Summer skin care: top tips by experts in the field

Taking care of our skin is a healthy and essential daily routine, regardless of the season of the year. If you haven’t adopted this habit yet, it’s about time to start implementing it.

Seasonal skin care tips

Each time of the year involves specific skin care routines. During summer, when temperatures increase and outdoor activities become more common, it’s important to know exactly how to take care of our skin during the warmest months to guarantee it looks beautiful and healthy, and prevent potential problems and diseases.

Preventing the harmful effects of the sun, protecting the skin and guaranteeing hydration are perhaps the most important aspects that we cannot ignore during these months and which should be included in any summer skin care routine.

Excessive exposure to sunlight not only causes epidermis issues, such as burns, but also accelerates the aging process and can be responsible for skin blemishes and even the much-dreaded skin cancer.

There are various factors that cause skin damage during the summer, but the most decisive factor, as we mentioned before, is excessive sun exposure and ultraviolet radiation. Anyone wondering about skin care during summer must take this into account.

The sun emits two types of ultraviolet rays that damage the skin, UVA and UVB. UVB levels increase between 10 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon, a time when it is recommended that people not expose themselves to the sun, even if wearing sunscreen. On the other hand, UVA rays are high throughout the day, even at 8 in the morning or 6 in the evening, and throughout the year. Therefore, it’s important to wear sun protectors throughout the day and to reapply them in a sustained manner.

So, which protector should you add to your summer skin care routine and use to protect your skin adequately?

Professionals advise the use of broad-spectrum sunscreens, that is, solutions that cover both types of ultraviolet rays and which present a minimum of 30 SPF. This information must be made explicit on the product’s label or granted through a consultation with a professional esthetician or dermatologist.

Key summer skin care tips

Other important recommendations when it comes to summer skin care include:

• Drinking plenty of water and staying hydrated. This will help improve the skin’s appearance and stay healthy within and without, especially if you spend long periods in the sun.
• Washing your face twice a day, upon waking up and at night to keep oil under control and remove impurities. It is important to use suitable products for each skin type.
• Exfoliating your skin. This helps reduce dead cells and ensure a smoother, more beautiful complexion. Ideally, avoid irritation by exfoliating using appropriate products once a week or every 2 weeks, depending on the type of skin.
• Applying natural masks that allow you to clean, hydrate or control the presence of facial fat.

So don’t forget to keep your skin hydrated, as high temperatures, the pool, the sea and all the typical summer activities can dry it up more than usual. Use a good moisturizer for your body and another one for your face, one that is specific to your skin type.

How can you find out what your skin type is and what specific measures you should take to care for it? Well, here’s where the importance of skin specialists comes in, helping you find out your skin type as well as providing guidance and education on the use and correct choice of skin care products, both for summer skin care and all the rest of the seasons.

For these and many other reasons, it is important to train professionals in the area of Cosmetic Medicine so that they’re able, with the appropriate tools and knowledge, not only to provide quality treatments, but also to make the appropriate recommendations to their patients and thus take care of their skin’s health and beauty. 

 Dr. Alexandra Araujo

Cosmetic doctor. Anti-Aging Medical

Health and Nutrition Coach

Coordinator at the Master of Cosmetic Medicine. CEMP