Summertime Skin Care

It is summer, when mountains and ocean lure us out. Summer, with its scorching sun, can be brutal for our skin. So here are a few ways to protect your skin.

First, avoid UV rays. Staying indoors all day, however, is not the best option. When you go out, wear a hat or put on sunscreen. When picking a sunscreen, choose one with 30 or greater SPF and PA++. Instead of putting it on right before you go out, applying it15 minutes before going out will maximize the benefits.

The amount you apply is also crucial. You can protect your whole palm with just enough sunscreen to cover your fingertips. You will not reap the full benefits if you do not apply enough, though. Do not apply it only on your face but everywhere not covered by your clothes: your neck, back of your hands, arms and calves. If you do not sweat profusely, the effects will last around two hours, so you need to reapply regularly.

If you go into water, the time of effectiveness will shorten, and even if it is waterproof, you should not expect it to last more than one hour. Sometimes we do not feel the need to apply sunscreen on cloudy days, but we still need sunscreen because the intensity of ultraviolet rays is the same, even though clouds may be covering the sun.

In the past, sunscreen consisted of Zincoxide or Titaniumoxide that reflect light, which made one appear whiter after applying sunscreen. Now, there are many products that reduce the quantity of Zincoxide’s and Titaniumoxide’s inorganic substances, or make inorganic substances smaller, and that use organic compounds which absorb light and protect against ultraviolet rays.

These products feel good, preserve original skin tone and have a longer effectiveness time. When you put on these products, they do not make your skin white, but if you have sensitive skin, they might cause you to develop contact or irritant dermatitis. When pregnant women wear sunscreen for a long time, its components could end up in breast milk.

In situations where you cannot avoid being outside, and you cannot use clothes or hats to protect against sun rays, it is a good idea to use sun creams which do not use nanoparticle ingredients, such as Zincoxide, Titaniumoxide and others. You also should take vitamin C to protect skin health. Dermatology departments have long prescribed using vitamin C to enhance skin recovery and protect against skin cell damage from UV rays.

So, what should we do to care for our skin after we have finished our daily work? First, we should remove all of our make-up. Sun cream applied to our faces cannot be removed by water because the lipids have melted into our skin cells. So, using cleansers is the best way to remove grease. After that, stay cool and refresh your skin by using face packs, skin mists and lotions.

At this point, put the products containing vitamin C and which have anti-oxidative qualities on your face. These products will reduce free radicals from your skin, stretched by UV. Because your skin will likely be dry at this time (due to the removal of sun creams and lipids), you will need to make up for the lack of oil on your skin. Without this process, many problems can arise because of collapsed skin barriers in the case of sensitive skin.

If your skin becomes red, stings from sunburn or desquamates (what comes off in scales), we recommend that you visit a dermatology office. Apart from the UV rays, heat makes your skin hard. Due to the increasing amount of sweat and evaporation from the skin, you need to drink water more frequently.

While drinking normal water is good enough, vitamins and antioxidants are also helpful to drink with water. As you sweat more, certain areas of the skin, such as armpits and thighs, can become red and itchy. These areas can develop severe wounds, so it is important to make your skin cool with water, and then allow it to dry naturally.