With shorter days, colder weather and overcast skies, late fall and winter are the perfect times of the year for several skin and hair treatments that are less safe or effective if performed in the sunny summer months when we are spending a lot of time outdoors.

Laser and Light Treatments
The best winter treatments for skin are those that target pigmentation. Light and laser treatments like IPL (intense pulsed light) and Fraxel target pigmentation problems. IPL addresses blemishes, redness, and brown spots, while Fraxel evens out color and helps with fine lines and texture. In either case, fall, winter and early spring are the time to do these procedures. Post-treatment your skin is slightly more sensitive to light, which can result in new, unwanted spots if you get too much sun too soon after the treatments.

Laser Hair Removal
Laser hair removal technology targets pigment (ideally only in the hair) to disrupt the hair’s growth. The darker your skin, the more pigment there is to attract the laser, and therefore the less effective the hair removal technology will be. Furthermore, more pigment in the skin increases the likelihood of receiving a burn from the laser. Therefore it’s best to do hair laser treatments in the fall/winter because skin has less melanin than at other times of the year. Additionally, you will need to avoid sun exposure for two weeks after a treatment, which is easier to do in the colder months when skin is covered.  Laser hair removal typically takes 5-6 treatments every 6-8 weeks for the majority of unwanted hair to be permanently removed. If you start in the fall, by summer all unwanted hair will be gone!

Chemical Peels / Microdermabrasion / Micro-Needling
All these treatments encourage cell turnover. This can temporarily increase vulnerability to the sun more than even normally as superficial skin layers are removed; therefore, late fall and winter are perfect times to try these. Winter’s dry indoor heating and cold air can also dull your skin, no matter how moisturized you try to keep it. Micro-needling can allow nutrients like vitamins C and E and all your moisturizers to penetrate and rejuvenate skin, giving you a radiant glow without the sun.