Summer Skin Care: Less is More

During summer months, the skin is exposed to a lot: UV rays, heat, humidity, chlorine, sea salt, pollution, and more. All of this can lead to damage showing as hyperpigmentation, acne, inflammation, and irritation. To help ensure you don't walk away after each summer with more issues than you started with, it's important to pare down your skin care routine.

Here are some steps to adjust your skincare routine for summer.

1. Cut down on the use of acids.

Regular use of acids can be helpful in maintaining a youthful, smooth, clear complexion. But they work by thinning out and disturbing the stratum corneum, or the skin's surface layer. This layer is made up of anucleated cells, lipids, ceramides and proteins, and serves many important functions. The stratum corneum:

• protects against dehydration or transepidermal water loss (TEWL)

• protects against harmful pathogens and toxins

• supports a healthy microbiome

• regulates temperature

• supports a healthy inflammatory response

Overuse of acids depletes this protective layer and leaves the skin and body more susceptible to the harmful effects of UV rays, toxins, and potential bacterial or fungal issues from increased sweat/humid environments.

Instead, opt for a gentle weekly physical exfoliation. I like the Clarisonic or Foreo devices during the summer for extra cleansing and gentle exfoliation. But don't use them every day! That's too much stimulation/exfoliation and can aggravate the skin.

If you can't give up your acid habit, cut back on the strength of the formula. If you're on AHA's, switch to a gentler option like PHA's or mandelic acid, both of which have larger molecule sizes and won't penetrate as readily. If you're on an acne-management regimen and regularly use BHA's, try cutting down on the frequency or switch to just spot-treating active breakouts or blemish-prone areas.

2. Increase your use (and intake) of skin supporting ingredients

Antioxidants, vitamins, and anti-inflammatories support your skin in its important protective functions. Your skin relies on a healthy reserve of antioxidants to serve as your first cellular line of defense against the skin aggressors mentioned above. Antioxidants work by protecting your cells against free-radical damage - the kind caused by UV rays, stress, pollution, and toxins.

3. Use a healthy, zinc-based SPF every day, all day.

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