Is Humidity Good For Your Skin
How Does Humidity Affect Your Skin; Everyone needs to understand his/her skin type and it’s reactions to different elements and weather conditions even though it can be tricky and demanding. You might have noticed that your skin feels different when you travel abroad to countries with different humidity levels. These changes might be favorable or sometimes unfavorable.
What is Humidity?
Humidity is simply the amount of water vapor, which is the gaseous phase of water, in the air. A high amount or concentration of water vapor is referred to high humidity, while in low humidity, there is not much water vapor in the atmosphere.
Humidity is most times linked with temperature, and it’s because the temperature in an area determines the maximum amount of water vapor the air in that area can hold. In higher temperatures, the air can hold more water vapor while in low temperatures, the air isn’t capable of holding much water vapor.
How Does Low Humidity Affect the Skin
Cold and dry climates are associated with low humidity, and this might be appealing to individuals with oily skin who are tired of their skin being oily during the day, but this can be harmful to the skin.
Below are a few reasons how low humidity affects the skin;
● It Strips the Skin of Moisture
In cold and dry climates, the skin tends to be dry. In low humidity, the water vapor levels are depleted, and thereby there is little or no water vapor in the air, and the skin becomes deprived of much-needed hydration and moisture, which can be harmful to it.
Some skin types become itchy and redder during this type of climate. As a result of low humidity, the skin becomes chapped and flaky. In severe conditions, the skin can have tears or wounds.
● It Causes Dead Skin Cell Build-Up
Due to the skin not being moistened, dead skin cell isn’t shed so handily thereby piling on top of the skin. It becomes a problem when the skin is unable to absorb its needed moisture and hydration from skin care products because it has been blocked by dead skin cells.
● It Makes the Skin Look Older
Fine lines and wrinkles become obvious, deeper, and pronounced when the skit is extremely dry. The skin appears duller and older than usual when it seems less supple and elastic.
● It May worsen Allergies and Other Existing Skin Conditions
When an individual is suffering from allergies like Eczema, the skin dries up thereby causing more flare-ups and allergies due to the cold climate. There is a greater risk of infection due to peeling and cracking that may result from excessive dryness.
How Does High Humidity Affect the Skin
High humidity is more beneficial to the skin’s overall health than low humidity.
The following is the effect of high humidity on the skin:
Hhydration
In high humidity, you won’t have to worry about your skin drying out because humid air is particularly rich in moisture. The skin becomes supple and hydrated in high humidity, esespecially when compared to cold and dry climates.
Increased Cellular Turnover
The added moisture in the air promotes cellular turnover. As the skin is moistened, the skin’s rejuvenation process is enabled, thereby leading to dead skin cells shedding off. It makes one’s complexion brighter and more radiant.
Anti-aging Effects
Low humidity level makes fine lines and wrinkles on the skin more noticeable. But hydrated skin glows with no concern of having fine lines and wrinkles on the skin.
It Causes Excess Sebum Production in the Skin
The skin tends to produce more sebum than usual in high humidity because high humidity is associated with warm, hot weather. However, due to the production of sebum, the excess oil the skin produces tends to simply become trapped on the the surface of the skin.
Your skin feels greedy and oily as a result. That’s why people living in temperate weather commonly have ooily skin.
It Can Make You Break Out
Humid environments are breeding grounds for bacteria. Acne breakouts are very common in humid environments and there is also the problem of added dirt since we sweat due to the humid environment.
How to Manage the Skin During High Humidity
Below are steps one can take to manage his/her skin during high humidity levels:
- Choose Oil Removing Cleanser
It’s best to go with oil-removing cleansers in humid climates because it helps control excess production of oil by the face. Clogging of the pores is minimized here.
- Exfoliate Your Skin
Exfoliating the skin is still very important, although dead skin cells hardly accumulate in high humidity unlike in low humidity levels. It’s vital to exfoliate the skin so that dirt and dead skin cells don’t clog your pores to prevent an outbreak of acne.
- Use Lighter Moisturizers
Lighter moisturizers should be used so that the skin is always moisturized while giving it room to gasp. Moisturizing is always necessary even in high humidity levels.
- Shower after Sweating
Make it a habit to always shower after doing strenuous work or after sweating due to the weather because sweats introduce more dirt and bacteria that have the potential of clogging our pores.
How to Manage Skin During Low Humidity
- Invest in a Humidifier
As the result of moisture that’s lacking in the air that humidity provides, it’s vital to invest in a humidifier. A humidifier helps in alleviating that issue by pumping the moisture back into the air. The expelled water vapor helps the skin retain more moisture and transepidermal water loss. Humidifier also helps in preventing nosebleeds, and even soothing allergy symptoms.
- Use Gentle, Low pH Cleanser
A low pH cleanser helps in regulating the pH levels on the skin and also the hydration levels. Using a high pH cleanser leads to your skin being dry leaving it rough, tight, and irritated.
Your skin can get dehydrated and dull due to the low humidity levels in the air. Dead cells end up clogging the pores when we don’t exfoliate often and this could lead to blemishes. One can exfoliate once or twice a week.
It is vital to start misting and to do that often to fight dryness. It is best to avoid water-based mists because they can make your skin drier and increase moisture loss.
Summary
One has to adapt to various routines to adjust to the fall and rise of humidity levels in our local environments, and it is vital we do that to protect our skin from damage.
You are aware of what to expect in high humidity and low humidity as explained above, you can be confident that your skin will be protected from any danger of negative humidity on the skin. How Does Humidity Affect Your Skin
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