Summer requires a special skin care regimen and extra protection from the sun's harmful UV rays. Follow these 10 steps to beautiful, healthy, moisturized summer skin.
When you're in the midst of battling parched winter skin, it's easy to forget that summer presents its own skin challenges. Summer offers a reprieve from forced dry heat and lack of indoor humidity, but skin faces a different challenge during the summer. Exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun can wreck life-threatening havoc in addition to causing skin to age prematurely.
As the dog days of summer approach, the key to beauty from the inside out is to lighten up. As your mood lightens from extended daylight hours, it's time to lighten up on work, clothing, food and beverage, and lotions and potions. Follow our tips below, and pay special attention to the sun prevention tips and tricks.
Spring offers the very best environment for skin. Its moderate temperature range and the high humidity from April showers can lull you into complacent neglect toward skin care. Spring's optimal conditions provide your skin with a welcome rest between struggling to retain moisture during the arid winter months and the assault of the summer sun. When the temperature heats up and you start spending more time outdoors, it's time to rev up your skin care regimen again.
1. Beauty begins on the inside. During the summer months, trade your heavy stews and soups for lighter fare, including grilled fish and fruit salads. Retire the hot chocolate in favor of iced green tea, and say goodbye to the hot spiced rum for a few months, replacing it with a cool, refreshing wine spritzer or frozen fruit daiquiri.
2. Summer signals the beginning of increased activity, which causes you to lose moisture through perspiration. Drink water before you feel thirsty. Once you feel thirst, you're already slightly dehydrated. Carry water with you everywhere, to eliminate the possibility of drinking tap water.
3. Chlorine doesn't play nice with skin, hair and nails; it leaves them dry, brittle and flakey. It adds an additional load to your body""another chemical for your body to assimilate and eliminate. Wash off chlorine as soon as you step out of the pool or hot tub. Add a water filter to your shower to trap chlorine and other chemicals. You'll notice a difference in your skin within a few days.
4. Apply creams and lotions with a high Sun Protection Factor (SPF). Lightweight summer clothes don't completely block the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. In fact, lightweight clothing offers very little SPF""usually around 8. When you spend concentrated time in the sun, apply a water-resistant or waterproof sun block, and use a sun block with zinc on your face. Reapply often. Even with sun block, you'll get some color in the summer. Until you do, fake it with one of the many self-tanning lotions on the market. Whatever you do, don't attempt to get a suntan the old-fashioned way. Wear a wide-brimmed hat to protect your hair from the sun and to provide additional protection to your face.
5. If you work in the garden, apply protection against insects, and reapply as necessary. Not only will you avoid unsightly bite marks and annoying itching, but you might also avoid debilitating disease. Don't take unnecessary chances. If the thought of applying DEET to your body makes you shudder, apply one of the natural insect repellants containing citronella and other natural essential oils. When you get bitten, avoid the urge to scratch. Scratching only intensifies the itching sensation, and it can lead to infection and scarring.
6. Grow an aloe plant. They're impossible to kill, even if you have a brown thumb. Having immediate access to an Aloe plant is like having a drugstore in your backyard. Break off a leaf and apply the gel on the inside to provide instant relief from sunburn, insect bites, burns from outdoor grilling, and minor skin irritations. Keep another plant in the kitchen for burns. Nothing works as quickly as Aloe to stop the pain.
7. Lighten up on your facial moisturizing routine. Instead of dry flakes, your skin faces eruptions from clogged pores during the summer. Clean your face meticulously, several times each day if necessary. Switch to a lighter moisturizer with fewer emollients. Consider a tinted moisturizer to eliminate the extra layer of make-up foundation. If you have good skin, show it off during the summer instead of hiding it under layers of concealer, foundation and powder. Allow your natural radiant skin to shine through without obstruction.
8. Hands and feet require special care in the summer. Keep nails short to enjoy summer sports activities. You don't want to interrupt a set of tennis to repair a broken nail. You may get calluses from gardening and racquet sports. Exfoliate hands and feet regularly, and don't lighten up on rich, emollient hand and foot creams, because parts of the hands and feet contain no oil glands. If you visit the beach, take a long walk on the beach. No manmade treatment equals the exfoliation power of feet pounding against sand. Walk long enough, and your feet will sport a baby soft finish.
9. With your legs exposed during the summer, you may tire of daily shaving. Consider one of the sugar-based wax formulations. It may take several applications to master the technique, but after a few false starts, the efforts are worth the learning curve. The advertisements will entice you with a month or more of hair-free soft, baby skin. If you get two weeks of silky smooth skin, consider yourself lucky. Follow-up each waxing session with a moisturizer containing aloe to avoid skin bumps.
10. If your winter lip balm didn't contain sun protection, make sure that your summer lip balm does. Chapped lips are annoying, but sunburned lips are painful! Reapply often, particularly when you're on the water in an open boat or riding in a convertible. Wind is just as damaging as sun, and the two together ensure a bad burn for unprotected skin.
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