Should you change your skin care with the seasons?

While this can be a loaded question, I will try to give you some guidelines that can help your skin weather any storm, pun intended. If your skin care is currently on point, this means that you are exfoliating regularly, treating your skin to the right amounts of hydration, and using sun protection when necessary - amazing! This means that most likely, won’t need to change very much. Your skin is probably healthy and resilient to environmental changes. However, if you happen to be inconsistent with your skin care, here are some general rules to follow especially as we approach spring and summer.

So, how’s the weather? If you live in a cold climate, chances are that your skin feels slightly congested due to heavy moisturizers. If you live in a warm climate, you need to clear out some congestion due to daily sunblock use. In both cases, your skin may feel heavily textured, uneven in tone and lacking in luster. Either way, as warmer weather approaches, this is a good time to do a mini skin care boot camp and reset. Here are your options: 

1. You can take matters into your own hands 

Decongest your skin from the comfort of your home by picking up a multi-day exfoliating treatment and treating yourself to DIY spa day. Our Red Carpet Facial or Deep Detox Facial would work wonderfully and pair well with some reality tv and a glass of wine. Implementing lactic or salicylic acid to your daily routine will flawlessly exfoliate and renew dull skin. If your skin is dry, dehydrated and tends to fall under the “normal” category, a lactic acid treatment like our Red Carpet Facial is for you. If your skin feels congested and tends to verge on the “acneic” side of things, a salicylic acid like Deep Detox is for you. This is a fast and hands-on way to get your skin to be cleaner, brighter and firmer.

2. You can make an appointment with an esthetician 

If you need to fix a little more than texture and overall dullness, seeing a professional may be your best bet for summer-ready skin. You can do a series of microdermabrasion treatments, or a mid-depth peel like the perfect Perfect derma peel or Cosmelan. While the down time can take anywhere from 7-14 days, these two are my favorite to remove discoloration, sun spots and bring your overall skin to another level. Treat it like a sabbatical, lock yourself away for a week and reemerge into the world with radiant skin. These aren’t your drugstore peel-off masks, so if you’re not familiar with these types of treatments make sure to consult a highly experienced aesthetician or dermatologist.

Once you reset your skin it’s time to look at your daily regimen. Put aside your heavy/occlusive creams and moisturizers and replace them with lighter versions. Instead of applying oil serums daily, just use a few drops in your moisturizer or serum if you are feeling dry. Start using a good daily toner. I prefer a stringent toner that has small amounts of BHA like our Rebalancing Toner, that way you can keep your skin in top shape by controlling the appearance of large pores and brightening skin overall. If you aren’t already, start using a Vitamin C serum - while I think we should use antioxidants daily, spring and summer are especially important as the sun is now stronger than ever, and we need antioxidants to help us offset free radical damage and help our skin heal as we go along.

Here’s what your spring/summer skin care routine can look like - take a screenshot and save it in your notes: 

• Cleanse: A.M. / P.M.
• Tone: A.M. / P.M.
• Exfoliating serum: P.M.
• Eye Cream: A.M. / P.M.
• Vitamin C Serum: A.M. 
• Light to medium weight moisturizer: A.M.
• Sunblock: A.M.