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Caring for your skin this winter

Caring for your skin this winter

We all know that summer is a time to pile on the sunscreen and think about protecting our skin from the elements, but that is equally as important in winter, especially in the height of lambing and calf rearing season.

Your skincare regime shouldn’t stop at the bathroom sink in the morning, especially with the dry winter atmosphere in the South Island, Berry Beauty owner and beauty therapist Katie Berry says.

“For ladies that are just looking for a simple routine to get them through the busy season, start with a good cleanser, one that is paraben free ideally.

Katie suggests following a single morning cleanse with a good quality serum.

“For environmentally attacked skin, which is basically weathered skin, we recommend a vitamin c serum, because it is super healing.

“Vitamin C is brilliant to use if you are outside all the time.

Katie recommends following up with a good moisturiser, but stresses that the most important thing, even in winter, is sunscreen.

“We recommend putting sunscreen over the top of your moisturiser, and one that is specific for the face.”

A sunscreen containing zinc oxide is best as it forms a physical barrier on the skin, as chemical sunscreen’s can still allow some U.V rays to slip through and cause damage.

Sunscreen should be applied two-three times per day, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, Katie said.

“There are studies that show that in Australia we are aging twenty years more prematurely than those living in the Northern hemisphere.

“That’s simply because our ozone layer above New Zealand and Australia is so much thinner than in the U.K, which makes us prone to a lot more environmental damage than anywhere else in the world.”

By not wearing sunscreen, any money spent on a skin care regime is wasted, Katie said.

“It’s an important part of your skincare regime, I can’t emphasize it enough.”

With Katie’s clinics based in Ashburton and Methven, many of the clients that pass through Berry Beauty’s doors are rural women.

As a farmer’s wife herself, Katie understands how difficult it can be for farming women to find the time, and sometimes the confidence, to attend skin care appointments.

Katie says women should not feel intimidated by beauty therapy clinics, or feel they have to dress-up to attend appointments.

“Gumboots are welcome.

“You don’t have to dress to the nines to come to the clinic and have a facial.

You can just rock in off the farm, have a conversation and start the process.”

The relationship between client and therapist should be a 50-50 one, with a good active home care regime paired with in salon facials every month, or every twelve weeks as a minimum if time is an issue.

“ What we do in clinic is go one step further and really work with the technology and the ingredients to penetrate the skin deeper than what you can at home.

“That allows us to start any kind of tissue and DNA repair, which going to give long term anti-aging and protection results.”

Katie recommends choosing a clinic with a holistic approach that looks at a broader picture of nutrition, supplement’s and water intake for optimum results.

“If you are just treating skin topically, you aren’t going to get any long term results”

Water intake is important, especially in winter when cooler weather doesn’t make us naturally feel the need to hydrate as regularly as in the heat of summer.

Katie also recommends a plant based essential fatty acid supplement to all of her clients.

“It basically helps your skin absorb what you are putting on topically.”

Rural women needed to priortise self-care, and Katie finds that once they take the first step and visit a clinic and get a good skin routine in place, they never look back.

“We have so many clients that work on-farm, and they are all so grateful they came to us.

“We need to normalise these conversations, because in the agriculture industry women tend to forget they actually do need to look after themselves,” Katie said.

by Claire Inkson