Did you know that summer months typically make up about 80% of the skincare damage that one might experience throughout the year?
The damage isn’t just from sun exposure but worsened by irritated skin from the heat and the sweat and pollutants that clog pores. All this leads to stressed and unbalanced skin. And when your skin experiences that level of fatigue, your skin is working hard just to fight the free radicals and soothe skin versus working towards regeneration and rejuvenation.
2-3 short months could lead to 4X more damage than the remaining months in the year. Fear not, there are some practical tips that are easy to apply to save your skin this summer. There’s still around 50% of the summer remaining, which means that’s still a good 40% of total year-round damage you can minimize. That’s a lot, so let’s get started (if you haven’t already)
1)The right sunscreen: We love how Koreans take skincare to another level. With most sunscreens, the cream sits on top of the skin and the inside of your pores are left exposed. Imagine putting a cream on an orange peel, the dented pores are left cream-less, and you’ll see a pock-marked, not well-covered orange. In the same way, when the inside of our pores is left exposed because it’s hard for sunscreen to reach into the pores with a thicker consistency, the skin ages faster which means it loses firmness. And when the skin inside your pores lose firmness, they stretch out and become more enlarged. Look for a lightweight sunscreen or sun gel, with a high SPF (anything over 30) to be sure you are protecting yourself from harmful UVA & UVB rays.
Although one might think they do not need to wear sunscreen if they don’t burn, its quite the opposite. Burning is only one of the negative effects of sun exposure and sun damage. There are also non (immediately) visible impact to your skin, which can include dehydration, fine lines, wrinkles, sun spots, discoloration, dark spots, and loss of skin elasticity. Applying SPF daily will provide the necessary protection to avoid these unwanted skin conditions.
2) Cleanse, cleanse, cleanse…but don’t overdo it: Your pores need a lot of extra loving over the summer months. All the sweat makes it a field day for pollutants to stick to the skin, pores, you name it. To start with, keep to the basics RELIGIOUSLY - wash AM and PM. You’ll want to make sure to use at least one oil-based or micro-foam cleanser to be able to cleanse deep within the pores. Exfoliating with a gentle non-irritating product also helps over the summer, but don’t over-exfoliate or over-cleanse as your skin is already likely a bit raw and irritated from the sweat, rubbing and sun exposure. In the summer, especially, the right cleanser goes a very long way.
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3) Keep skin hydrated: Depending on where you live, in the summer it can be humid or hot and dry. Regardless, with all the sweating and cooling off in air-conditioned buildings, or because of the hot sun, summer months (even if humid) can counterintuitively lead to more parched skin. The trick is that you don’t want to hydrate with thick, oily or filmy products, especially if you have oily skin since that will be a fast-track to clogging your pores mixed in with your sweat. We highly recommend using lightweight, gel-type moisturizers that are typically water-based. If they have soothing ingredients like chamomile, even better. These soothing ingredients will help reduce inflammation or irritated skin. And of course, as over-stated as this is, drink plenty of water.
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With these tips, hopefully, summer can be all-fun and damage-free!
xo- Alicia
