Looking good
WHY IS WINTER SO HARD ON OUR SKIN? ‘Wind, cold and dry air and hot showers can all make skin parched’, says consultant dermatologist Dr Anjali Mahto. ‘I see far more cases of severely dry skin at this time of year, and eczema and skin that’s genetically dry often get worse in winter.’
Signs of dryness include flaking, itching or a tight feeling after showering, and even oily skins can become dehydrated. Anjali, who’s a spokesperson for the British Skin Foundation, explains that in normal, healthy skin, 30% of its upper layers, called the stratum corneum, consist of water (in the skin overall, including the deeper layer called the dermis, the proportion is 64%).