5 Tips to Help Skin Recover from Winter Weather by Diane Schwidde

Hey Beauty Bees,

With one of the harshest winters now behind us, its negative effects on our skin still reigns. From dryness and dullness to redness, this severe winter weather has impacted the overall health of your skin.

Diane Schwidde, the lead esthetician and massage therapist at Massage Envy Spa in Quincy, shared her top 5 tips on how to help your skin recover from the winter weather with me and I now in turn want to share them with you.

5 Tips to Refresh Your Skin

• Hydrate: Use serums and moisturizers both day and night. Your day time moisturizer should have at least 30 SPF in it even in the winter when we see much less sun each day. This helps protect against any further damage from the sun. For a night time moisturizer, there is no need for SPF. Use products with a higher concentration of hydrators, to calm and feed your skin. Vitamins, minerals and pure essential oils are also good ingredients for a night moisturizer.

• Exfoliate: Exfoliating buffs off dead skin cell build up, which prevents dryness. Exfoliating also makes your skin a better surface for products to be applied. For example, moisturizers can hydrate easier by working into the skin without having to fight through layers of dead skin cells. Your makeup will apply and look better too!

• Use products: Don’t be afraid to use products to improve the health of your skin. Use a hydrating mask which helps tighten, hydrate and lock in moisture. Hydrating serums are great too.

• Vitamin C is your friend: Vitamin C is an antioxidant that can truly benefit your skin. Products with Vitamin C help strengthen skin cells, and lighten, brighten and tighten your skin. This is what can give your skin an amazing glow, as it encourages new skin cells to come to the surface faster.

• Consider mild chemical peels: Mild peels with lactic and glycolic acids act as a topical exfoliator, as well as work through layers of skin to jump start the skin cell processes. Peels help speed skin cell turnover, stimulate collagen to plump up fine lines, and reduce hyper-pigmentation or brown spots.

Diane has been an esthetician for 15 years, has achieved Level 6 and has a background in medical skin treatments. I thought it would be interesting to get to know more about her. Here are the answers to the questions I asked her.

Q1: Why did you want to become a massage therapist/esthetician?

A: I became interested in skincare about 16 years ago while working as a Lancôme counter manager. Skincare awareness was just really taking off and people were asking questions that I couldn't answer fully so I did some investigating into how I could learn more and found Esthetics.

Q2: What is your favorite part of your job?

A: My favorite part of the job is educating people about what is going on with their skin and helping them achieve their skincare goals.

Q3: What is your must-have skincare product for everyday?

A: I'm a big believer in serums. Since I have sun damage, I use a combination of the Murad Age Spot and Pigmentation Gel and the Active Radiance Serum, both from the Murad Vitamin C line.

Q4: In you mini bio, you are described as a level 6. What exactly does that mean?

A: In the state of MA, all estheticians are issued a Level 7 license at first, which means they need to work with supervision for 2 years. After 2 years, they can apply for a Level 6 license with proof that they've been working under a Level 6 Esthetician. If their application is accepted, they would be able to work anywhere without another Level 6 Esthetician on premise. It’s similar to working an internship to gain experience, confidence and build a clientele.

Q5: Where did you go to school and with what degree did you graduate with?

A: My first school was the VT College of Cosmetology and Esthetics where I graduated with 600 hours. My second school was Blaine here in MA where I acquired another 300 hours of advanced Esthetics. I've been fortunate to work in Medical spas performing laser hair removal, laser facials, microdermabrasion treatments, chemical peels, waxing and body treatments for the past 16 years.

My favorite questions that I asked Diane was what her must-have skincare product for everyday was. I have used Murad products a few times but I also love many other skincare products. Let me know below what your must-have skincare product for everyday is.