Why Does My Skin Get Lighter in Winter?
Are you surprised by lighter skin tone in winter as compared to summer? You actually want this but confused about this magic?
Don’t worry. It’s natural. Our skin has a great interaction with the environment. Many of the factors contribute which results in lighter skin tone in winter than in summer.
During the winter your skin can get a lighter skin tone because of less exposure of sun, decreased melanin production, less sun-damage and humidity.
Winter has a great effect on our skin .skin is the part which is too much exposed to the environment. Skin acts as a shell which protects our inner delicate environment from harsh and cold outside weather.
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Why Does My Skin Get Lighter in Winter?
Skin is the part to present the whole world and we all want it in a good condition but with environmental changes, our skin tone also gets changed.
Many factors are involved which decide our skin tone. During winter it gets lighter and during summer it gets darker. Normally we experience a lighter skin color in the winter.
Less exposure to the sun
Sun is the major source of vitamin D synthesis. Vitamin D causes the production of the melanin. Melanin imparts dark coloration to skin. During winter, the sun gets colder, days are of short duration, we are almost covered.
Lesser the exposure to sunlight lesser will be the melanin and lesser will be the dark coloration of the skin. Although lighter skin tone attracts but not as useful for our body defense mechanism.
Falling off tan
Have you ever noticed the California beaches in summer? Why a large number of men and women on their towels are lying just for sunbath.?they all are actually wanted to gain tan on their bodies. But why? Because tan is a protective layer around your skin and they are fully aware of the benefits of tan.
As the summer is gone, their all yeah fall off. Tan is accumulated by the sun and as the summer season go away, tan start to disappear. During the winter, the sun becomes colder, it does not remain as efficient as in summer for the production of tan and the previously accumulated tan start to shed off. Why tan shed off?
It is due to the phenomena of apoptosis ( cell death). In our skin, about 1 million cells lost their lives in a single day. The outer layer of skin continuously replacing its cells .our whole skin gets replaced at about 28 -30 days. Cells are continuously replacing by the new one and older ones are losing their lives simultaneously.
During winter, the apoptosis and new growth of cells continue but the production of melanin in the newly born cells get slow down and the cells with melanin got died. Newly produced cells with less melanin are unable to impart darker color as was in summer. So in winter skin gets lighter in color.
The best climate for beauty products
Winter provides a perfect climate for skin beauty products. Application of any skin beauty products gets enhanced much fold as compared to summer. Yeah, beauty products also optimal conditions for highest effects and winter cold environment provide it.
Anything we apply in winter shows a better result in winter than in summer. Winter provides a good climate for our skin to glow.
Role of winter vegetables
Research reveals that vegetables available in winter plays a great role in lighter skin tone. Nature has planned everything very beautifully .winter vegetables are rich in vitamins in accordance with our body needs.
For today’s question, Why Does My Skin Get Lighter in Winter? Adding vegetables in your diet is a must. These vegetables enhance blood flow and impart lighter skin tone to our body.
The mechanism behind light and dark skin color
Beneath our or skin basal layer or bottom layer of the epidermis, melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes are present .these cells synthesis melanin and melanin imparts color to the skin. These cells are not so numerous and make up to 1% of our skin.
They are spread out all over the skin with the unequal distribution. Question is melanin useful for skin or not? I yes, god creates nothing uselessly. Melanin also has a functional role along with pigmentation. Melanin act as a guard for our body cells, protecting our body cells specifically nucleus.
Melanin protects skin from harmful UV radiation which causes abnormalities like a mutation in a skin cell, causing skin diseases.
Is it good to have a lighter skin tone?
From the attractive point of view, yes it is good or even desirable but from a physiological point of view, no, it’s even harmful in upper limits.
Most of the people around us have a strong desire to have a lighter skin tone and for this purpose, they do all that can. The interesting part is that they are also aware of lighter skin drawbacks.
As discussed earlier, dark skin comes with melanin and melanin protects our skin from harmful UV radiations. Melanin acts as a barrier against sun radiations.
Loss of melanin cause severe damage to our skin and sometimes these damages can also be permanent. Skin lost its defense mechanism or you can say its immunity against some harmful agents and you get prone easily to various skin diseases.
I advise you to must-have sunbath for about 5 – 10 minutes because larger exposure to the sun may also harm you a lot. If you have ever a visit to Europe you may notice that thousands of people are laying at the beach just to have melanin and brown skin which can protect them.
Winter comes with a harsh climate which snatches moisture, irritate skin and often red patches also appear. All these problems also occur due to loss of protective chemical melanin.
What to do?
Yeah, it is complicated to decide what exactly we have to do. Although melanin is beneficial for our skin protective mechanism it is not required in excess amount. You have to maintain balance not to totally avoid melanin and not to have too much.
For a balanced amount of melanin, take sunbath for a short interval of time regularly. Do not run away from melanin. Use of too much beauty products to get rid of melanin harms your skin even permanently. God has created you in the best version. Embrace it.
You have to adjust yourself according to the environment. Conditions best for skin are very hard to describe but maintaining balance is the best option. Having balanced melanin, proper moisture content, well-cleaned skin is best.
Duskyskin.com Tips to protect Skin in Winter
Other than lighter skin tone, winter comes with numerous skin complications. Harsh weather of winter proven damaging, uncomfortable and maybe painful for your skin.
Loss of moisture, hard and dry skin, the appearance of patches white or red are common issues with winter.
some tips are below
The main problem we have to face is dehydration. As winter reaches, we reduce the amount of water intake. And that’s our big mistake. As winter wind is already cold enough to snatch moisture and in addition we exaggerate by not drinking water which becomes more than enough to gift our dry skin.
Drink as much water as you can and sip slowly. Furthermore, you can also add natural hydrating agents like ginger, lemon which help out in hydrating well to your skin.
Proper use of cleanser is also necessary. Market available lotion usually doesn’t do their job perfectly. They most of the times contain alcohol or added fragrance which instead of cleansing your skin, takes aways skin moisture and natural oil.
Cream-based moisturizer or natural moisturizer is best .honey, aloe vera gel, lemon, milk are some best natural moisturizer.
Yeah, exfoliating your skin is too much necessary. On the dry, itchy skin exfoliating should be your 1st choice. It will remove all the dead skin cells from your skin, remove out the dead dry skin, helps to regenerate new cells and increase blood flow.
Take short showers is not too hot too cold water. Most of the people use hot water for the bath which harms our skin. Use gentle lukewarm water or freshwater for bathing.
Winter winds harsh for the skin and if not kept skin safe, cause a lot of problems. Having lip balm in your pocket and some moisturizing lotions are not enough against harsh winter. The combination of low humidity and loss of moisture can harm you a lot.
You must have to wear gloves and a scarf to give some essential protection to your skin. Use of scarf with minimal irritation is preferable. Sometimes warm wool clothes are irritable to the skin. I recommend you to have naturally breathable base layer beneath your warm clothes.
Use of natural moisturizer is recommended instead of market available. Market available moisturizer is full of chemicals and also expensive. They waste both your skin and money. Natural moisturizer when applied to skin provide long-lasting effects with no any side effect asks also your pocket-friendly.
During winter, always choose oil-based moisturizer rather than water-based for deep moisturizing. Whenever you take a bath or after washing, immediately apply a good amount of moisturizer. Honey, aloe vera gel, castor oil, coconut oil are some of the best natural moisturizing agents for the skin.
All the best.
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