The month of October often marks the start of a shift in the US from warm, humid weather to cooler, drier air. This transition leads to higher indoor drying stresses on skin due to the lower humidity and temperatures common in the fall and winter. Now is the perfect time to evaluate your skin-care practices and prepare for the coming changes before dry, itchy skin becomes a problem!
Internet searches for ‘dry skin’ and related terms like ‘dry face’ and ‘skin moisturizer’ demonstrate distinct variations by season of the year and location. The frequency of searches for ‘dry skin’ indicates that many people are unprepared to deal with seasonal drying stressors on their skin.
We know that water vapor in outdoor air continually enters a residence and changes the level of indoor relative humidity. Consequently, there should be a direct connection between local weather conditions, for example the concentration of water vapor in outdoor air, and people’s tendency to have dry skin caused by exposures to indoor humidity and temperature stressors.
The outer layer of skin (i.e., stratum corneum or SC) exhibits both biochemical and biophysical changes in response to variations in indoor temperature and relative humidity (RH). Researchers have found that a relative humidity of approximately 60% supports the healthy functioning of skin.
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