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Last Updated on November 7, 2025 by Giorgia Guazzarotti

how to treat dry winter skin while avoiding breakouts

It happens every year. As the temperatures plunge down and freezing winds hit your face, your skin turns into a dry and flaky mess. Ugh. You throw an arsenal of facial oils, balms and rich creams at it to try and fix it, but now your skin’s breaking out like crazy, too. Double ugh. Isn’t there a way to treat dry winter skin while avoiding breakouts?! Yes. Here’s how:

Why Does Skin Become Dry In Winter?

Did you know your skin has a shield? Its outermost layer acts like a protective barrier that keeps moisture in and germs out. Problem is, this protective barrier is always under attack. UV rays, harsh skincare products, over cleansing and overexfoliating can all disrupt your skin’s protective barrier.

The colder winter climates is the biggest culprit. Between the unrelenting winds, the low temperatures outside and the constant indoor heating in your home and offices, your skin’s barrier is battered 24/7. That’s why it breaks down that much faster in winter.

Rich moisturisers can create a barrier of their own on your skin, offering an extra layer of protection. But, if your skin is prone to breakouts, they may clog your pores and turn your face into a pimple fest. You need to walk a tight balance to repair your skin’s protective barrier without clogging your pores. Here’s how:

NOTE: If your dry skin isn’t prone to breakouts, disregard this post and check out The Best Skincare Routine For Dry Skin instead. For rich creams/balms/oils to break you out, your skin must produce excess oil. If this isn’t the case, you’ve got nothing to fear from them.

Struggling to put together a cost-effective routine that banishes acne? Download your FREE “The Ordinary Anti-Acne Skincare Routine” to get started:

The Best Skincare Routine For Dry Winter Skin Prone To Breakouts

1. Gentle, pH Balanced Cleanser

If you’ve got dry winter skin prone to breakouts, cleansing is probably the most dangerous step in your skincare routine. Harsh cleansers with irritating ingredients (yes, sodium laurYL sulphate, I’m looking at you) or a high pH strip too much oil from your skin and disrupt its protective barrier, leaving it as dry as sandpaper.

How do you know you’re using a harsh cleanser? Simple. If your skin feels tight and uncomfortable after cleansing, your cleanser is too harsh. Switch to something gentler. A low pH foaming cleanser or cream cleanser are your best bets here. They remove all traces of dirt and makeup without drying out your skin.

Best picks:

  • Corsx low PH Good Morning Gel Cleanser ($14.00): pH 5.5. A gentle, pH-balanced cleanser that removes impurities without drying out skin. Available at Sokoglam and YesStyle.
  • Paula’s Choice Skin Balancing Oil-Reducing Cleanser ($24.00): pH 5.5. A foaming cleaner with a drop of oil to remove impurities and makeup. Available at Paula’s Choice. 
  • Paula’s Choice Skin Recovery Softening Cream Cleanser ($24.00): A rare foaming cleanser gentle enough for dry skin. It removes grime and excess oil without drying out skin. Available at Paula’s Choice

Related: Why You Should Switch To Low pH Cleansers Now

2. Exfoliate The Right Way

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I recommend glycolic acid for dry skin. The smallest member of the AHAs (Alpha Hydroxy Acids) family, glycolic acid dissolves the glue that holds skin cells together so they can slough off faster AND hydrate skin to boot.

But once breakouts enter the mix, you need to switch to salicylic acid, pronto. Salicylic acid dissolves the glue that holds skin cells together, too. But, unlike glycolic acid, salicylic acid penetrates deep inside your pores and removes all the crap that’s clogging them up and giving you those nasty breakouts.

If you really, really, really want to keep using glycolic, then find an exfoliant that has BOTH acids. I can’t stress it enough: salicylic acid is the ONLY thing that can keep your pores clean from within. Use it.

Best picks:

  • Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Night Serum ($90.00): Don’t let the name fool you. This exfoliant has both salicylic acid to unclog pores and glycolic acid to fade away the dark spots pimples sometimes leave behind. Available at Cult Beauty, Sephora and SpaceNK.
  • Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid ($37.00): The cult exfoliant from the brand, it unlclogs pores and treats blackheads and acne. The texture’s a little sticky, but if you can take that, this is one of the best salicylic acid exfoliants out there. Available at Cult Beauty, Paula’s Choice and SpaceNK.
  • The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution (£6.10): A no-frills salicylic acid serum that gets the job done. Available at Asos, Beauty Bay, Boots, Sephora, SpaceNK, The Ordinary, and Ulta

Related: Glycolic Acid VS Salicylic Acid: Which One Is Right For You?

3. Use A Hydrating Serum

Your skin can never get enough moisture in winter. As soon as the temperatures start to fall, add a hyaluronic acid serum to your skincare routine, pronto. Hyaluronic acid is a moisture magnet that can attract moisture from the air into the skin and keep it in. It’s so powerful, it can hold up to 1000 times its weight in water. The best part? It works well both in high and low humidity conditions.

For best results, pick a serum with several forms of hyaluronic acid. You see, hyaluronic acid itself is too big to penetrate your skin. It sits on its surface, hydrating only the superficial layers. Smaller molecular weights of hyaluronic acid (that’s hyaluronic acid chopped down into smaller pieces) can penetrate deeper into the skin, keeping every layer supple and hydrated.

Best picks:

  • Niod Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Acid (£30.00): The most hydrating and plumping serum I’ve tried, it has 13+ forms of Hyaluronic Acid to hydrate every layer of skin. Available at Beauty Bay, Cult Beauty, and Niod
  • Paula’s Choice Resist Hyaluronic Acid Booster ($39.00): A hyaluronic acid serum with ceramides to strengthen the skin’s protective barrier and heal dry skin. Available at Cult Beauty, Dermstore, Paula’s Choice, SpaceNK.
  • The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 (£7.90): A simple formula with Vitamin B5 to soothe and hydrate skin. It’s fragrant-free and suitable for sensitive skin too. Available at Beauty Bay, Boots, Cult Beauty, Sephora, SpaceNK, The Ordinary, and Ulta.

Related: Why You Should Add Hyaluronic Acid To Your Skincare Routine In Winter

4. Use An Oil-Free Moisturizer

Natural oils and butters (think Shea, cocoa, coconut & co) are so moisturising because they create a barrier on the skin that keeps moisture in. If moisture stays in, your skin won’t dry out. Problem is, if your skin produces a little too much sebum, the rich textures of these oils and butters can clog the pores and give you breakouts.

Enter oil-free moisturisers. They use moisture magnets like hyaluronic acid to attract moisture from the skin + a mix of synthetic emollients to lock them in. Their lighter textures give your skin all the moisture it needs without getting trapped in the pores and clogging them up.

Bonus points if your moisturiser contains what Paula Begoun calls skin-identical ingredients. This is stuff includes ceramides, urea and cholesterol, all substances that make up your skin’s natural protective barrier. By adding them back into your skin, you’re patching up the holes the dry winter weather made in your protective barrier.

Best picks:

  • Paula’s Choice Clear Oil-Free Moisturizer ($39.00): A lightweight moisturiser with nicinamide and ceramides to strengthen the skin’s protective barrier without adding more oil to it. Available at Cult Beauty, Paula’s Choice and Sephora
  • CeraVe PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion ($20.99): It uses humectants that hyaluronic acid and glycerin to attract water into your skin and ceramides to moisturise skin without adding more oil to it. Available at Beauty Bay, Boots, Cult Beauty, Dermstore, and Ulta.
  • Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream ($68.00): Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream ($68.00): A lightweight cream that plumps up wrinkles and gives oily skin all the moisture it needs. Available at Cult Beauty, Sephora, and SpaceNK

Related: What Are Oil-Free Moisturisers And Why Should You Use Them?

5. If You Must Use An Oil

Is your oil-free moisturiser not doing the job as well as you’d hoped? It may be time to add a facial oil to your skincare routine to seal that moisture in. The best oils for dry winter skin prone to breakouts are those that resemble human sebum. Your skin instantly recognises them so they sink in quickly. Plus, they trick your skin into thinking it’s pumped out enough oil already.

Squalane oil and jojoba oil are the oils that are pretty much identical to human sebum. I also like rosehip oil because it helps treat acne, too. FYI, out of these 3, squalane oil is the only one that’s non-comedogenic. This doesn’t mean the others will clog your pores. They usually don’t. But everyone skin’s different so if yours doesn’t respond well to jojoba or rosehip, go with squalane.

Best picks:

Related: What Are The Best Oils For Breakouts Prone Skin?

FAQs

Can I still use retinol if my skin’s dry and breaking out in winter?

So here’s the thing with retinol – it’s gonna dry you out even more but it also keeps your pores clean so like… pick your battle? I’d say use it way less, maybe twice a week, and make sure you’re piling on the hydration after. Sandwich it between wet skin and your moisturizer.

How long until I see results from switching my routine?

The dry tight feeling goes away pretty fast, maybe two weeks? But clearing up breakouts takes way longer and here’s the annoying part – your skin might get WORSE first because all the shit in your pores is coming out. You gotta stick with it for like two months before you actually know if it’s working. Yeah I know that’s forever but there’s no hack around it.

Related: Purging VS Breakouts: How To Tell The Difference

Should I change my entire routine or just add/swap a few products?

Just fix what’s broken. If your cleanser’s making you tight and dry, change that. If your moisturizer’s too heavy and clogging you, swap it. Add salicylic acid if you don’t have it. Add hyaluronic acid. Don’t dump your whole routine in the trash and start over with ten new things because then you won’t know what’s helping and what’s making it worse.

Why is my skin both oily AND dry at the same time?

Your moisture barrier’s shot so water’s escaping but your oil glands are working overtime trying to protect what’s left. Your face is basically in crisis mode pumping out oil while also being dehydrated. Fix the dehydration with lightweight hydrators and your oil production will calm down once your skin stops panicking.

Related: How To Treat Dehydrated Skin

Can I use the same products all winter or do I need to adjust as it gets colder/warmer?

You’ll probably need more stuff when it gets brutal cold and less when it warms up. Like November’s different from January which is different from March. Just check in with your face – still tight? Add more. Getting greasy? Pull back.

Is it normal for my skin to purge when I add salicylic acid?

Yeah purging’s real. Everything trapped in your pores evacuates faster so you break out more for a month-ish. It’s happening in your usual problem areas and clears up? That’s purging, ride it out. Breaking out in totally new spots that just keeps going? Stop using it, your skin hates it.

How often should I exfoliate in winter?

Way less than summer. Two, maybe three times a week. Your skin’s already getting beat up by the cold so don’t add to it. If you’re getting red or stinging, back off. And for fuck’s sake don’t exfoliate and use retinol on the same night.

The Bottom Line

Listen, your skin’s dry and breaking out because you’re doing too much or using the wrong shit. Those heavy creams everyone swears by? They’re suffocating your pores. That foaming cleanser that feels so clean? It’s stripping your face raw. You need to hydrate without smothering and clean without destroying. Gentle cleanser, salicylic acid for the clogs, hyaluronic acid because it’s the only thing that hydrates without weight, light moisturizer that actually sinks in. Add oil if you’re desperate but make it squalane or something that won’t trap more crap in there. Stop making it complicated, stop buying everything, just do these five things and your face will figure itself out.