Summer is here! Which means more picnics, more pool time, and more time spent outdoors. It can also mean more sunburn, more break-outs and more overall skin unhappiness if you’re not careful. You know to switch up your skincare routine in the winter to protect your skin from the harsh, cold air. Having a summer skincare routine is just as important to keep your skin looking youthful and healthy all year.
Here are five must-do summer skincare tips to help your skin glow.
Always Wear Sunscreen
Doctors and aestheticians tell people to wear sunscreen so much that they start to feel like broken records. But the advice bears repeating, especially in the summer. The sun isn’t only stronger during the summer months, you’re also more likely to spend time outside. That increases your risk for sunburn and other adverse effects from the sun (like spotting and early wrinkles).
Wearing sunscreen is just the first step when it comes to protecting your skin from the sun’s UV rays. It’s also important that you get in the habit of reapplying the SPF every two hours or so. If you’re swimming or splashing in the ocean, you’ll want to apply it more frequently.
To take some of the hassle out of sunscreen application, especially on your face (if you wear makeup), try trading in your foundation for a tinted moisturizer with SPF over the summer. That way, you can just reapply the moisturizer as needed, rather than applying your sunscreen then your foundation again.
Use Cool Water to Wash Your Face
While a hot shower or washing your face with very warm water can feel soothing in the winter time, it’s probably the last thing you want to be doing on a 90 degree day. There’s good news, though. Washing your face with cool water isn’t just a lot more comfortable for you.
It’s also better for your skin. Using hot water to wash your face makes it more likely to be irritated and for you to develop redness or broken blood vessels. Keep your skin happy by washing it with tepid or cool water all summer long.
Cut Back on Exfoliation
You know how they always say don’t shave your legs the day before or the day you go to the beach? If you’ve ever felt the sting of sand and saltwater on freshly shaven legs, you understand why.
A similar thing is true of your face. You want to avoid using any sort of chemical exfoliant or even a mechanical scrub on your face right before a beach trip or right before you have an outdoor, all-day picnic planned. Remember, sun protection is usually recommended after a chemical peel or laser skin treatment. Schedule your summer beauty treatments with care so that they don’t interfere too much with your summer fun plans.
Keep Your Skincare Products in the Fridge
Why do you put food in the refrigerator? To slow down spoilage and help it stay fresh (and tasty) for longer. The same is true for your skincare products, especially ones that aren’t full of preservatives. Storing them in the fridge will help extend their shelf life.
Plus, when you store them in the refrigerator, they’ll be much cooler than room temperature. That means when you apply them in the morning or evening, you’ll get a blast of refreshing cool.
Get Your Skin Analyzed
Your skin is ever changing. It changes in the winter and in the summer based on temperature, humidity and other environmental factors. It also changes over the years as you get older, change your diet, or go through other changes.
That means that a product that worked for years keeping your skin looking youthful or a product that helped you avoid breakouts for decades might one day mysteriously stop working. If your skin is acting up and you’re not sure why, it can help to have your skin analyzed.
Visia Skin Complexion Analysis is a super quick procedure that gives you a good idea of what is going on with your skin. The treatment will tell you how many wrinkles you have, how your pores are doing, how many damaged skin cells you have, and if there’s a high amount of acne-causing bacteria on the surface of your skin. The entire process takes just a few minutes and can be the first step in putting together an effective summer skincare routine.
Best of all, Dr. Vitenas offers Visia free to his patients. The first step to treating your skin is knowing what’s going on. To schedule a consultation or skin analysis at Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique in Houston, Texas, call 281-810-9083 today.