Why Our Skincare Changes from Summer to Winter

Why Our Skincare Changes from Summer to Winter : Your precious skin is a vital organ, unlike any other. This incredible barrier provides your body with protection against impact, radiation, infection, and fluid loss. It allows you to cool off in the sweltering sun or keep warm when temperatures drop. It keeps your bones strong by producing Vitamin D. Who could forget the sensation of warm sunshine or cold water splashing on their cheek?

All these reasons, dermatologists and skin health specialists warn, are why it’s so crucial for you to nourish your skin, especially when it’s at its most vulnerable. Sudden seasonal changes, especially the transition from summer to fall or winter weather, can devastate your delicate outermost layer. Before the elements strike, you must switch up your skincare routine and practice seasonal skin care to maintain skin health.

Layer up the Sunscreen

Healthy skin requires diligence. It needs hydration, cleansing without the stripping of natural oils, and protection from the sun and wind every day. In summer, your skin is doing its best to protect you from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Using sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15 is crucial to prevent damage to your most sensitive exposed areas. If exposed to UV radiation, the cells in the epidermis are damaged or even killed.

For people who enjoy going to the beach in summertime, go for a reef-safe physical sunscreen. Lots of sunscreen products on the market today contain chemicals that disrupt coral reefs and other marine life. In this infographic, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) lists down these sunscreen chemicals and explains how they enter the waters and threaten corals, other marine life, and entire marine ecosystems. When choosing sunscreen products, it’s vital to consider its effect not only on yourself but also on the environment. The same goes for other skin-care and beauty products.

Wrinkles, sunburn, flaking, and peeling can all be significant issues without a layer of sunscreen. People who live close to the equator are especially vulnerable since they are closer to the sun and are therefore exposed to more of its rays. Another method of keeping your skin healthy during the summer is to cover up with loose clothing with a tight weave and long sleeves or legs. Clothing can prevent or reduce the penetration of harmful rays, so your skin health isn’t compromised.

If you think you don’t need sunscreen in the winter, you might want to reconsider. When the forecast is overcast, sunscreen is usually not required as the dense clouds can block most of the sun’s rays. However, when skies are ripe with scattered clouds, higher levels of UV radiation are present as the clouds reflect and redirect rays to Earth’s surface. On those party cloudy days in winter, it may be more beneficial to up the SPF or reapply sunscreen more frequently than you did in summer.

Lotion or Moisturizer?

Summertime also typically means your skin tends to feel oilier and tackier. The warmer temperatures lead to more sweat, humidity, and the distribution of natural oils, leading to the oily sensation. You might be tempted to scrub it all off, believing it will leave your skin feeling fresher.

While scrubbing may help, the benefits of stripping your skin completely of its natural oils are usually short-lived. If you aim to maintain healthy skin, your skincare routine should include a cleanser. Look for one that gently cleans and exfoliates without removing all the skin’s natural oils. Those natural oils work with your moisturizer to prevent your skin from dehydrating or producing even more excess oil.

Most women to prefer a lightweight, water-based, or gel moisturizer during the summer to keep skin feeling fresh and hydrated. Creams or lotions can feel heavy and can bring in the heat. When you use the right moisturizer during summer, you can ban breakouts and heat rash by preventing sweat, oil, and dirt from clogging your pores or sweat glands. No one likes the feeling of prickly, itchy heat rash.

However, the same prickly, itchy sensation can be prevalent during the winter as well, even when using the moisturizer that worked for you in summer. In winter, the air’s humidity in your climate can vary wildly, but often, the air is a lot colder and drier than usual. Dry, cold skin is tight, itchy skin, especially when there’s no heat to smooth out oily patches. Indoor conditions are no better. You’ll face dry, hot, static-filled air generated by central heating.

Your seasonal skincare, in this case, should consist of a cleanser that can gently remove the flaky dead skin without removing all the protective oils. Follow cleansing with a moisturizing cream or lotion to provide extra hydration and keep dry or oily patches from forming. Remember that if your skin doesn’t maintain adequate hydration, it will compensate by producing excess oil, making oily patches worse.

No Matter the Season, Skin Care Should be Personal

Altering your skincare routine to reflect seasonal changes is a must, but everyone’s skin is different. Don’t be afraid to tweak your beauty routine to maintain and improve your unique skin’s health but understand how the changing seasons affect that routine. While caring for your skin provides innumerable health benefits, we all know that healthy skin can boost confidence. Understanding how to care for your unique needs helps to build invaluable confidence. When you put your best face forward, you’ll feel ready to take on anything.