It's time to help your skin beat the heat
It’s the time of year that we all look forward to, but with it can bring some questions: will my hair frizz, have I put enough deodorant on, do I need a jacket, when’s my next holiday? Or if you’re anything like us, do I need to update my skincare routine for summer? The answer: probably! But that doesn’t mean you need to throw your usual routine out the window...
Why does the sun wreak havoc on my skin?
Essentially, it’s because our skin has to adjust to the new weather, and with the heat comes more oil being produced on our skin. This means for some of us more breakouts and clogged pores. Despite our skin getting more oily, it can also feel drier – talk about a contradiction – but this is because our skin can lack moisture in the heat.
What can I do to help my skin in the heat?
Fear not, we’ve got seven quick wins you can start doing immediately...
Wear sun cream
If you had penny for every time someone told you to wear sun cream, you’d probably be retired by now but it’s so important to wear it – especially on your face. It’s not just when the sun’s out that our skin needs protection from UVA and UVB rays, even on cloudy days they can get through – to be honest, we recommend wearing SPF all year round. If you’re not sure what UVA and UVB rays are, have a look at our handy guide. If you have sensitive skin or you feel sun cream clogs the pores on your face, there’s plenty of cosmetics with SPF in you can use – which we love so much we’ve put them altogether in one place.
Switch up your moisturiser
With winter comes a thick moisturiser, but when summer comes around it’s time to switch it for one that’s light-weight. But that doesn’t mean switching it overnight, as your skin needs time to adjust to the new moisturise. So instead, for a couple of weeks rotate between your current moisturiser and your new one – eventually your skin will adjust and you’ll be good to go.
Gently exfoliate
Using a gentel scrub or exfoliator can help to remove any dry, dead skin cells and make way for fresh-faced skin ready to take on the heat. Dead skin cells could potentially block your skincare products from working properly – but that doesn’t mean you need to scrub every day as that can cause broken veins. So how do you win? Some cleansing and toning products have in them gentle exfoliators, so try looking out for them or use a specific exfoliator once a week.
Hydrate, hydrate & hydrate
Get ready to drink up some water – six to eight glasses of water a day are recommended, but don’t restrict yourself and make sure to drink more if you’re hot or exercising as your body can lose the water pretty quickly. It might not help everyone achieve glowy skin but it can’t hurt your skin to drink a bit more!
Treat yourself to an eye mask
The skin under our eyes is thinner than the rest of our face, which means it needs more attention. As our skin can become dehydrated in the heat, the skin under our eyes can look like there’s more fine lines there than before. But before you freak out, grab an eye mask, pop it in the fridge for an hour and apply under your eyes and you’ll feel refreshed in no time.
Keep a face mist with you
An absolute must for when your skin is feeling the heat and you need a cool down. Face mists are more than just water, so as well as cooling you down, depending on each product's benefits, they can work wonders for your skin type. So take a closer look at the ingredients and find your match.
Use a weekly mask
Your skin can collect more dirt, oil and pollution during the heat so using a weekly face mask can help to rid your skin of these. Not only that, they’re also great for when you need 20 minutes of self care. Not sure what face mask you need? Take a look at the different time for face mask and get ready to meet your mask.