A possible explanation for winter zits

RK -

It can quite safely be said that almost everyone gets zits or spots or pimples or other skin problems during their lifetime. (If you're not one of those people, consider yourself lucky.) Skin issues usually first find their way into our lives in adolescence when our bodies go through hormonal changes and imbalances. Once the hormones find their equilibrium, the skin tends to calm down - but not always. Sometimes you get issues with your skin in adulthood even if the situation was quite under control during your teenage years. And that's a bummer.

The reason for sudden adulthood skin problems could be a hormonal imbalance again, or it could be about your skin being too dry, or too oily - or both, if you have a combination skin. It's easy to think that if you just use chemicals on your face and other problem areas that have a drying effect, the zits will dry out. And that might work. You just have to be careful not to use those drying chemicals on already dry skin areas. According to this video about a dermatologists daily skin routines, if your skin gets too dry, it'll try to compensate by producing more oils, which can lead to zits.

So is it possible that during winter your skin tends to dry out more than in the summer, and that drying process causes the breakouts?

It makes sense to have a different skin care routine for different climates. The video mentioned above also suggest you don't wash your face with soap in the morning - because you don't want to get rid of the natural moisturizing oil your skin has produced over the night - and only use soap during the winter in your armpits and genitals to reduce unnecessary drying in other areas of the skin.

So if you got skin problems last winter, perhaps the solution is to take extra care of moisturizing and leave the drying products be for a while - no matter how counter-intuitive it might feel, looking at that oily zit on your chin. Or use the drying products exactly on the spots only. However you like to do it, it sounds like moisturizing is the key.

RK