This week we’ve got 4 more top skin care tips to help you keep your skin looking and feeling good this winter as the cold sets in.

1. Look after your hands

Hands are prone to more damage than normal in winter, from the cold weather drying them out when you’re outside, to hot water scolding them when you wash your hands or wash up. Ensure you always carry a good moisturiser to look after you’re hands even when you’re out and about. Wear gloves to protect your hands from the cold when you’re outside and make sure you wear rubber gloves when you’re washing up to shield them from the hot water and detergent.

Another good tip is to place hand moisturiser alongside a moisturising hand soap in your bathrooms and kitchens at home to ensure your whole family’s hand are hydrated when they’re being hygienic.

2. Wrap-up warm

Wrap-up warm when you go outside, put on cosy gloves, a scarf and hat to protect your extremities from the cold temperature and consequent drying effects.

3. Stay hydrated

We’ve talked about the importance of hydrating your skin this winter, but don’t forget to hydrate your body too. When the weather is colder, we’re not as naturally thirsty as we are in the warmer months, however staying hydrated on the inside helps to keep your skin hydrated too.

4. Brush Your Lips

Lip balm usage reaches the highest levels at this time of year. As well as using balm on your lips, you can also give your lips a little bit of soft exfoliation when you’re brushing your teeth. Sounds quite silly but do it every night before bed and you’ll notice a great improvement in your lips after just a few days.

For any advice on skin care during winter or treatments that will help keep your skin looking it’s best this winter give us a call on 01225 700072 to talk to one of the team or e-mail us at enquiries@snowberrylane.co.uk

Now the colder weather really is setting in, it’s officially the time of year when your skin is more prone to dryness as the temperature drops and the heating is turned up. To combat this we wanted to share our top skin care tips to help you keep your skin looking and feeling good.

1. Reduce the temperature of you shower

When it’s cold, the temptation is to crank the temperature up in the shower to warm up. However, washing in hotter water strips your skin of it’s natural oils that it needs to stay nourished. The best thing to do is to turn the tap the other way and make your shower a little cooler to help lock in those all important oils.

2. Exfoliate to keep skin soft and promote circulation

Exfoliating your whole body will not only help combat dry skin, but also helps promote good circulation. We recommend exfoliating in the evening when your skin is most receptive, working the exfoliator in a circular motion concentrating on key areas such as heels, knees and elbows.

Make sure you chose an exfoliator that does not contain microbeads (small plastic beads) as these are incredibly bad for the environment, another one to avoid is apricot kernels, they sound great because they’re natural, but they are too rough and can cause more damage than good, (a body brush is a good option).

At Snowberry Lane Clinic we offer Microdermabrasion treatment if you’re looking to refresh your face. This treatment uses medical grade crystals to gently remove dead skin cells and rejuvenate your skin, read more about it here.

3. Moisturise, moisturise, moisturise

During winter your skin is even thirstier than normal, ensure you moisturise using a high quality moisturiser that is SPF 15 or higher (as you can still get sun damage in winter). We have a great range of Obagi products that are designed by medical professionals to ensure the best results.

We recommend moisturising straight after you shower or bathe to help capture the moisture on your skin after you wash. For best results, pat yourself dry, rather than rubbing all of that precious moisture away. To combat dryer area like heels, knees and elbows, moisturise just before bed, you can even go one step further and wear cotton gloves and socks after moisturising to lock it in!

For more advice on skin care during winter or treatments that will help keep your skin looking it’s best this winter give us a call on 01225 700072 to talk to one of the team or e-mail us at enquiries@snowberrylane.co.uk

HIFU is unlike any other non-invasive facial rejuvenation treatment, it uses thermal energy in the form of multiple beams of ultrasound to stimulate collagen, which helps to contract and tighten the surface of the skin. HIFU is specially designed to penetrate the dermis as well as the superficial muscular layer, which is deeper than other treatments are able to penetrate. This superficial muscular layer is the layer which is tightened during traditional facelift surgery, however, as HIFU is non-invasive the downtime is significantly reduced and the cost of treatment is much lower.

What areas can be treated with HIFU?

• Fine lines and wrinkles on the forehead
• Frown lines
• Crow’s feet and smile lines
• Cheeks
• Double chins
• Neck and jowl area

What to expect during and immediately after treatment

HIFU treatment takes 30-90 minutes, during treatment it is common to experience some discomfort and a tingling sensation depending on the intensity of the ultrasound. Most commonly only one to two sessions are required.

Immediately after treatment, the skin is likely to appear red for a few hours, some clients experience slight swelling and tenderness for up to a week after treatment. The areas can be calmed with ice packs if required, further advice will be given during the consultation and in the aftercare paperwork.

Normally some improvement can be seen within 3 to 4 weeks following treatment, with further improvements developing for up to six months. Results ordinarily last for 6 months or more.

At Snowberry Lane Clinic we have over a decade of experience in helping our clients look and feel their best. Some of our most popular treatments include procedures that help to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. However, there are some top tips we’d like to share to help you keep your skin in great condition, some are easier than others and some we’re sure you know already but just in case:

• Avoid Frowning where possible, this sounds silly we know, and could go hand in hand with avoid all facial expressions including smiling and laughing (to reduce laughter lines) but we just like the idea of reducing the negative – frown less, smile as much as you like – smiling is brilliant!

• Try not to sleep on your stomach or side profile where possible, again easier said than done, but when you are able, and if it’s comfortable for you, try and sleep on your back.

• Avoid rubbing the eye area vigorously, the most common time this would happen is when removing make-up with cotton pads or a face wipe. Instead try a gentle face wash with a very soft facial cloth and work the make-up off slowly and gently – gently is key.

• Avoid excessive sugar consumption – sugar causes dramatic spikes in the body’s insulin levels, which in turn leads to the breakdown of elastin and collagen. Interestingly, reduction in sugar consumption also helps to reset your palette, so over time your sweet tooth won’t be so sweet and your sugar cravings will fade.

• Reduce sun exposure, perhaps the most obvious one, we all know by now that excessive sun exposer damages the skin, so we recommend wearing a moisturiser with SPF 30+ every day and SPF factor 50 during summer and in hotter climates.

• Stop smoking – this is important, not only for your skin, but your general health.

• Avoid chronic stress – this one can be difficult, obviously we all try and avoid stressful circumstances where possible, sometimes stress finds us and there’s nothing we can do about it. But when under stress, work on managing it as best you can, things like meditative breathing and mindfulness are great techniques for staying peacful.

• Get Sufficient sleep, again this isn’t always something we can choose to do, but getting into a regular pattern of going to bed and waking-up at them same time each day can help.

• Don’t use drinking straws – this is probably the easiest of all, avoid straws, not only do they create lines around the mouth over time but more often than not they are made of plastic, and reducing our use of plastic is good for the environment too – win win!

Clearly, even doing all of these things without fail every day, would not prevent wrinkles from forming completely, however they are useful little tricks to help your skin look its best for as long as possible and some of them have additional benefits too!

Primary source: American Academy of Aesthetic Medicine