We all know New England can have some harsh winters. Sure, most of us probably didn’t know that before moving here and it was a very exciting and then very depressing surprise. But now that we’re here, we can see that New England winters know now bounds. If it isn’t the snow or the wind, it’s the piercing cold and ice that turn your morning walk to class to an episode of Survivor. Coming to New England, the winter was a surprise for me, but I managed, with the help of snow boots, sweaters, and a warm winter coat. However, I did not anticipate that my skin would suffer so greatly under the cold winter winds. Sure, I’m from Northern Europe, and I have dealt with cold temperatures before, but never to the extend I found in New England. My skin became extremely dry, flakey, and irritated. For the longest time, I did not know what to do, but now during my third winter here, I have discovered a couple of steps that could be taken to prevent and fix your skin during the harsh New England’ winters.
Get a moisturizing face cream with SPF.
First off, never ever just put moisturizer on your face. The skin on your face is delicate, it requires a special cream instead of just any moisturizer (trust me, I discovered this the hard way). An SPF of 20 or higher can really help. Not only is it good to always protect your skin against the sun (white people you know what I mean), but the snow is basically a giant reflector of the sun, and it can damage your skin. So, buy a moisturizing face cream, put it on in the morning, and make sure it has an SPF of 20 or higher.
Get a night cream (but only if you really need it).
Ok this is for those amongst us that have really dry skin, you’re going to need a night cream as well. Something that you put on before going to bed, that helps moisturize your face then. A night cream is usually thicker and oilier, this is because your skin absorbs the oils at night. This cream of course does not need SPF, but make sure that it says it’s a moisturizing night cream, unless you want to buy anti-wrinkle cream, in which case who am I to tell you not to do that?
You’re going to need so much cream.
Vaseline is my love. As someone with eczema, my skin gets extremely dry and irritated extremely fast. Vaseline has helped me with that a lot, and I can definitely recommend it to anyone. But if you don’t feel like using Vaseline, coconut oil is also amazing. Really just buy any moisturizing body cream, and use it at least once a day. With all the warm showers we’re taking because of the cold (don’t even deny it) our skin can get extremely dry. So use a moisturizing body cream and make sure to do it after a shower (I don’t know who would use it before showering but you never know)
If you think that’s enough cream, it is not.
Oh sweet lip balm, how can anyone survive a winter without you? Lip balm is the best, it will fix your lips almost instantly, and it will keep your lips from being bloody and painful. So buy lip balm, buy all the lip balm, lip balm is our friend in these trying times!
Drink water
Look, we all know water is important, so why am I even telling you to drink water? Because it moisturizes you, and unless this is the only part of the article you’re reading you would know that moisturizing your skin is important.
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Of course, a lot of these things are things that a lot of people already do. But for incoming students especially, these things are important to know. The winters here are harsh and they can surprise a person. So buy some moisturizer and pray that it won’t snow too much. Oh and bring winter clothes, so many winter clothes.
(Photo taken by author)
