Soft Touch

Luckily, there’s a lot you can do to mitigate the misery of winter. Yes, you’ve heard it all before. Think of this as your reminder to actually do it.

• Run a humidifier. Dry air = dry skin.
• Wash your body, especially your hands, with warm, not hot water. (Yes, it kills germs just as well.)
• Use a cream-style moisturizer rather than a lotion, the thicker the better. I’m a huge fan of Aquaphor (you can use it all over your body), or try CeraVe.
• Yes, you still need to wear sunscreen. UV rays can penetrate the grayest clouds, and snow actually magnifies the light. Aveeno’s moisturizer with SPF 30 lets you achieve two goals with one product.
• Use gentle, non-drying soaps and washes. I like the classic Dove body wash and Cetaphil face wash. Hey, they’ve earned their titles.
• Exfoliate before moisturizing. All that dead skin keeps your moisturizer from getting where it needs to go.
• Wear gloves. The more your skin is exposed to the cold, the dryer it gets.
• Remember, your skin serves both beauty and function. It may be weird, but it deserves your love.

Keep It Humid

I’m obsessed with humidifiers. Yes, that makes me old and boring. Don’t care. I’ll take clear sinuses and less-miserable children over coolness any day.

Dry air can exacerbate all sorts of nasty respiratory symptoms — and it allows viral particles to float around a little longer, increasing their chances of finding victims. (I’m sure no one’s thinking about any particular virus with respiratory symptoms, right? It helps for that, too.)

Hence, awesome humidifiers. But which one? Warm mist? Cool? Evaporative? Ultrasonic? How’s a girl to find the perfect congestion-buster?