The last thing you want is a festive ho ho ho to turn into a oh no no no!
Skin breakouts, rashes, flare ups and flakes can ruin your festive fun and quickly turn a merry Christmas into a miserable one.
Skin fails can be greatly reduced or even avoided with a bit of pre-festive preparation.
Here dermatologist Dr Eva Melegh gives her #6 tips to avoid common festive skin woes and have yourself a clear-skinned Christmas.
#1 Rudolf Nose
Sufferers of very sensitive skin and skin prone to rosacea often describe their face in festive family photos as ‘the one with the Rudolf nose’.
The combination of crowed family gatherings often inside hot rooms with rich food and more alcohol than normal can quickly trigger a rosacea flare. Rosacea flares normally affect the face in a butterfly rash, leaving mostly on the nose and upper cheeks with a bright red flush.
Fail Safe Festive Skin
Do not be tempted to try any gifted new skincare products or cosmetics over the festive period. Avoid fizzy alcohol and do not try splashing or washing hot skin more frequently with cold water.
Embark on a redness calming skincare routine 2-3 weeks prior to the festive season to get skin fully calmed down beforehand and use a de- sensitising base cream under all cosmetics over the festive period.
Try the Kalme range for skin prone to rosacea, its not a rosacea cure but it can help calm down and reduce redness and sensitivity
#2 Snowflake Shoulders
A flaking scalp is not only uncomfortable and itchy but can also be very visible on party clothes.
Flaking itchy scalp in the winter is often due to dry scalp dandruff as opposed to fungal infections as with normal dandruff.
Cold weather, low humidity and dry air from central heating can dry our winter scalps and leave them flaking and sensitive. Add a large dollop of pre-festive stress and you perhaps have yourself snowflake shoulders for the festive holidays.
Fail Safe Festive Skin
Reduce the heat of your showers and stop using any hair styling or perfumed hair products. If anti dandruff shampoos are not working, then switch to a shampoo and scalp treatment specifically for dry scalp. You need to do this at least a week before the festive period begins as dry scalp flaking often lasts several days once it starts.
#3 Mistletoe Mishaps
Nothing can ruin that hope of a chance kiss under the mistletoe more than a cold sore.
For 50%of the population who suffer from cold sores which are caused by the herpex simplex virus, Christmas is a prime time for a cold sore attack. The cold weather, higher rates of colds and flu, excess of alcohol, lack of sleep and stress can mean it’s the perfect storm for the worst outbreak of the year. Once a cold sore is established it usually takes 6-10 days to go so can blight the whole festive period.
Fail Safe Festive Skin
Don’t wear matt lipsticks, keep lips covered with thin scarf while out in the cold, avoid sipping hot drinks, don’t have any lip fillers or injections in the four weeks prior to Christmas and start applying a lip balm 3-4 daily 2 weeks in advance.
Try Lip Q Liquorice Balm, which is a neutral and non-scented natural balm that not only keeps lips conditioned but also contains concentrated glycyrrhizic acid (liquorice root extract) that’s proven to have anti-viral actions and offers some preventative protection against cold sores.
#4 Christmas Bauble Face
If you suffer from greasy skin, then the often-raucous festivities over the holiday season can leave your face resembling a shiny Christmas tree bauble.
Fail Safe Festive Skin
The key to keeping the shine only on the Christmas tree decorations is not washing your skin more but regulating the production of your sebum in the run up to the festive period.
The more you try and clean oily skin often the more sebum you produce when it comes to oily skin. So sometimes to have to almost take the opposite approach. Sebum is actually very good for skin as its nature’s moisturiser. Trying to inhibit it’s production with sebum ‘drying’ products and endlessly trying to wash it away often makes the problem even worse.
By letting the sebum flow naturally for a 3-4 week period before Christmas and using as fewer skin ‘cleaning’ products as possible and keeping the skin from becoming congested or infected should help regulate your sebum production. Then applying a mattifying primer under cosmetics over the festive period should help to keep the shininess at bay.
Try Clarol Sebopure for helping to keep sebum clean and pure as you let it flow naturally and Clarol Nordic Birch & Willow Primer with mattifying effect to keep oiliness under control and make up in place during the festivities.
#5 Gift Rashes
New perfumes and scented beauty products are a lovely gift but to reduce the risk of getting an uncomfortable skin rash, avoid the temptation to slather on your new products over the festive period.
Sensitive and dry skin already has a hard time staying calm over the festive period what with pine needles from the tree, dog or cat hairs from family pets and hot stuffy indoor environments. So sensitive skin may already be in a high sensitivity state. Scents and ingredients in many heavily scented Christmas beauty or bath products and perfumes can quickly trigger an allergic skin reaction.
Fail Safe Festive Skin
Stick to beauty and cosmetic products you have been using for the 3-4 week period before the festive season. Do a one-week skin detox before the festive period where you cut out as many products as you can bare to let your skin really calm down. Just use non-scented but highly moisturising products with skin calming actives to try and calm your skin down and get as much moisture into your skin in the run up to the festive period. Don’t wear highly synthetic clothes over the festive period and in general try and wear less clothes than more to keep skin cool in stuffy rooms as heat rash can then trigger other skin rashes and reactions.
Try Hydrosil Tumeric Butter & Hypoallergenic Milk Salve on all patches of dry skin and itchy skin and Hydrosil Dry Eye Gel all around eyes in the run up to Christmas and under all eye make up over the festive period to reduce the risk of contact skin allergies from eye cosmetics
#6 Spicey Surprise
The festive period is a time when we all like to take some time out of our busy hectic lives and let ourselves go a little. Whether taking a mini hotel breaks or going on a holiday for some of the festive holiday, you might want to take the chance of this time out to spice things up a bit in the romance department.
This is good for mind and body but can be swiftly ruined by any fun with festive scented intimate massage oils or lubricants. Anything spicey smelling should be avoided at all costs in intimate areas.
Fail Safe Festive Skin
Massage oils should not be used internally, even if they are not scneted ones. Lubricants are one of the best ways to help address vaginal dryness caused by any number of issues from sexual anxiety to side effects of medications or hormonal fluctuations. 1 in 4 women will experience vaginal dryness during their lifetime. Lubricants are an excellent way to relieve the discomfort and make sex more enjoyable for both partners. However, to avoid adding to any discomfort, lubricants which are chemical, perfume, petroleum, silicone and alcohol free and preferably also have some degree of protective action for internal vaginal skin are a sensible choice.
Try in2mate Lubricant which is un-perfumed, over 99% natural and contains an intimate prebiotic to help repair and rejuvenate vaginal skin as well as a plant-based lubricating ingredient that closely mimics natural vaginal lubrication.
