Dealing with dry skin as a cold-water surfer
As Great Britain and Europe start to see more swell arrive at our coastlines, surfers are braving harsh elements to score waves. Battling short daylight hours, squeezing into freezing cold wetsuits, running over beaches with frozen sand and nursing hot cups of post-surf tea poured from steaming thermos flasks. Winter is definitely an exciting time to be a European surfer. It takes grit, but it’s worth it. Here in the north east of England we face water temperatures of as cold as 6°C with air temperatures into the minuses on colder days.
Experiencing dry, blotchy, irritated skin as a surfer is really common, especially in colder climates.
Winter can be really harsh on the skin for everyone, surfers or not, for a number of reasons; cold temperatures and low humidity levels starve our skin of much of needed moisture. Being indoors for prolonged periods of time with the heating on for those long winter evenings also strips our skin of its natural moisture levels.
As surfers, we subject our skin to even more abuse with prolonged exposure to the elements - although salt water definitely has some benefits to our skin, prolonged exposure can start to dry our skin out. The sun remains powerful year round as the reflective nature of the sea can amplify UV. Add a cold wind to this equation and it is little wonder surfers skin can suffer.
It’s important to keep our skin hydrated and look after ourselves over the winter. Redness, inflammation, dry and cracked skin should not be an issue for us enjoying the ocean during our best surf season. As a long time eczema sufferer, I have always had to be really careful with putting chemicals on my skin. We developed a Post-Surf balm with a natural skin-care maker that was designed to combat the harsh effects of being a cold water surfer specifically although it’s uses are far reaching.
Yonder Organic Surf Skin Care
We developed our Post-Surf balm as a solution to an issue that we have been facing as surfers for years. We worked closely with an independent skin-care specialist to develop the recipe for Yonder. The balm is made in small batches, by hand and in collaboration with the award winning Karma Coast - we use their CBD distillate to really enhance the anti-inflammatory and pain-relief properties in our balm.
We also included a whole range of powerful, natural and lovely smelling essential oils to the balm. Small batches, organic, hand made and tested extensively by surfers.
Shea Butter (Butyrospermum Parkii Butter)
Cocoa Butter (Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter)
Mango Butter (Mangifera Indica Seed Butter)
Seabuckthorn Oil (Hippophae Rhamnoides Fruit Oil)
St John's Wort Infused Sunflower Oil (Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil, Hypericum Perforatum Extract)
85% CBD Distillate (Cannabis Sativa Extract)
Vitamin E Oil (Tocopherol)
Lavender Fine Organic (Lavandula Angustifolia Herb Oil)
Clary Sage Organic (Salvia Sclarea Oil)
Peppermint (Piperita Organic Mentha Piperita Oil)
Frankincense Organic (Boswellia Serrata Oil)
Chamomile Blue Organic (Chamomilla Recutita Oil)
Rose Absolute (Rosa Damascena Flower Oil)