skin tight and itchy, the skin turns ashy because of the accumulation of dead skin cells which then cause ingrown hairs. The situation requires a three-step process which should be executed twice or thrice weekly to ensure that the skin remains smooth and taut.

A fantastic way to hydrate and clean the skin is to use a cleansing oil such as the L’Occitane Shower Oil with Almond Oil. This legendary product smells like barfi ka badam i.e. sweet and nutty, and it lathers into a soft foam. I have used this oil after intense hot yoga work outs and I am amazed how my sweat and grime dissipate with a few strokes of this oil.  It is gentle and rinses off easily, leaving no film behind. My skin always  feels soft and smooth.

If your skin is sensitive and quite dry, a great oil option is the Avène XeraCalm A.D. Lipid-replenishing Cleansing Oil. It contains thermal spring water which helps it to protect the skin from the drying effects of water.  It is soap and fragrance-free, and also leaves my skin refreshed and clean.  

To keep from developing ingrown hairs, I follow with an exfoliating product such as Biotherm Bath Therapy Delighting Blend Body Smoothing Scrub which is a gentle mix of granules grapefruit and sage. I like the shower’s scent because it switches from gourmand to citrus — herbal, which makes the environment sensorially stimulating. The granules feel even on my skin and I do not feel like any part of my body has been scratched. Always test the scrub prior to full body application to make sure that the granules are not too rough for your skin. On days when I do not formally exfoliate, I use the later created by the oil cleanser to shave my legs which removes hair and dead skin cells.

After rinsing off, I use a thick, yet not opaque, body cream to hydrate my skin. GOOPGENES Nourishing Repair Body Butter really does the trick because a healthy dollop feels hefty in terms of weight but its texture is so delightfully unctuous that my skin drinks in the bacuri butter. I read on the website that the product could moisturize for up to 72 hours, so I decided after my first use to not apply any the next day, and after I emerged from the shower, my skin was moisturized. If you do not always have time to moisturise after taking a shower, this product is a must-have.

TIME CONSTRAINTS

There are days when “slap and dash” is the dominant theme and one cannot fully partake in a cleansing and moisturizing ritual. Instead of foregoing the shower, I suggest that you use efficient and effective products. For example, for the cleansing use a shower foam or a bar of soap. 

I am enamoured with the Biotherm Bath Therapy Delighting Blend Body Cleansing Foam. It is scented with grapefruit and sage, and it feels like shaving cream.  I love pressing out a dollop of mousse on my hand and then cleaning my body, without using a puffy to build lather. The scent revives me and the mousse removes the grime and sweat.

The bar of soap is not as heralded nowadays but it is effective and moisturizing like its liquid counterpart — and uses less packaging. The key is to focus on multiple milled soaps that are packed with shea butter such as Fresh Patchouli Oval Soap.  I am impressed with how a few strokes of the soap is all I need to clean my body. The bar of soap may be the dowager queen of the bathroom but given that I store it out of the shower, it dries perfectly and is ready for use upon contact, like a true king entering battle.  

After a quick “slap and dash” cleanse, I use a dry oil such as Caudalie Divine Oil, to moisturize my body. I apply it using long strokes on my limbs to relax my muscles and I love how my skin immediately glows and feels soft. Since the oil is dry it will not transfer onto your clothes. The scent is a mix of notes of rose, grapefruit, pink peppercorn, cedar, vanilla and white musk, so I forego perfume because this product smells great and is not overpowering.  

If you prefer a more subtle, fresh scent then another oil that you should consider trying is the Purearth Bitter Apricot Oil. Driven by the power of apricot oil, your skin will quickly absorb vitamins A, C and E, and become less congested supple and revived.

SPECIAL ISSUES

Cold weather, and extreme heat are a brutal combination on the skin as they cause itchiness, and for darker skin tones that can result in scars which take weeks, if not months, to heal.  

In the dead of winter when there is barely any moisture in the air, I sometimes develop a nasty itch on my legs. I scratch the itch but it only intensifies and there have been times that I have gashed my skin in an effort to calm the itch.  It is frustrating that a few moments of discomfort create several weeks of discolouration.  This winter I intend to battle those intense itches by patting on Avène XeraCalm A.D Soothing Concentrate that soothes the affected skin so I will not gash my legs; after all prevention is mother of cure.

Unfortunately, I do have a legacy of scars created by shaving nicks, clumsiness and pimple popping. I see the cooler months as an opportunity to treat these scars under the cover of wool and cashmere. I spot apply the Clé de peau Concentrated Brightening Serum on my legs and shoulders as needed, right before I go to sleep. The serum is designed to brighten dark spots and over the course of several weeks I expect to see lightened spots and more even skin tone on my body, much in the same way as I expect my face brightening products to work.

Another source of excessive dry skin that defies conventional creams are the antiseptic gels that we apply prior to public spaces. I observed that the repeated application of the gels made my hands look frail and parched. I would wash my hands when I returned home and apply several layers of hand cream, and my hands still lacked plumpness. I realized that the amount of alcohol in the gels, and repeated applications, wreaked havoc on my the thin skin of my hands.  I concluded that I needed to change my approach to hand care which I did as follows:

1. Upon returning home, I washed my hands using a gentle, soft translucent soap such as the Shiseido Honey Cakes which are French-milled soaps that contain honey. Honey is a humectant and an anti-bacterial agent, so I know that as I clean my hands with this soap, I am not stripping it further and they are being thoroughly cleaned.  

2. Afterwards, instead of applying a hand cream, I apply a balm such as Helena Lane Chamomile & Calendula Repair Balm. This organic product contains the aforementioned chamomile which is an anti-inflammatory, and calendula which heals the skin by promoting collagen production.  The balm is greasy, so make sure that you have put away your phone and laptop, prior to applying this balm. You need to massage it in using strong strokes and even after a good massage a touch of slickness remains on the surface. I noticed after a few minutes that my hands regained their plumpness and when I woke up the following morning my hands were back to normal.  

BODY GAME WON

Winter is coming, and this one will be the winter of winters. I see body care as an opportunity to engage in constructive self care that keeps us focussed on the prize — ourselves. Understanding what we need and using the correct products to answer them on a daily basis produces immediate results — a great smelling body that feels soft and clean, and looks great. The immediate victory sets us up for the longer term goal of developing  body confidence and one day we will again walk in the streets wearing great clothes and feeling like monarchs in our own right.