How to treat your skin this summer
Summer has finally arrived! My favorite season of the year. The warm sunny days, the sun setting late in the evening, and everything slowing down just a bit for a few short months is why I willingly suffer through the cold dreary winter. The summer weather, especially here in New Jersey, has been odd this year. Lots of rain, humidity, and on and off cool days. As the seasons start to change, so should your skincare routine and treatment plan.
Honolulu, Hawaii
The warmer, more humid climate, directly triggers your sebaceous glands to produce excess oil. People tend to have more clogged pores, blackheads and breakouts this time of year because of the excess oil your body produces. Here are some tips on how to have beautiful skin this summer season:
Sojo Spa Edgewater, New Jersey
Control your sweat- days sitting by the pool, barbecues, the beach, watching your children play sports, attending to your garden, or just being outside in general, can make the average person sweat, and the best way to control your sweat is to minimize it as much as possible. For some people, this may mean changing up products or your routine. If you’re producing a lot of sweat, immediately after you finish whatever you are doing, whether it’s going for a run, sitting by the pool or beach, etc. cleanse your skin as soon as you can. If you don’t have access to a sink to properly cleanse your skin, although I don’t like to recommend face wipes, in situations like this I’d rather you wipe the sweat off then wait hours till you can cleanse your face. You can try these for facial wipes on the go. This also may mean to use less products. Switch your moisturizer to a more matte finish, if you’re going to be outside sweating it might be easier to skip any facial serums and oils as well.
SPF is a must- wearing a mineral based SPF of 30 or higher with zinc is a definite all year round, but even more so in the summer. There is no excuse. I treat people all year round who want to get rid of sun damage, fine lines and wrinkles, but insist on laying out all summer. There is no point to treating your skin 6 months out of the year if you are not going to protect it the other 6 months when it matters significantly. Find an SPF that suits you, whether it is a matte finish or non-comedogenic or oil free- those are all great for oily skin, or breakout prone skin. You should always bring your SPF down into your neck and if being outside with a v-neck or bathing suit, also bring it down into your chest. I love Image Skincare’s SPFs.
Hydrate- Lots of people like to dispute me on this, but this is a hill I am willing to die on. Hydration is a big part of your skin’s health. How can it not be when your skin is the largest organ in your body? Half of our body is made up of water. Drinking water is the easiest way to stay hydrated, especially in the summer. When you're hydrated, your skin is hydrated. Hydrated skin is plump, glowing and fine lines are less noticeable. Hyaluronic acid is a huge ingredient in the skin care industry for those exact reasons. Hyaluronic acid holds 1,000 times its weight in water which diminishes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and helps plump up the skin which gives it a more youthful looking appearance.
Protect yourself- when summer hits, the sun and heat roll in. SPF as discussed in #2 is a must. But wearing a hat and sunglasses should automatically be a must as well. Depending on the hat (I prefer a nice straw hat sometimes with a wide brim) it can help protect your scalp, hair if it is dyed and you don’t want it to lighten, your ears as we often forget the skin on the top of the ears, and your neck. Sit under an umbrella when you can while at the beach or pool, or a tent if at an outdoor event all day. Sometimes people focus so much on their face that they neglect their neck entirely. You can do all the treatments, skincare, and botox you can but your neck and hands will always give your age away. Protect your skin now, so you won’t have to treat it so much later.
Maintenance- Summer time is a time to maintain your skin’s health as much as possible. Typically, from October through March/April is when you want to do more aggressive skin care treatments. Chemical peels, microneedling, lasers, etc should only be done in the fall/wintertime as you need to be out of the sun and out of the heat to recover. When March/April rolls around you want to focus on maintaining all the work you’ve done and protect it as much as possible. Maintenance treatments would be facials, light, superficial chemical peels with no downtime, and dermaplaning. These treatments can be done all year round as long as you are always wearing your hat, sunglasses, and SPF.
Switch up your routine- Retinol is something that some people will forgo in the summer depending on their lifestyle. Retinol is photosensitive so you have to be really careful when you apply it to not be out in the sun as it makes you more susceptible to burn. If you’re using retinol every night but have a shore house and tend to be out majority of the day in the sun, you may want to stop retinol until the sun is no longer your enemy. If you are used to using chemical exfoliants or medicated topical creams, sometimes switching those up can also help protect your skin from sun exposure.
Cleanse more- it’s hot, it’s sunny, you’re wearing tons of SPF, you may be swimming in a pool or the ocean, the best way to keep your skin looking fresh and clean is to cleanse it a bit more than in the winter. Most people can cleanse morning and night all year round. But, if you’re spending a lot of time outside on the weekends or you go on vacation to a beautiful, hot sunny destination, you may need to cleanse your skin a third time in the middle of the day, to make sure you don’t clog pores and prevent future breakouts.
Soothe sunburns- it happens, you forget to reapply, you spend a lot more time in the sun than you had planned, or its cloudy and you don’t realize the UV rays are strong, and the inevitable happens- you get sunburned. Don’t fret. Just soothe the burn with aloe, stay out of the sun as much as you can, and try to heal and nourish your skin as much as possible so it doesn’t scar or pigment.
How has your skin been this summer? Have you tried any of these tips before? Let me know in the comments below!
Key West, Florida