By Josephine Agbonkhese

Welcome to another harmattan season— a season characterised by cold–dry wind and heavy dusts.

Aside its general toll on your overall health, harmattan can take a toll on your skin too, leading to excessive dryness and even breakouts.

These skincare tips will help you scale through without loosing skin steeze.

★Drink lots of water

Albeit the eight glasses a day rule, during harmattan, you need more than eight glasses of water to stay hydrated due to extreme dryness. This will also help keep your skin glowing.

★Cleanse twice

Due to the dusty air lurking around, your skin needs regular cleansing more than ever before. Cleanse twice daily with lukewarm water instead of hot water, as hot water can further contribute to dryness. This will help remove impurities without compromising your skin’s moisture barrier.

★Moisturise

We cannot over emphasise this number. Moisturising is important for all parts of your body, including your skin, hair, feet and lips if you don’t want to look like dust or harmattan itself. Consider investing in natural body oils like shea butter, almond and coconut oil, as well as lipgloss and balms. Apply vaseline to the soles of your feet to prevent cracking.

★Exfoliate

Exfoliating will help shave off dead and dry skin cells and allow new skin cells to come up. Use a gentle body scrub twice a week. However, note that over exfoliation will make the skin oils be depleted and reinforce dryness.

★Wear sunscreen

Sunscreen is a cream that protects your skin from the sun’s harmful rays. Applying sunscreen to your face, neck, chest, ears, hands, and arms daily is recommended to prevent long-term damage including wrinkle and premature ageing, from the sun which is even hotter during the day right now. Wearing sunscreen slows down the development of wrinkles.

★Wear protective clothing

To prevent exposure as much as possible, cover your skin with clothing, including long sleeves, pants, and a scarf or mask to protect yourself from the harsh wind.