The winter is hard on the skin in a way that no other season is. The cold air outside pulls water out of the stratum corneum. The heated air inside pulls more water out. The wind strips the lipid layer. The wool scarf abrades. The mask-fog in a December metro wets and dries and wets and dries the skin around the mouth, in a cycle the skin was not designed for.
The result is, in most cases, a skin that by February is complaining: tight after washing, reactive to products that were fine in October, faintly rough along the cheekbone, with a kind of grey undertone that no amount of highlighter will fix.
What follows is a five-step routine for the winter. It is the routine we use on our own faces. It is also, more or less, the routine that has emerged, over the last three years of asking practitioners, as the consensus approach for skin that is, in the cold months, asking for less.
The routine is, by intention, short. The winter skin is not the place for the ten-step layering that the skincare internet has been promoting for the last decade. The winter skin wants fewer products, each one chosen carefully. The winter skin wants to be left alone, mostly.
Step one — an oil cleanse, in the evening
The first step in the winter routine is an oil cleanse, in the evening. The oil cleanser is the oldest cleanser, in some form, in the Western tradition — the Roman ceratum was an oil-and-beeswax preparation, and the French huile démaquillante of the 1960s was, functionally, the same idea.
The oil cleanser does work that the water-based cleanser cannot do well in cold weather. It lifts the sebum without stripping. It dissolves the sunscreen and the makeup, including the long-wear and the waterproof, in a way that the water-based cleanser will struggle with. It leaves the lipid layer of the skin partially intact, because it is adding oil to the skin rather than removing it.
The oil cleanser is also, in cold weather, the only cleanser that feels good on the skin. The water-based cleanser, in a cold bathroom, in February, is an act of hostility. The oil cleanser is a small kindness.
The application is simple: a pump or two of oil, massaged into the dry face for sixty seconds, including over the eyes. Removed with a warm, damp cloth. The face is now ready for the second cleanse, if a second cleanse is wanted; or for the routine, if it is not.
Step two — a cream cleanse, or nothing
The second cleanse is optional. The skin, after an oil cleanse, is, in most cases, already clean. The cream cleanse is, in winter, useful only if the skin feels still coated — if the oil cleanser was applied too lightly, or if the day included something the oil cleanser could not fully lift.
A cream cleanser is, in this context, a milky preparation — a water-based emulsion with a low surfactant load, often a fatty-acid-based surfactant rather than a sulfate. The cream cleanser feels like a thin cold cream. The cream cleanser does not foam. The cream cleanser, in most cases, rinses clean, but the rinsing is gentle.
If the skin, after the oil cleanse, feels tight or stripped, a cream cleanse is the wrong move. The right move, in that case, is to skip the second cleanse and proceed directly to the routine. The winter skin, in most cases, does not need a twice-cleanse.
Step three — a hydrating serum
The first product applied after the cleanse is, in our routine, a hydrating serum. The hydrating serum is a watery preparation with humectant ingredients — hyaluronic acid at a low molecular weight, glycerin, sometimes panthenol, sometimes a small amount of a light polyol.
The hydrating serum is, in the winter routine, doing one job: pulling water into the stratum corneum. The serum is not, in our routine, doing the work of an active. The serum is not, in our routine, doing the work of an antioxidant. The serum is pulling water. The serum is doing it well.
The application is generous: three or four drops, applied to the still-damp face, patted in with the flat of the hand. The skin should feel wet after the application. The wetness is not excess. The wetness is the serum, and the serum will, in the next sixty seconds, draw down into the skin.
The hyaluronic acid serum, in our experience, is the most over-engineered product category in skin care. A simple hyaluronic acid at 1% in water, with a tiny amount of glycerin and a preservative, is, in most cases, doing as much as the more elaborate formulations. The elaborate formulations cost more. They do not, in most cases, do more.
Step four — a barrier cream
The barrier cream is the centre of the winter routine. The barrier cream is, in most cases, a ceramide-containing emulsion — a moisturiser that contains ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids in something close to the ratio that the skin itself uses. The barrier cream is, in our routine, doing the work that the skin, in the cold months, cannot do for itself.
The barrier cream is, in the contemporary skin care market, a crowded category. There are barrier creams at every price point. There are barrier creams with very long ingredient lists. There are barrier creams with very short ones. The short ones, in our experience, are often better.
The barrier cream should be applied over the serum, while the serum is still damp. The dampness is important — the barrier cream, applied over damp skin, traps the water in the stratum corneum. The barrier cream, applied over dry skin, sits on top of the skin without engaging with it.
The barrier cream, applied correctly, will not feel heavy. It will feel, in the first minute, slightly too much. It will feel, after three minutes, exactly right. If the barrier cream feels heavy after ten minutes, the barrier cream is the wrong barrier cream. The right barrier cream disappears into the skin in under five minutes.
Step five — an occlusive, overnight
The fifth step is the occlusive. The occlusive is, in most cases, a petrolatum-based product — an ointment, a balm, a thick cream with a high petrolatum content. The occlusive is the layer that seals. It does not moisturise. It does not hydrate. It traps what is underneath.
The occlusive is applied, in our routine, only at night. The occlusive is applied, in our routine, only to the driest areas — around the mouth, along the jawline, over the cheekbones. The occlusive is not applied to the full face. The full-face occlusive is too much for most skin, even in winter.
The occlusive is the step that the skincare internet has been arguing about for fifteen years. The argument is, in our view, a small argument over a small thing. The occlusive, used sparingly, on the driest areas, in the cold months, is, in our experience, doing more for the skin than any active serum. The occlusive is also, in our experience, the cheapest step in the routine. A simple petrolatum jelly — the kind sold in pharmacies, in small white tubs, for a few euros — is, in most cases, as good as the more elaborate products.
A note on indoor humidity
The routine is, in our view, half of the winter answer. The other half is the indoor humidity. The heated indoor air, in most Northern homes in winter, has a relative humidity of 15-25%. The skin, in that air, is, by the end of the day, desiccated.
A humidifier, set to a target of 45-50% relative humidity, will, in our experience, do more for a winter skin than any new product. The humidifier does not need to be expensive. The humidifier does not need to be elaborate. The humidifier needs to be turned on.
This is the part of the winter routine that no marketing review will ever tell you, because there is no product to sell. It is also, in our experience, the part that the practitioners mention last, in a tone that suggests they have been wanting to say it for a while.
The skin, in winter, is half-product and half-environment. The environment is, in most cases, the easier half to fix.
The five steps are, in sum: an oil cleanse, an optional cream cleanse, a hydrating serum, a barrier cream, an overnight occlusive. The routine takes, in the evening, about seven minutes. The routine takes, in the morning, about two — the serum and the barrier cream, and nothing more. The routine is the architecture of slowness. The routine is, in our view, what the winter skin has been asking for, for years. The winter skin is not, finally, a problem to be solved. The winter skin is a season to be dressed for. The dressing is the routine. The routine is the care. The care is the answer.