Cold weather has major impacts on women's confidence and mood, survey finds

More than half of women said they can’t make it through two months of wintery weather (52%), according to new research.

A survey of 2,000 women looked at how the weather impacts their confidence and mood and found that on average, respondents can put up with only seven weeks of cold weather before needing to go somewhere warm.

One in 10 women said they’re completely over the cold by at least January, ready to let the sun in.

Respondents are looking forward to 64-degree weather as the start of spring, but nearly a third (30%) said their ideal spring temperature is a bit warmer — at least 70 degrees.

Coming out of the colder season, a majority of respondents believe the weather between spring and winter should be considered an entirely separate season (72%).

Conducted by OnePoll for Jergens on behalf of Glow Day (March 20), the survey found that people are over eager to get back into warm weather clothes, with 23% saying they switch back to t-shirts as early as March (23%).

But coming out of colder months leaves many women feeling unconfident.

Nearly half of women feel the least confident about their skin in the winter (49%), citing issues with dull skin (30%) and uneven skin tone (21%) during the colder months.

Women also expressed feeling the least radiant in the peak of winter in December (36%) and January (41%).

“Glowing skin is always in and can give people that boost of confidence to wear that skirt without tights or rock a crop top before summer hits, without the damaging UV rays,” says Stephanie Kimutis, senior brand manager for Jergens® Skincare. “We’re so excited for Glow Day to serve as the official start of self-tanning season to help our consumers feel and look their best as the weather heats up.”

When they aren’t feeling confident, women said their physical appearance (49%) is the likeliest to suffer in addition to their sleep (47%) and overall happiness (47%).

A third of those surveyed said a lack of confidence makes them care less about the way they look but surprisingly, even more respondents said they care more about their looks when they’re feeling down on themselves (43%).

More than half of women also said they dress differently than the way they actually want to because they’re not confident in the way they look (56%).

And for some, showing more skin means feeling more stressed, as 40% “always” or “often” feel unconfident about the way they look when wearing “warm-weather” clothing.

Most women agreed that they want to look good on the outside to help them feel good on the inside (81%) and the same percentage want to feel like they’re “glowing” all year round to mimic the radiance they feel in May (31%) and June (34%).

To help them get there, women shared that they use products that make them look “glowy” (24%) and a similar percentage tries to restore balance to their skin (23%).

Those surveyed also shared that having a self-care routine is essential to help them feel good about themselves (60%) and keep them feeling balanced (47%).

Respondents swear by their routines so much that most of those who have one said that their day tends to go poorly if they miss a step (53%).

Survey methodology:

This random double-opt-in survey of 2,000 women was commissioned by Jergens between February 24 and March 1, 2023. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).