You’d better watch out…winter is coming! Without proper information about how to handle your skin in the colder months, you may find yourself with breakout or at the very least feeling all dried out.

In the winter months, many of you may think you need a “heavier” moisturizer because your skin feels dry. Most likely, however, your skin is dehydrated. A common mistake people with dehydrated skin make is to overmoisturize. Because your skin feels dry, it seems logical to give the skin more moisture. But this is where your problems can really begin. You start off with dehydration and can end up with congestion or breakout on top of the dryness (dehydration). Making the distinction between dry and dehydrated skin is imperative. Without knowing which skin condition you have, you could really cause problems down the road.

What is the difference between dry skin and dehydrated skin?

There is a definite misunderstanding that surrounds these two separate conditions, which many people mistake as the same condition. Women (and men) think they have dry skin because it feels dry, when really they’re simply dehydrated. Although true-dry skin and dehydrated skin feel the same, their causes are totally different, and the treatment of each separate condition is also very different.

Dehydration means there is an excessive dead cell buildup on the surface of your skin, and therefore you need to exfoliate (manually remove the dead skin). No amount of moisturizing will truly fix the problem, but through regular and thorough exfoliation, you can greatly reduce or eliminate dehydration. Dehydrated skin is lacking water, not oil.

True-dry skin is oil dry. This skin simply does not emit much or enough oil. Therefore, if you have true-dry skin, you probably don’t have blackheads, whiteheads, and most likely never have breakout either. True-dry skin needs moisturizing to help add oil to its oil-deficient surface. Exfoliation can help, but what is really needed is proper moisturizing.

OK, so my skin is dehydrated, not dry. What should I do?

In a word: Exfoliate! There are many methods you can use to get rid of the dead skin on your face. Gommage (soft gel peel) is my personal favorite. There are other exfoliators like papaya enzyme peels as well as AHA peels and so forth - all of which can irritate sensitive skin. If your exfoliation system is causing irritation or redness in your skin, you may want to switch to a more gentle one. However you choose to do it, the way to get rid of dead skin cells is to slough them off - or exfoliate.

Your skin will let you know when it’s time to exfoliate: when it feels tight and dry. During the winter months, you may need to exfoliate more often, maybe 2 or 3 times per week. This depends on your environment (how dry the heat is in your home) and just how dry your skin feels. Remember, exfoliation will relieve that dry feeling. By exfoliating regularly, you can keep your skin soft and supple, even through a rough, cold winter.

Good luck and Happy Winter!

If you are interested in seeing some of my pictures, below are the links. I am still working out some kinks with my blog pages and at the moment cannot put up photos.

Graffiti: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111803&id=702857877&l=b564277d2e

Gargoyles: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111851&id=702857877&l=e20bbc4393

Beautiful tiles: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111808&id=702857877&l=c2228013c8

A few of my favorites: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111968&id=702857877&l=ba297b95f0

I’m happy to be back and happy to have seen all the great sites in France and Spain!

:+) Carolyn.

I am LOVING the Yonka products and really happy with my choices from you.  I have been doing the clay mask at least once a week and sometimes twice and keeping really good care with washing, toning and moisturizing every morning and evening.  Overall, my skin is doing really well, but I still feel like my pores are visible and I don’t know if they would be considered blackheads or just enlarged pores and I’m wondering if there is any other product you would recommend to work with this, or if this is just the way my skin is?

Once pores are enlarged, they remain enlarged. The good thing is by keeping your skin clean (and super clean through using the clay), your pores are less likely to become congested, which can and usually does lead to enlarged pores. Because pores don’t shrink (a myth for sure!), you may just be looking at slight enlargement vs. blackheads in the pores. If you look really closely, you should be able to discern dirt and debris (blackhead junk) and just simple (and slight, no doubt) enlargement.

I seriously doubt you have very much enlargement - it really is rare, although many people think they have “big pores.” Based on your wonderful program (you are an “A+” client!), it is also doubtful you have much debris in your pores.

Next time I see you I will talk with you about what I see. In the meantime, I truly think your skin is doing well and that any enlargement you do see is minor with my professional eyes.

The pathology report came back suggesting further investigation was necessary. Reading dermatology reports on the Internet, in my particular case and pathology reading, some derms excised and some did not. In my case, since the mole could potentially turn into melanoma, I didn’t want to risk it and took the doctor’s advice and had it reexcised.

What does that mean? It means that I went in a few weeks after the initial biopsy and the dermatologist made about an inch incision on my neck and scooped out more tissue to get tested, making sure all the questionable cells were removed. I cannot at this time (figure out why) I can’t get pictures to post here, so I have put a picture of the incision on my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boulder-CO/Carolyn-Ash-Skin-Care/131912367520?ref=ts).

It is pretty unbelievable that literally a dot of a mole turned into a good inch of a scar on my neck. I was prepared there would be stitches, I know they have to make a bigger incision than you’d think, but I have to admit when I asked to see where the doctor had drawn on my neck, it was a bit of a shock. Thank goodness this wasn’t on my face! Yikes.

It just hits home information I have been saying for years: It is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to getting funny-looking moles checked. The longer you wait, the more potential there is that you will be sporting a large scar where the mole was removed.

Make an appointment now with your dermatologist if you haven’t been in a year or more (or ever). Get a full body mole check and know you are doing yourself a huge favor in the process. You might be surprised to find out something needs to be removed.

Sign up for my Facebook Fan page! Along with this blog, I will continue to give you as much sound skin care advice along with other things skin care related and body balance related on my new Facebook page.

And remember: If you go to my website www.carolynash.com and sign up for my monthly discounts in the upper righthand corner of the site, you will receive discounts for products in my shopping area along with the across-the-board 5% off all products that everyone receives 365 24/7.

I am so excited to be back online and to have this finally solved. I will get with the program and get some info to you shortly, I promise. I just wanted to post this to let you know I’m back! Yippie!

It’s a great question. And here is my answer:

I don’t use age as a guideline for recommendations. Any age of skin can have any number of issues or needs. So, if your skin had CHANGED (due to age or circumstances other than that) it could be possible you might need to readjust your routine. However, it your products still feel appropriate, I’d say stick with them. I always go by the condition of the skin, never the age. This seems contradictory to what you may hear in the media, etc., but it truly makes sense if you think about it. You could be 50 and still with oily skin. If so, and you use an “anti-aging” cream with lots of oils, etc., you’d develop an oil slick on your skin! So, if your skin had changed, it may call for a change in your routine.

Just because you are racking up candles on your birthday cake, it doesn’t mean your skin is drastically changing - necessarily.