Summertime dry skin is not just in your imagination. Although we are used to associating dry skin more in the dead of winter, the truth is that it can happen at any time of the year. Despite the hot and humid weather that many of us have been enjoying over the past few months, it’s possible to feel as though your skin is less hydrated. While dry skin in and of itself can be annoying, the longer-term repercussions can result in accelerated signs of premature aging, accentuated wrinkles and may lead to the weakening of the structure and function of the skin barrier.
Symptoms of Summertime Dry Skin
The dry, cold air in winter can do a number on your skin, but summertime dry skin isn’t that uncommon either. Some of the main factors include:
- Sun Exposure: Not only do UV rays hasten the onset of hyperpigmentation but sitting in the sun, as pleasurable as it is, causes the loss moisture and natural oils that can keep the skin feeling soft and supple.
- Air Conditioning: Ah, the genius of turning warm, humid air into a cool and refreshing breeze. We’ve learned to live with (and love!) air conditioning but constant exposure can dry out the skin by continuously removing moisture from the air.
- Chlorine and Salt Water: Jumping into the pool or ocean is a classic summertime activity, but pool chemicals and salt from water can linger on the body, even after showering, leading to dry skin and hair.
- Environmental Stressors: Pollution and smog levels can increase during the humid summer months, assaulting the skin and creating free radicals that can lead to premature aging and the breakdown of the lipid layer in the skin. When you add in the damage caused by smoke from this year’s catastrophic forest fires, it’s no wonder that your skin may be feeling particularly parched.
How to Treat Dry Skin This Summer
What’s a gal to do? Here are our top 4 tips for beating summertime dry skin:
- Exfoliate. Even though we have been a bit more relaxed in the summer, there’s no need to abandon our skin care routine completely! And from past blog posts, you’ll know that we consider exfoliating one of the most underrated and overlooked steps to great skin. Removing the dry, dead skin cells on the surface of the skin will allow subsequent moisturizing treatments to work more effectively without that extra layer to pass through.
- Add a Moisturizing Mask. Not only is there an endless variety of face masks to target different skin issues but the newest are dry sheet masks that can be re-used several times. Rather than being soaked with active ingredients in a water-based formula, dry sheet masks use lipids infused into the fabric that are activated when in contact with the skin. All the benefits without the mess.
- Sleep on it. Take advantage of down time with an overnight treatment. If you find that you’re still squeezed for time and just can’t muster the energy to fit one more thing into your busy day, grab a night cream or gel that is specially formulated with a robust combination of ingredients to hydrate, repair and plump your skin while you get your zzz’s. You’ll find many of these Korean beauty staples labelled as sleeping masks or water masks.
- Use an Antioxidant. Pollution and its negative effect on the skin is now a well-known given and we know no better way to fight against free radicals than by using an antioxidant. Whether you like to use it under your sunscreen in the morning or under a moisturizer at night for its reparative properties, we like to think of antioxidants as food for the skin. Call us spoiled, but we just can’t imagine being without our favorite Apothekari Bespoke Vitamin C 15% serum.
