Blog Summary: In this blog, we talk about how skin dries out most between November and February due to increased transepidermal water loss. A ceramide-based moisturiser applied twice
If your skin feels tighter, drier, or more irritated than usual during the monsoon months, especially from November through February, you’re not imagining it. This is one of the most common skin complaints dermatologists hear during this season, and thankfully, most of it comes down to a few simple daily habits.
Here’s what a dermatologist actually recommends, explained simply, plus a few mistakes worth avoiding.
According to Dr Sowmya, a dermatologist at Apollo Hospitals, the shift usually starts around November and continues through February, the period when skin naturally begins to lose moisture faster than usual.
“When monsoon season begins, especially in November, December, January, and February, our skin starts to dry out,” explains Dr Sowmya. The reason comes down to something called transepidermal water loss, where moisture escapes from the skin faster than it’s replaced, leaving skin feeling tight, flaky, or rough.
The single most important habit, according to Dr Sowmya, is building a consistent moisturising routine.
“Moisturizers contain ceramide, which helps control transepidermal water loss during this season,” she explains. Ceramides work by strengthening the skin’s natural barrier, helping it hold on to moisture instead of losing it to the dry air.
The habit to build: Apply moisturizer twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening after bathing.
A mistake many people make: Drying off completely with a towel before moisturising. Dr Sowmya recommends the opposite: pat your skin mostly dry, but leave a few droplets of water on the skin, then apply moisturiser immediately. This helps lock the water into the skin along with the moisturiser, rather than letting it evaporate first.
Alongside moisturizer, diet plays a bigger role than most people realize. Water-rich fruits are especially useful during this season because they’re typically high in Vitamin C, which supports your immune system.
A stronger immune system during seasonal changes means better protection against common viral infections that tend to circulate this time of year, and as a bonus, it also supports healthier skin and hair.
It sounds obvious, but it’s one of the most commonly skipped habits. As a general guideline, a person weighing around 50 kg should drink at least 2 litres of water a day. Adjust upward if you weigh more, are more physically active, or live somewhere warmer.
This is the piece most people don’t expect: sleep timing directly affects your skin.
“Make sure you fall asleep before 10 PM,” says Dr Sowmya. “Our body has something called the skin’s circadian rhythm, which works differently during the day and at night. The later you sleep, the more disrupted your skin’s circadian rhythm becomes.”
Why this matters: disrupting this rhythm can actually activate genetic tendencies you may not have known you had, including hair fall and dry skin.
Dr Sowmya shares a simple example to explain this: imagine someone in your family history has a “dry skin gene”. If you haven’t been sleeping well for a few nights, you might suddenly notice your skin drying out for no clear reason.
“The cause is your sleepless nights activating that gene,” she explains, “because there was a family gene inside you that had stayed silent until now. So when your immune system weakens due to lack of sleep, that gene becomes active, and you clearly start seeing dryness in your skin.”
In short: genetics loads the gun, but lifestyle, especially sleep, often pulls the trigger.
For healthier skin and hair this monsoon season:
Most types of dry skin during monsoon season respond well to these simple changes. But if you notice persistent flaking, cracking, itching that doesn’t improve, or unusual hair fall that continues for weeks despite these habits, it’s worth getting it checked by a dermatologist rather than waiting it out.
Apollo Hospitals has an extensive network of dermatologists available for consultation, including at Apollo Hospitals Chennai, with appointment booking and doctor listings available online. For patients in Bangladesh, Apollo’s Information Centres can help with appointment scheduling and guidance if an in-person consultation in India is ever needed for a more serious or persistent skin condition.
