From Delhi to Derby: How Moving to the UK Changed Everything About My Skin

I moved to the UK on a cold Tuesday in October. By January, I had developed dry patches on my cheeks that no amount of the products I'd brought with me seemed to help. My skin, which had been relatively uncomplicated for most of my life, had seemingly not received the memo that it was supposed to adapt.

This is not an unusual story. I've since met dozens of people who made the same move from South Asia — or from anywhere with a warmer, more humid climate — and experienced the same rude shock. The skin that served you perfectly well for years suddenly feels fragile, reactive, and perpetually thirsty.

Why British Skin Is Different

It's not that the skin itself changes. It's that the conditions it has to operate in are dramatically different. The UK climate is cold and damp in winter, and the combination of outdoor cold and indoor central heating creates a particularly dehydrating whiplash effect. The water is hard in many parts of the country, which can disrupt the skin's natural pH. And the shorter daylight hours in winter mean less vitamin D synthesis through sun exposure.

Skin that had been nourished by humidity and warmth its whole life suddenly has to work much harder to retain moisture and maintain its barrier function. It needs more help.

What I Tried First

I tried the obvious things. The creams recommended by pharmacists, the serums that appeared in magazine features about winter skincare, the products formulated for "dry skin" that seemed to sit on top rather than penetrate. Some helped a little. None felt like enough.

What I kept coming back to, mentally, was Leela's routine. The washed ghee. The simplicity. The sense that you were actually feeding your skin rather than coating it. I wrote to my mother and asked her to describe, in as much detail as she could remember, exactly what Leela used and how she used it.

The Realisation That Changed Everything

British skin, I came to understand, doesn't need more complicated products. It needs better ingredients. It needs nourishment that works with the skin barrier rather than sitting on top of it. It needs the kind of deep, fatty-acid-rich moisture that washed ghee has always provided.

This is what Inherited Skincare is for. For anyone whose skin has made that same journey — or who simply lives in a climate that asks more of their skin than they've been able to answer with what's currently on their shelf.