HOW TO NAIL SUMMER SKINCARE
How is your summer skincare coming along? If you’re experiencing acne, oily skin, sunburns, or increased signs of aging, read on to learn how to support your skin during this season!
One of the most important factors in your journey towards happy and healthy skin is to learn how to listen to what your skin needs and adjust your skincare to support it. However, sometimes the cause behind a change in your skin isn’t immediately obvious, so it pays off to be informed about changes your skin is likely to go through in different seasons, environmental conditions, ages, and other transitions.
What summer means to you (and your skin!) is dependent on both your lifestyle and local climate. That said, there are some common threads in what your skin may be experiencing. If you…
- spend more time outdoors in summer compared to winter
- become overheated more often in summer than in winter
- experience more humidity in summer compared to winter
…then these tips definitely apply to you!
Ready to learn how to adjust your skincare during the summer?
MEET THE COMMON SUMMER SKIN CONCERNS
You may notice an appearance or increase of these skin concerns during the summer:
- Acne Breakouts
- Oily Skin
- Dehydration (especially dry cheeks)
- Hyperpigmentation
- Signs of Aging
- Skin Sensitivity & Irritation
- Sunburn
All of these summer skin concerns tie into three main shifts: increased sebum production, increased UV exposure, and changes to your skin’s pH balance. So, your ideal summer skincare routine would address each of those factors by balancing sebum production, protecting from UV exposure, and balancing your skin pH to keep it at healthy levels. Find your summer skin concern below to learn how to adjust your routine!
In this article:
- HOW TO ADDRESS ACNE & OILINESS IN SUMMER SKINCARE
- HOW TO ADDRESS DEHYDRATION IN SUMMER SKINCARE
- HOW TO ADDRESS SIGNS OF AGING, SUNBURN, & HYPERPIGMENTATION IN SUMMER SKINCARE
- HOW TO ADDRESS SENSITIVITY & IRRITATION IN SUMMER SKINCARE
- HOW TO BUILD YOUR ROUTINE FOR SUMMER SKINCARE
HOW TO ADDRESS ACNE & OILINESS IN SUMMER SKINCARE
Why do summer conditions tend to impact oiliness and acne?
In the summer, higher temperatures and humidity levels can stimulate the sebaceous glands to produce more oil, resulting in greasy or shiny skin. This increase in sebum production can aggravate acne-prone skin types, leading to summer breakouts, or just create an unwanted sheen throughout the T-zone that is difficult to rebalance. If you tend to be more active during the summer, you may also sweat more than usual from increased activity, adding to your skin’s oil production. Lastly, humid conditions create a favorable environment for bacterial overgrowth—so not only can higher humidity lead to more sebum, but it can also lead to your microbiome getting unbalanced.
How can we change our summer skincare to balance oiliness and clear acne?
- Use a gentle but effective cleanser 1-2x a day. To regulate sebum production, the first place to look is in your cleansing habits. We all know that cleansing can remove excess oil, but you may not realize that removing TOO much oil can have the inverse effect. Your ideal summer cleanser should be gentle enough to use twice a day but effective enough to remove sweat, makeup, and SPF without leaving remnants behind. If your skin feels tight and dry after cleansing, frequent cleansing may end up stripping your lipid layer, prompting your skin to quickly produce more oils. The goal is to remove any impurities, clogging products, and irritants but to leave your skin feeling supple and balanced, so that your cleansing doesn’t create any new imbalance. If your skin is not particularly dry or sensitive, you will most likely want to cleanse twice a day (AM & PM).
Our recommendation:
An absolute necessity for those experiencing clogged pores or breakouts, daily cleansing with this oil will leave your skin feeling bright, clean, & hydrated. Massage the oil into your skin and add water to magically turn it into a rich hydrating milk that will effortlessly remove makeup and debris without stripping your skin.
- Include active ingredients that help balance sebum. You can also help balance your sebum production with trusted actives that support your cleansing routine. Niacinamide and salicylic acid are two research-backed examples that are prolific in the skincare world, often in serum or mist forms. Meanwhile, sea buckthorn berry oil and green tea are two of nature’s best clean ingredients to include in your summer skincare routine for support in balancing sebum production.
HOW TO ADDRESS DEHYDRATION IN SUMMER SKINCARE
What scenario can cause skin dehydration during summer?
If you are prone to dryness year round, you might actually find that your skin is more balanced during summer due to the higher humidity. These higher humidity levels can even decrease rates of TEWL (transepidermal water loss) from your skin, since the air is generally better hydrated than in colder winter temperatures.
However, there is still an important scenario where you can experience TEWL and dehydration in summer, and this is when you sweat to reduce body temperature. Sweating cools down our bodies by using our body heat to evaporate water off the surface of the skin, thus using up some of its heat. But when that water evaporates from your skin’s surface, it’s possible for your skin to become dehydrated since it’s losing moisture. The most common place to experience dryness and TEWL during the summer is in your cheeks.
(You are also likely to experience dryness and flakiness in your cheeks if your skin barrier is damaged by sun exposure, especially in the case of sunburns, but we’ll revisit this soon.)
How can you prevent skin dehydration with your summer skincare?
To protect your skin from TEWL, incorporate a light moisturizer like a natural facial oil that can gently protect the lipid layer of your skin barrier without clogging or feeling heavy. To keep your summer skincare routine manageable, it is great to find a product that can answer several skin concerns at once, so we would recommend using a moisturizer that also helps balance sebum production and nourishes your skin. See our Sea Berry Balancing Oil above for a moisturizer that does it all!
HOW TO ADDRESS SIGNS OF AGING, SUNBURN, & HYPERPIGMENTATION IN SUMMER SKINCARE
What causes an increase in these skin conditions during summer?
As you’ve probably heard, the biggest culprit of summer skin concerns is increased UV exposure, especially at higher UV indexes. If you’re noticing an increase in signs of aging—including fine lines and wrinkles, loss of elasticity, sunspots, or hyperpigmentation—it is likely UV exposure that is to blame. UV exposure causes oxidative damage in the skin as well as impacting its pH balance, sebum production, and hydration levels.
How can you combat UV exposure with your summer skincare?
Your best friend for summer skincare is an excellent longwearing, non-comedogenic SPF that you can reapply throughout the day. Covering exposed skin with hats, long sleeves, and long pants (in light materials) can also make a huge difference in the impact of sun exposure on your skin.
But if you’re already covering these basics and still notice an increase in skin conditions related to UV exposure, there is more that you can do to support your skin. Namely, adding antioxidants to your skin routine can slow, prevent, and reverse oxidative damage by scavenging free radicals from the skin. Some well known antioxidant-rich ingredients for skincare include Vitamin C, CoQ10, sea buckthorn berry oil, tamanu oil, prickly pear seed oil, and Niacinamide.
HOW TO ADDRESS SENSITIVITY & IRRITATION IN SUMMER SKINCARE
What causes sensitive and irritated skin during summer?
A last point to touch on about UV exposure and sweat during the summer is that both can impact the delicate pH balance of your skin, leaving it vulnerable to bacterial infections (AKA acne) as well as causing general discomfort and irritation. If your skin feels more irritated than usual or is more reactive than usual, it may be that UV exposure and/or sweat have shifted the pH balance of your skin. Your skin’s pH comfortably sits at a slightly acidic level, usually around 4.5-5.5. Research has shown that UV exposure lowers your skin pH (making it more acidic), whereas moisture raises your pH (making it more basic). In an ideal situation, these two factors could balance out to help keep your skin at its normal pH, but pH fluctuations or extra acidic skin pH are typical during summer. pH imbalance in the skin may be partially responsible for summer acne, sensitivity, or discomfort.
How can you keep your pH balanced with summer skincare?
If you don’t yet have a toner in your routine, this step is a must for summer skincare. Toners help restore a healthy pH level to the skin and counteract any imbalancing factors. A hydrating toner such as a facial mist can provide refreshment alongside balancing pH. If possible, look for a toner that provides multiple summer skin benefits like hydration, antioxidants, and pH balance.
Our recommendation:
This bestselling facial mist will balance, clarify and nourish your skin with nutrient-dense hydration. Its pH-balanced formula is certified microbiome-friendly by Kind to Biome. Antioxidants like Vitamin C, Niacinamide, neroli water, green tea, and willow bark extract help combat oxidative stress while clarifying breakouts. Meanwhile, organic hydrosols and aloe vera soothe and hydrate the skin.
Now that you understand the main environmental concerns for summer skincare, you are ready to build your routine. Although there are several factors to consider—including sebum production, pH balance, TEWL, and UV exposure—you don’t need a complicated regimen to incorporate all of the elements of a robust summer skincare routine. Here are the 5 main elements to consider:
- Cleanse. Use a gentle cleanser that will effectively remove sweat, sebum, makeup, SPF, and impurities without shifting your pH, like the Vetiver Illuminating Oil Cleanser.
- Tone. Restore and protect your skin pH balance with a hydrating toner. A hydrating toner rich in antioxidants and sebum-balancing ingredients like the Neroli Clarifying Complexion Mist can tone your skin while also addressing concerns related to oil production, TEWL, and UV exposure.
- Moisturize. Lock in hydration and keep your skin barrier balanced with a light moisturizing facial oil. An antioxidant-rich oil with sebum-balancing ingredients like the Sea Berry Balancing Oil can help maintain a healthy moisture balance while supporting your skin in healing acne and sun damage.
- Protect. Year round, but especially at times of the year where you may be outside more frequently, a solid broad spectrum SPF is a must! Remember to reapply throughout the day, avoid direct sun exposure during peak hours (10AM-4PM), and cover exposed skin when possible.
- Regenerate. If you are experiencing increased signs of aging or suffer a sunburn, your skin may need some extra help healing. A deeply nourishing and healing facial balm like the Vitamin C Regenerative Balm can be used AM & PM to support your summer skin. If your skin isn’t overly oily, it is also great as your main summer moisturizer (swapping out the Sea Berry Oil) due to its high antioxidant content and impressive hydration properties.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
We hope you are feeling empowered to tackle summer skincare and support your skin through all of its changes! If you have more questions, feel free to reach out to any of us at the Apoterra team, and we will be happy to help you in your skincare journey. Now, go enjoy the rest of your summer armed with the knowledge to keep your skin happy and healthy!
Sources:
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