Published: December 15, 2025
Wondering why, despite your best efforts, the soft, smooth, and radiant skin you were enjoying all summer has pretty much disappeared now that winter has arrived?
The winter months can be tricky to navigate when it comes to skincare. Make one small error, and it could leave your entire complexion suffering for months.
The good news? CBGärdN is here to help make sure that doesn’t happen. Read on as we talk through the most common winter skincare mistakes that are made at this time of the year, along with what you can do to avoid them.
Skipping Sunscreen
Sunscreen is easy to remember in the summer, when you’re constantly feeling the heat of the sun beating down on your skin. In the winter, however, when the days are cold and gloomy, it can be easy to forget to apply sunscreen in the morning, let alone reapply it throughout the day. However, this is one of the biggest winter skincare mistakes you could make.
While it may feel as though your skin is in no danger from the sun on those dreary winter days, this isn’t true at all. Sure, UVB rays are stronger in the summer. However, both UVA and UVB rays are present in the winter and are capable of causing some serious damage. The sun accelerates the skin aging process, triggers inflammation, causes dark spots to appear, pulls moisture out of the skin…the list goes on. This is why sun protection needs to be practiced at all times.
To make sure that you don’t forget about sunscreen in the winter, swap your day cream for an SPF moisturizer, like the CB Multi-Active Moisturizer With SPF 30. This way, when you moisturize your skin in the mornings, you’ll also be giving it sun protection. Keep that jar with you throughout the day, so that each time you top up your SPF, your skin will also be receiving a moisture boost from the hydrating ingredients in this cream.
Over-Exfoliation
The lack of humidity in the air in the winter can really dry out the skin. This can make the skin look rough and flaky – something that exfoliation usually turns around pretty quickly. The soft and smooth finish instantly provided by exfoliation can be addictive in the winter, which is why over-exfoliation is one of the most common winter skincare mistakes that people make.
It’s important to remember that each time you exfoliate, in addition to removing those flaky cells, you also interfere with your skin’s natural protective barrier. Although this barrier will recover in between exfoliation sessions, it will struggle to do so if you’re exfoliating too often. It won’t be long before your skin barrier ends up compromised. This is where the problems begin. From irritation and sensitivities to dehydration, inflammation, and acne, the symptoms of over-exfoliation are varied. However, none are what you want to be dealing with if you’re hoping for healthy-looking skin this season.
To avoid making this mistake, be aware of how often you’re exfoliating. Keep in mind that your skin won’t need to be exfoliated as often in the winter as it was in the summer. The exfoliator that you use in the winter should also be relatively gentle. The CB Microexfoliant Peel would be a great formula to pick. In addition to exfoliating the skin, it also hydrates and moisturizes. This is exactly what’s needed during the harsh winter months.
Using an Aggressive Cleanser
It’s not just over-exfoliation that can damage your skin’s natural protective barrier – over-cleansing does the same. However, while over-exfoliation is most commonly caused by exfoliating too often, over-cleansing is more often traced back to using a cleanser that’s too aggressive for the skin.
This is one of those winter skincare mistakes that’s so easy to make. In the summer months, when your cleanser needs to cut through all of the extra sweat and sebum your skin produces, a powerful cleanser is necessary. In the winter, however, when sweat and sebum production decline, your cleanser won’t need the same level of aggression. Sticking with your summertime cleanser will only lead to the same issues caused by over-exfoliation.
Instead, switch to a gentler, more moisturizing formula, like the CB Facial Cleanser from CBGärdN. With a blend of amino acids, along with nettle leaf extract and jasmine flower oil, it will leave your skin barrier feeling intact.
If you do happen to need a more powerful cleanse in the evenings, consider double cleansing. Start with a gentle oil-based cleanser. Then, follow up with a water-based formula, like the CBGärdN cleanser we’ve just featured. So long as the two cleansers you pick are gentle, double cleansing can give your skin a more thorough cleanse without interfering with skin barrier function.
Using a Moisturizer That Isn’t Rich Enough
The lack of humidity in the winter can make it difficult to keep skin hydrated. When the air around you is dry, your skin’s moisture reserves will evaporate at a much faster rate. In the winter, not only does this happen outdoors, but indoor air is usually pretty dry too, due to indoor heating systems. This means that moisture is constantly being pulled out of your skin.
Moisturizers are designed to prevent this to a certain extent. They form a seal over the skin’s surface, which helps to block moisture loss. However, if you make the mistake of using a moisturizer that isn’t rich enough, it’s going to struggle to do this effectively. This is why experts always recommend switching over to a thicker moisturizer once the winter weather takes hold.
If your current moisturizer isn’t locking moisture in effectively enough, it could be time for an upgrade. One suitable alternative would be the CBGärdN CB Night Renewing Creme. Although designed for nighttime use, it can be used during the day as well if moisture loss is a big problem for you. Thanks to a blend of shea butter, sunflower seed oil, and polypeptides, it efficiently traps moisture into the skin. Meanwhile, it also leaves the skin barrier feeling reinforced. This helps to slow down how quickly moisture escapes from the skin.
Ignoring Dark Spots
Dark spots can appear at any time of year. They’re most commonly caused by sun damage. That damage accumulates over the years, leading to the discoloration that tends to show up later on in life.
With that said, people often first notice the appearance of new dark spots in the winter months. This tends to be when they first make themselves visible, after a sun-soaked summer. While you may be tempted to ignore them, doing so is one of the winter skincare mistakes that could really affect your complexion in the long run. Those dark spots are very unlikely to disappear on their own. Unless you want them to darken even more, paying attention to them as soon as you see them is vital.
The best way to target the visibility of dark spots is by turning to skincare ingredients that have been proven to help with this. Vitamin C, for instance, has been proven effective at lightening the look of UV-induced dark spots. Incorporating a vitamin C serum into your skincare routine, like the CB Illuminating Vita C Serum, will soon have your skin looking brighter and more even. Licorice root extract is another ingredient that will help to even out the appearance of discoloration. Add it to your daily skincare routine with the CB Phyto Satin Finish Cream.
Waiting Too Long to Moisturize
We’ve already talked about how using the wrong moisturizer is one of the biggest winter skincare mistakes you could make. However, your timing when it comes to moisturizing is crucial too…
As we’ve discussed, a moisturizer works by forming a moisture-locking seal over the skin’s surface. Anything that sits below that layer of moisturizer gets trapped in the skin. If your skin is damp when you moisturize, this means that you’ll be sealing in the extra water molecules that are responsible for that damp feeling. On the other hand, if you moisturize skin that feels dry, that extra moisture won’t be there. It will have already evaporated away when, had you moisturized a little sooner, it could have been given to your skin cells instead.
While moisturizing damp, rather than dry, skin is beneficial year-round, it’s even more so during the winter months. After all, this is when dehydration is such a major issue. If your skin happens to dry out before you’ve had the chance to moisturize, give it a spritz with a hydrating face mist, like the Collagen Plumping Mist from our Collagen Cooling Set, and then quickly follow up with a layer of moisturizer.
Taking Showers That Are Too Hot and Too Long
As you’ll now know, it’s so important to keep your skin’s natural protective barrier intact and healthy, especially in the winter months. Unfortunately, in addition to over-exfoliation, over-cleansing, winter weather, and UV rays, there’s so much else out there that can damage your skin barrier.
Hot water tends to be a big culprit in the winter when people often spend more time languishing under a steamy shower. As satisfying as a hot shower on a cold day may feel, hot water interferes with skin barrier function. It strips away some of the major components that comprise your skin barrier, preventing that barrier from functioning in the way that it should. Not only does this increase moisture loss, but it also causes sensitivities.
Fortunately, avoiding this problem is easy. Start lowering the temperature each time you shower, until you get it down to lukewarm. It may not feel as luxurious as a hot jet, but it will do your skin the world of good.
Summary
While some of the winter skincare mistakes that we’ve shared may not seem like a big deal, their effects accumulate in a way that will damage your skin in the long run. If you want to ensure that your complexion looks smooth, healthy, and happy well into the future, make sure that you aren’t doing any of the above!
Click here to boost your winter skincare routine with more bestselling products from CBGärdN.