Changing Seasons, Changing Skin. #Skincare #Seasons #ChangingSkin #spring

Spring. Warm weather. Flowers bloom, leaves on the trees and grass grows. When the seasons change, your skin decides it is going to change too. It goes through hormonal changes and sometimes those changes are not fun to live with. Usually from winter to spring skin gets a little bit more oily and you might get more acne. You also need to kick up the SPF a few notches to account for the increase in sunshine. Not only do you get allergies in your body but you might get skin allergies too!

So what are you going to do about these changes? The best thing to do is to adopt a new skincare routine. Every season needs a good skincare regime. I advise that each season you look at how your skin is acting and adapt your regime for that season. You may find that you do not need the products you were using the past few months. Keep them for future use, as you may need them again in any other season.

In spring skin tends to get oilier as the weather ramps up and gets warmer. This means that cleansers might need to be changed and moisturizers will need to get a bit lighter. First, if you are using a cream cleanser then you might want to switch to a detergent based cleanser. This just means one that is a gel or foaming cleanser. If you can get one without sulfates, even better! It needs to be one that will not strip the face, leaving it dehydrated and tight. A cleanser should leave the skin feeling soft, not squeaky clean. If you like a toner, this would be a good time to try a new toner that helps to balance the skin and renew the pH balance after cleansing.

The heavier creams we use need to be moved to night use only or may need to be moved out of the regimen for another season. Serums will be great for this time of year and for summer too. They are lighter in nature, pack a lot of anti-aging or anti-acne ingredients into a nice, light product and they do not overpower the skin. I am all for using as many serums as possible in a skincare regimen! Especially a serum with anti-oxidants that will help kill of free radicals.
Make sure to increase the SPF you are using too. Always leave the house with a SPF 30. I say any time of the year, even winter. Try to make it a mineral sunscreen if possible. Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are great sunscreens. These ingredients are just about the best of the sunscreen ingredients you can find. They block the sun’s rays and actually work as on the skin too. Zinc oxide is an anti-inflammatory ingredient and titanium dioxide is a white pigment that is also used in makeup as a pigment.

If your acne flares up in spring and then gets worse in summer, try salicylic acid first and then move up to heavier players such as glycolic acid, malic acid and benzoyl peroxide. These need to be used a prophylactics and not as spot treatments. It is better to prevent rather than treat. Benzoyl peroxide works great as a prophylactic acne treatment. Start with a low 2.5%. Then work up to a 5% if needed. Use all over the area that gets acne. It can be drying so use 1x per day and every other day if it gets too drying. It is the better acne medicine. Make sure to use white towels, white pillowcases, etc. as it bleaches fabrics. Acne is caused by a buildup of dead skin cells, bacteria and sebum in the hair folicles (pores). See my article on what is acne and how it is treated: http://bit.ly/1jCKE13. Make sure not to over dry the skin.

You will also need to adjust your masks and treatments. Mud masks are nice to use in the spring. I would suggest trying out some new detoxifying treatments for the spring season. These are a great addition to a routine, they help balance out the skin and can actually help with acne too!
I hope that this has helped you get an idea of what to do for spring skincare.

Until Next Time~
Marie
I Am THE Makeup Junkie

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