Mountain cold and your skin: how to avoid irritation after a day on the slopes

You come back from a day in Grandvalira with your face tight, red and the goggle line printed across your cheeks. It isn't just the cold: it's altitude, dry wind and the sunlight bouncing off the snow, and between them they take your skin barrier apart in a few hours.

You prevent it in the morning and you calm it that same night. Here's how.

Why the mountain is harder on skin than the street

Up high the air holds less moisture and the sun hits harder. Snow then reflects a good share of that radiation straight back up, so it reaches you from below: under the chin, on the nose, on the upper lip, exactly where nobody bothers to put cream. Add the wind on the chairlift and the temperature jump when you walk into a restaurant with the heating on full.

You know the result: tightness, redness on the nose and cheekbones, and that feeling that your skin has shrunk a size.

Three things to do before you go up

Moisturise with something richer than what you use down in Andorra la Vella. A light cream is fine for a day at the office, not for five hours on the slopes in the wind.

High-factor sunscreen over the whole face, winter included. Under the nose, on the ears, on the neck. Reapply at midday even if it's overcast, because mountain cloud filters far less than you'd think. Why this matters all twelve months of the year is covered in facial sunscreen.

Lip balm and a neck gaiter. The gaiter protects you better than almost anything you can buy in a bottle.

Your skin's après-ski, in five minutes

When you get in, lukewarm water. Never hot: on already irritated skin it's petrol on a fire. A gentle cleanser, no fragrance, no sulphates, and pat dry instead of scrubbing with the towel.

Then a repairing cream with ceramides, panthenol or glycerin, applied while the skin is still slightly damp. It holds far better that way.

And that night, no exfoliants, no retinol, no acids. Your skin is busy repairing; don't hand it more work. If the redness sticks around all winter and not just after a ski day, read what we've written on redness and sensitive skin.

When it's time to sit in the chair

If the redness doesn't settle within two or three days, if the skin flakes, or if everything you apply stings, stop trying new products. A professional facial clears what the skin hasn't managed to shed on its own and leaves the barrier able to do its job.

At men's facial treatments in Andorra you can start with the express cleanse, from €25, or the premium one, from €45, with your skin assessed before anyone touches it.

In season the late slots fill fast, Thursday to Sunday especially. Book your appointment with some margin and come straight from the slopes to the chair.