When winter ruins your skin, these tips can help you save (your) face

Winter is in full swing, which means the cold is here to stay — and so is dry, irritated skin and chapped lips. If you’re anything like me, you hate that feeling of dry skin or the look of cracked, red and irritated hands. But you don't have to put up with dreaded winter skin — there's a solution.

There are a multitude of skincare products and tips to help restore winter skin to its former healthy glow, so if you want to bring back your summer shine, follow these tips, tricks and product recommendations that your skin is begging for this winter.

Avoid long baths and showers

When it's cold outside, all we want to do is take a long hot bath or sit in the shower until the water runs cold — but those long hot baths and showers are causing more harm than good for your skin.

Hot water dries out and irritates the skin. When your skin is craving moisture and hydration during the winter months, exposing it to hot temperatures for extended periods will only worsen your skin's health.

A better alternative to help your dry, winter-bitten skin is to opt for warm water when bathing and minimize your time taking a shower or bath. For ideal skin health, a bath shouldn’t last more than 30 minutes, and a shower shouldn't last longer than 10 minutes.

Invest in a humidifier

Humidifiers are a great way to help your dry, chapped skin when the air is cold and unforgiving during the long winter months.  

There are many options when it comes to investing in a humidifier. Humidifiers can range from being super cheap to super expensive, but no matter the price point, they all essentially help provide you with the same thing: The ability to control the air in your home.

During winter, the air in your house is stale and dry, and by using a humidifier, you're introducing moisture into the air and, therefore, alleviating dry skin caused by that stagnant air in your home.

Some great humidifiers to check out include the Honeywell Mistmate for $29.99 at Best Buy and the HoMedics TotalComfort Ultrasonic Humidifier for $39.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond.

If you're looking for something more aesthetically pleasing or portable, then you can also grab the affordable Portable Mini Humidifier for $13.92 at Walmart.

Have different moisturizers for winter and summer 

During the winter, our skin is prone to dryness and irritation that isn't present during the summer months. We can't expect regular moisturizers that we use during the summer to work the same on winter skin.

It’s wise to invest in a few high-quality moisturizers for your face and body that are more rich and nourishing than a basic moisturizer you might use in the summer months. Using a richer moisturizer will help alleviate the additional irritation, redness or dryness when the weather gets cold by soaking into the skin to repair damage from the winter air — and protect it from being damaged further.

Some great rich moisturizers perfect for the winter months are First Aid Beauty's Ultra Repair Cream, which you can find in most stores that sell makeup and beauty products for approximately $38. The Keihl's Ultra Facial Moisturizing Cream with Squalane is also a great fragrance-free face moisturizer for dry skin, and it can be found at Ulta, Sephora and Macy's for $33.

SPF isn't just for summer 

Sunscreen is something many people tend to skip over even during the summer months — when the chance of sunburn and sun damage is at its highest. So, it's easy to assume that many people are not including this important step in their skincare routine at even higher rates during winter.

But sunscreen is not just for the summer. Although the UV rays in the summer are much higher and more damaging to the skin, they don’t just go away during the winter.

The sun will still burn your skin during the winter months and contribute to that dryness and redness, also exacerbating aging. Wearing SPF all year round, especially during the winter, when your skin is the most vulnerable, will help protect it from long-term damage as well as excessive dryness and redness during the cold months.

For winter, some great sunscreens are the Glossier Invisible Shield with SPF 35 for $25, the Supergoop Play Everyday Sunscreen Lotion with SPF 50 for $32 and CeraVe's Mineral Face Sunscreen Lotion with SPF 30 for $13.99 at Target.

Just because winter usually means dry, chapped skin doesn't mean you have to settle for that. By following all of these tips and upgrading your moisturization and SPF game, you will say goodbye to drab skin and hello to a healthy glow!