With summer coming up, your skin is going to be exposed to more sun – and you need to protect it. But a study showed that most Americans don’t even use sunscreen at all. Only 14% of men and 30% of women said that they regularly use sunscreen on their face.
This might be one of the reasons that one in five Americans develops skin cancer by the age of 70. Wearing sunscreen is important and keeps your skin as fresh and healthy as possible. Besides sunscreen, there’s a number of other summer skin care tips that you should be following to protect your skin.
Summer Skin Care Tips for Your Best Skin Yet
We all love that summer glow we get when the warmer months come around, but make sure that you’re getting it while being safe at the same time – the sun is fun, but can also be damaging.
Don’t Neglect Your Lips
There’s a lot of focus on your skin, but your lips also get blasted by the sun just as much as the rest of your body. Make sure you give them the TLC they need by using a lip balm with SPF in it while you’re out there enjoying the beach, or you could be in for some painful burns.
Choose the Best Foods
When it comes to your skin, you can literally feed your face and the rest of your body with the right kinds of food. If you’ve got strawberries, cut one open and massage it across your face in circles.
The properties in the strawberry will help to lighten your skin and make dark spots fade over time.
You can also snack on cantaloupe to help improve the appearance of your skin. Cantaloupe is brimming with antioxidants, and not only does it help fight off free radicals, it delivers extra hydration to your skin to give you a dewy glow.
Treat a Sunburn Right
You know the drill – when you get a sunburn, put aloe on it and take a cold shower. We don’t need to tell you twice, but what might make you do a double take is the fact that you can prevent sunburns internally.
It’s been shown that orally taking vitamin E in capsule form can help reduce the potential for getting a sunburn because it helps reduce inflammation. If it’s too late and the burn’s already happened, you can pop open the capsule and spread the oil on your skin for relief.
Choose the Right Outfits
We know you want to look cute, but avoid any clothing that’s too tight or thick when you know you’re going to be spending a long day in the sun. If you get sweaty while wearing constricting clothing, you could develop rashes or infections from the irritation.
Fake it Till You Make it
If you don’t want to spend all summer sitting in the damaging sun hoping to get a perfect tan, we don’t blame you. And we applaud you – it’s much healthier for your skin to cover up than be constantly exposed to UV rays.
But since you still want to look sunkissed, you can use a fake tanner. And don’t worry about looking orange. These tanners are proven to give you a natural glow for summer skin, otherwise, try a tinted moisturizer with SPF.
Mask it Up
The hot summer days can cause bumps and irritation in our skin. Fight against those spots with an at-home glycolic peel.
It sounds fancy, but you can do a peel at home for fresh, healthy skin. It can help reduce bumps and spots and get rid of dark spots you may have accumulated in the sun.
Give Yourself a Hand
Just like your lips, your hands are another part of your body often forgotten when it comes to applying sunscreen. This is often why age shows in your hands – people forget that the skin there is delicate and wrinkles easily!
When you’re lathering up, be sure to give your hands some extra care. Use a hand cream with SPF to protect your hands daily from UV rays.
Prevent Acne
All that sweating is bound to make your skin more acne prone because it clogs your pores. Go for an all natural or certified vegan moisturizer for acne prone skin to reduce the chances of breaking out. Make sure the best face moisturizer for acne prone skin you’re using are non-comedogenic, so they’re not clogging up your pores.
Check the label on your sunscreen as well to make sure it’s non-comedogenic to make sure your skin can breathe.
Protect Your Scalp
If you’ve ever gotten a sunburn on your scalp, you know it’s an experience you want to prevent. Spray your scalp with cool water, or look for a sunscreen that you can also apply near the top of your head. A hat or a scarf also works as a great solution to protect your head from the sun.
Keep Your Strands Safe
Your skin is not the only thing that can burn in the sun – your hair is also being exposed to the rays. The humidity and heat of summer can be killer on hair, so be sure to deep condition your hair and keep the frizz level down. Coconut oil works well as a simple and effective treatment for your strands.
You may also want to consider switching to clarifying shampoo. If you’re spending a lot of time poolside, chlorine can build up in your hair and make it more susceptible to breakage. A clarifying shampoo will help prevent that build up and deliver the nourishment your hair needs to keep looking healthy in the summer heat.
Take Your Care To Another Level
If you want to make sure you’re doing everything you can to stay healthy this summer, you can ask your doctor all your concerns about how to beat the heat.
Meritage Medical Network also has an archive of information regarding your skin.