|
After the warmest May on record, we’re looking forward to a summer of beautiful weather! While enjoying the sun, it’s important to remember to look after your skin. Winter skincare focuses on hydration, but your summer skincare routine should be about sun protection and oil control.
Small doses of sun can have amazing benefits, but too much UV can damage collagen fibres, reducing your skin’s elasticity and accelerating aging. The FDA recommends an SPF of 15 any time of year (provided by our Daily Moisturiser!), but in summer, you’ll need to add in a higher-level broad-spectrum suncream to counteract the extra rays that come with bright sunshine.
An effective summer skincare routine is crucial for people with oily and combination skin. Rising temperatures and humidity levels can cause excess sweat and oil production, leading to blocked pores, irritated skin and blemishes.
While it’s tempting to take a hard stance against oil and scrub your face with harsh cleansers, remember that tight, ‘squeaky-clean’ skin is a sign you’ve been over-enthusiastic, and that your cleanser is too strong for your skin. Sun damage can make skin sensitive, so it’s even more important to choose gentle, non-harmful products: it’s much better to gently remove impurities, than risk irritating your skin with an overly intense cleanse. Our Facial Gel Cleanser offers the perfect balance – the gel is specially formulated for oily skin, and leaves skin feeling bright and refreshed, with Vitamin C and Aloe Vera to soothe and protect sensitive skin.
We recommend a weekly gentle scrub or mask, to remove dead skin cells and reduce impurity build-up. Our Purifying Mask with Amazonian White Clay provides a deep cleanse, to purify skin and eliminate toxins: Lime Seed Oil helps to support tissue regeneration and reduce inflammation, while plant extracts from Great Burdock and Erysimum rebalance skin with regulating and antiseptic properties, to leave your skin soft and radiant. Since face masks can leave your skin vulnerable to sun damage, it’s best to save them for nighttime, and be sure to wear sun cream the next day.
It’s a common misconception that oily skin doesn’t need moisturiser: oil build-up is sometimes an indicator of dry skin, and can be exacerbated by attempts to ‘dry out’ oily areas. Moisturiser is an important step in any skincare routine, especially if you’re spending time around air-conditioning this summer! Apply our light, Daily Moisturiser to damp skin to ‘lock in’ hydration. It’s formulated to soothe and protect, with Shea Butter to keep your skin soft and smooth, and natural sun protection from Rice Bran and Sesame Seed Oils. If, like us, you love facial oils (and our Soothing and Glossing Balm!), use them at night, to nourish your skin, without adding to shine.
A great summer skincare routine is only half of the battle: our ability to deal with hot weather and sun damage is directly affected by lifestyle factors, including what we eat, drink, and how much sleep we’re getting.
The skin is the body’s largest organ, making your skincare ingredients as important as the food you eat. Vitamin C and Aloe Vera are amazing sun protectors: by choosing these wonder ingredients – both in your diet, and your skincare products – you can feed your skin inside and out, and protect yourself during the summer. Vitamin C helps your sun cream do its work by blocking excess UV rays, and stimulates collagen production to help repair skin cells, while Aloe Vera acts as a protective, hydrating layer, to calm and soothe painful sunburn, and repair damage. Get your fix of both from the fresh Kiwi Cells and Aloe Vera Leaf Juice in our Facial Gel Cleanser!
Our final tip is to get some sleep! As we sleep, the body eliminates toxins, and sets about repairing damage from the day. It’s in this time that your skin will begin to heal itself: in fact, women who suffer from low sleep quality show slower recovery from sunburn and other injuries. Sleep is also important to reduce stress levels, which directly damages skin cells and can speed up the aging process. Of course, summer is also the time in which it’s often hardest to sleep, when keeping cool can be an issue. We recommend a cool bath before bed. The cooling feeling mimics lower temperatures your body associates with the sunset, and can help to reset your circadian rhythms. We’re also completely in love with Cucumber Clothing’s wonderful sweat-wicking fabrics, for pyjamas that keep us cool all night.
|
Leave a comment