5 Tips To Save Your Skin This Summer
Summer has officially landed with warm days, beach weather and long, lazy afternoon picnics. Yes, please!
The not so good news? If you don’t stay on top of your skincare game, summer and skin damage go hand in hand.
Get our skin tips for surviving and thriving in the hot, humid days with a glow and without the damage!
Switch Up Your Skincare Routine And Go Heavy On The Antioxidants
Just like you swap your woolly winter coats for swishy summer skirts, your skincare routine needs a seasonal tweak too.
There’s a lot our skin needs to deal with during the summer months; it usually excretes excessive sebum, can become sensitive and more likely to experience blackheads and breakouts.
Add a serum that delivers serious hydration to combat the effects of chlorine and saltwater after those days and the beach and poolside.
Make sure your summer skincare line up is packed with antioxidants, like vitamin C and E to restore skin and, better still, prevent damage in the first place.
Antioxidants help boost your sun protection and neutralise the free radical activity caused by sun exposure and prevent damage.
Adding a double cleanse to your usual single cleanse routine will also help break down excess sebum, sweat, and sunscreen residue from those summer days.
Leave the heavy-duty night creams from winter behind. It’s like sleeping with an extra blanket your skin doesn’t need! Swap it for a lighter, but potent antioxidant-packed face oil to deeply repair and replenish skin while you sleep.
Our Sacred Youth Oil features Native Australian Sandalwood Seed Oil, rich in Ximenynic acid, a rare fatty acid known to reduce fine lines, improve skin tone and hydration and increase derma strength.
Go Easy On Exfoliators Containing These Ingredients…
Exfoliating in summer is important, to keep skin clear of excess sebum and build-up, but certain common ingredients in exfoliators can make the skin more sensitive. These ingredients include AHA (alpha hydroxy acid), BHA (Beta Hydroxy Acid ) or retinol which can make your skin more vulnerable to sun damage during the summertime.
A good alternative is using a cleanser that contains a smaller concentration of a plant-based AHA to gently polish away dead skin cells and build up daily.
Our Purifying Cleanser is brimming with native Australian botanical ingredients, including finger lime caviar which delivers gentle exfoliating activity for healthy, fresh and revitalised skin.
Give Your Skin A Makeup Detox
Summer is the perfect time to do a makeup detox to let your skin breathe and rejuvenate.
Skip makeup for a week and it’s unlikely you won’t notice a huge difference skipping but if you can commit to a month of being makeup-free you can help resolve true allergic reactions and begin to improve the appearance of acne and breakouts.
Wear Sunscreen Every Single Day (Don’t Forget Your Neck + Decolletage!)
Sun damage is responsible for 90% of the signs of premature ageing we see on our skin.
90%!
If that doesn’t shake you out of your ambivalent attitude about wearing sunscreen, we don’t know what will.
UVA rays from the sun cause most of the damage associated with photoaging. UVA rays are longer than UVB rays and can penetrate deep into the layers of skin where they damage collagen. Eventually, this leads to wrinkles, sagging skin, and fine lines.
Sunspots are also caused by UVA and UVB rays, so without proper protection during summer, you might find new brown spots popping up or a flare-up of existing hyperpigmentation.
Don’t forget to apply sunscreen to your neck, decolletage and the tops of your ears too. It’s easy to forget these spots but they are just as sensitive to sun damage and accelerated ageing as your face.
Choose a broad-spectrum sunscreen as this protects from both UVA and UVB damage and if your moisturiser doesn’t include SPF, apply it after your moisturiser.
Remember, water and sweat can reduce the protection factor of your sunscreen; reapply sunscreen every two to three hours if you hit the beach or do other outdoor activities during the summertime!
We recommend removing the existing sunscreen with a cotton pad and toner before reapplying the fresh layer.
After-Sun Care
If you’ve slipped up and haven’t been quite as vigilant with your sun protection during a day outside, your skin will present with red spots and itchiness in the areas affected in 3- 4 hours. After 24 hours the damage will reach its maximum. If you respond quickly to the signals your skin is sending you can minimise future damage during this window of time.
You want to reduce the heat as quickly as possible. Make a face cloth into a cold compress with some ice-cubes on the inside (they shouldn’t directly touch the skin) and press to your face to cool down.
You can also soak cotton pads in a gentle natural toner (must be alcohol-free) and dab onto the affected areas. Some of the best calming ingredients include;
- Aloe vera
- Witch hazel
- Green tea
Make sure you keep your hydration levels topped up too. Sunburn draws fluid to the skin's surface and away from the rest of the body. Drinking extra water when you’re dealing with sunburnt skin will help stop you from becoming dehydrated.
Now we’ve armed you with the tips to save your skin this summer, get out there and enjoy it!
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