Organic Skin Care Tips In Hot Session

Every year, summers take a toll on the skin. The scorching heat, pollution, humidity, et al, wipes it off the natural glow, and sometimes, invite infections. Avoid all these hassles and keep your skin radiating like before. As the scorching summer rolls around, our skin begins to experience changes. Isn’t it? With excessive heat and humidity all day, your skin starts screaming for more protection – from exhibiting those annoying rashes and sunburns to the stubborn tan and acne. So it’s essential that you up your skincare game right away to stay away from unwanted summer skin issues.  Here are the organic easy-peasy tips you can follow this season.

 Make water your best friend

At least 8 glasses of water are needed. If possible, carry a water bottle with you and remember to drink at least once every 30 min. Water not only helps you feel fresh, but it also prevents dehydration. Your water intake in summer should be a minimum of 2-3 litres a day. Coconut water, watermelons, and fresh juices are good ways to stay hydrated. Drinking water also helps to flush the toxins from the body. Include yoghurt and buttermilk in your diet.

Include salads and vegetables like cucumber and lettuce in your food – this help the body stay cool from within. Seasonal fruits like watermelons, musk melons; citrus fruits and juices also help keep the skin healthy. Sugary aerated drinks make you feel sluggish due to the excess sugar. Additionally, they don’t add any value to the body as they have no hydrating qualities. If anything, they make you unhealthier and aid in weight gain. So opt for a nimbu paani instead of a cola.

Hydrate your body with a lotion

Find a summery lotion that you won’t forget to put on. It’s time to pack away your thick winter body butter for more light summery lotions. You don’t have time to wait for your lotion to sink in, so look for something light and fast-absorbing. Gels and purees are perfect fast absorbers. Nothing spells summer more than a light refreshing fruity lotion. Make sure you apply right after you dry off from your shower. You need to seal in the moisture your body just soaked in.

Hydration is key at all times during summer. You can use a hydrating face mask after you wash your face at night for some extra hydration while you sleep. Splash your face frequently with water or carry a facial mist to freshen your skin at regular intervals.

Wear Sunscreen

The sun’s UV-A and UV-B rays can be very harsh. Besides giving you a stubborn tan, they can cause premature ageing, age spots, fine lines and wrinkles. A good sunscreen with SPF 30-50 is vital for the summer months for all skin types, even if you stay indoors most of the time. If you go swimming, we suggest you apply sunscreen multiple times. 

Heavy makeup prevents the skin from breathing. Humidity and heat also impact the skin’s ability to breathe. Instead of heavy foundation and other cosmetics, you could consider using a tinted lip balm and a tinted moisturiser if you need to wear some makeup.

Summer Glow

You have so many choices when it comes to adding a little summer tint to your skin, and the tanning bed shouldn’t be one of them. Using a sunless tanner will give your skin a beautiful start to summer. Even if you’re not a fan of sunless tanners all over your body, you can happily use them on your face. If you alternate your facial moisturizer with one that builds a bit of colour, you’ll have a healthy glow that will make it look as though you just spent the weekend on the beach. Most facial tanners build colour gradually, by alternating with your regular moisturiser; you’ll never get too dark.

Shower and wash your face with lukewarm water (not hot!)

Face washing is vital for every skincare routine. Quickly doing so daily or even just a few times a week is a great way to help clear pores. Wash away loose, dead skin cells and let the skin breathe. While just rinsing the face is certainly better than not doing anything at all, it’s always better to use a face wash to thoroughly clean it just as one would do with any other part of the body. Regular soaps and body washes are often too harsh for use on the face, so soap made specifically for the face is a preferable choice for keeping the skin clean, clear and free from irritation.

Sebum (oil) in our skin has a wax-like consistency and using hot water to wash our face or shower with essentially “melts” the oil stripping the skin of much-needed moisture. Lukewarm is best because it allows our oils to warm up a bit allowing a proper cleanse without completely stripping it. Keep at massaging your skin for a full minute to make the most out of your cleanser!

Find ways to manage stress

When we’re stressed or anxious, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol. This hormone activates our flight or fight response (which is a good thing!) but constant stress keeps this response on fatigued overdrive (yep, a bad thing). Specifically to our skin, increased levels of cortisol can cause us to lose our glow by diminishing the skin’s ability to retain moisture and encouraging overproduction of oils. If that wasn’t enough, when you feel anxious or worried, you might notice redness or puffiness on your face. This is a result of increased blood flow, such as dilated blood vessels right underneath the surface of your skin.

Exercise

We all know that getting our sweat on is great for our entire body, but it also has some skin benefits as well. When we move, we circulate our blood which carries oxygen and nutrients to all of our cells. Not only does this provide an instant glow, but it also helps our skin to repair itself faster. Another perk to exercise is it helps to reduce stress and, in turn, reduce cortisol levels.

Beauty sleep is the real deal! While we slumber our bodies heal and regenerate cells. Sleep decreases the stress hormone cortisol which is responsible for skin discolouration, thinning skin, and stretch marks. For the good stuff, sleep also increases the sleep hormone melatonin which acts as an antioxidant to fight fine lines, wrinkles, and skin cancer. While snoozing we also produce new collagen which helps keep our face looking plump and wrinkle-free. Last but not least, we produce a large amount of human growth hormone while we sleep which helps to repair the damage we encounter on a daily basis.