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. 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, become overheated more often, or 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?

In this article: 

• MEET THE COMMON SUMMER SKIN CONCERNS
• HOW TO BUILD YOUR ROUTINE FOR SUMMER SKINCARE
• HOW TO ADDRESS ACNE & OILINESS IN SUMMER SKINCARE
• HOW TO ADDRESS DEHYDRATION IN SUMMER SKINCARE
• HOW TO ADDRESS SIGNS OF AGING & SUN DAMAGE IN SUMMER SKINCARE
• HOW TO ADDRESS SENSITIVITY & IRRITATION IN SUMMER SKINCARE
  

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!

HOW TO BUILD YOUR ROUTINE FOR SUMMER

HOW TO ADDRESS ACNE & OILINESS IN SUMMER SKINCARE

What summer conditions 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 you adapt your summer skincare for these concerns?  

1. 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).
2. 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.

Our recommended routine: 

HOW TO ADDRESS DEHYDRATION IN SUMMER SKINCARE

What summer conditions impact skin hydration? 

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, you can still experience TEWL and dehydration in summer, and this is often the case 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, it may 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, but we’ll revisit this soon.)

How can you adapt your summer skincare for these concerns?

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. 

Our recommended routine: 

HOW TO ADDRESS SIGNS OF AGING & SUN DAMAGE IN SUMMER SKINCARE

What summer conditions impact aging and tone concerns?  

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 adapt your summer skincare for these concerns?

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.

Our recommended routine:

1. Chamomile & Tansy Hydrating Cream Cleanser

Gently cleanses while calming and nourishing skin exposed to sun and environmental stressors. Helps reduce inflammation and preserves essential moisture for aging skin.

2. Neroli Clarifying Complexion Mist

Brightens and tones with Niacinamide and green tea while supporting collagen and pH balance. Neroli hydrosol and immortelle hydrosol help calm and support skin regeneration.

3. Vitamin C Regenerative Balm

Targets fine lines, sun damage, and dullness with Vitamin C, CoQ10, and sea buckthorn oil. Strengthens the skin barrier and restores radiance overnight or anytime skin needs repair.