Spring Skin Care Tips
Unlike the more obvious beauty challenges that come with winter and summer, springtime brings its own set of troubles—allergens and random weather patterns, mostly. Nevertheless, whether we’ve got sensitive, hormonal, or “normal” skin, every complexion has a better fighting chance when it can face any climate curveball unscathed. Follow these skincare tips for spring to keep your routine on-point!
Flex your dermal defenses
From heat rash to oily pores, the shifting temperatures outside can cause some not-so-welcome changes to our skin’s moisture-hydration balance. Let’s review some spring-specific steps to defend our dermal barrier against dryness.
Get control over greasy pores
As the weather can yo-yo from warm to frigid, our sebaceous glands can get confused, and in response, they get trigger-happy with sebum production. Don’t worry though; it’s just our body’s natural way of lubricating our skin! The good news is that sebum isn’t the enemy…as long as you don’t over-cleanse.
“Oily-skinned people tend to wash their skin more than someone who has normal or dry skin,” says dermatologist Dr. Karyn Grossman. The problem here is that when you overwhelm your skin with harsh ingredients or exfoliants, you’re working against your skin’s natural functions instead of working with them. So the key is to strengthen your skin’s built-in defenses, building up its protective lipid barrier (a fatty sebaceous coating), so you don’t mess up the whole system and risk triggering even more oil!
Dr. Grossman recommends restoring our skin’s hydration internally and topically. Drink plenty of water and use gentle lotions that rely on fermented ingredients to clean and polish our complexion. Toners with rice water, for example, are an excellent natural catalyst that essentially feeds the friendly microbes on our skin surface to control sebum and other imbalances.
Pollen and skin dryness
Spring breeds another beauty burden: airborne pollen! With the new growth of flowers and blooms, pollen is everywhere; it gets carried by the wind, which blows these irritating powdery substances all over, even through the open windows in our homes! If our skin’s dermal barrier is too weak, it’ll struggle to defend itself from these floating grains.
In this case, our skin can show signs of its struggle with red patches, eczema, and dryness, says Dr. Emer. To protect our dermal barrier from these pesky pollen particles, he recommends using a moisturizer with dewy natural botanicals, which work to improve our skin’s outer defenses. The Calm Daily Moisturizer, for instance, delivers the necessary fatty acids our skin needs, formulated with Cottongrass and Sunflower for long-lasting hydration. By coating the dermis and preventing water loss, it calms redness for a richly hydrated complexion.
Beware of airborne allergens
Although we may not “officially” be allergic to something, we can still have sensitivities to certain particles that bug our skin. And there are tons of allergens floating everywhere in springtime!
The rains can spread the growth of mold spores; there’s also more animal dander and fungi germs hovering in the air. To nourish the dermis against these intruders, fermented coconut extract is proven in clinical studies to have outstanding restorative and anti-inflammatory properties, helping to protect the skin against the aging effects of allergens. Plus, it can also help increase collagen and hyaluronic acid in skin!
That’s why more dermatologists are paying attention to natural skin-balancing treatments made with fermented coconut like the Replenishing Biocellulose Mask, enriched with Rosebay and Willowherb to tighten pores and light-up a healthy glow.
Boost your dermal immunity
When spring’s in the air, your hormones and immune cells can “sense” something is off. As the climate can alternate between warm and chilly, our body must adapt to these changes in our environment. But our skin can't just snap its “genetic fingers” (to work its ~immunity magic~) and prepare for a new climate overnight! It takes time for the dermis to get accustomed to these conditions and tailor its moisture levels accordingly.
Prevent hormonal acne
If our bodies are sluggish to calibrate the new climate status, we can experience a hormonal imbalance, a sort of “miscalculation” for how much sebum our skin needs to stay conditioned. For acne-prone skin, this surge of sebum increases the chances of getting clogged pores, greasy breakouts or worse, those hyper-swollen cystic grandaddy pimples!
Dr. Karyn suggests using a gentle cleanser with probiotics to purify pores without disrupting the delicate dermal barrier. The Rescue Rebalancing Cleanser is a great option to update your skin care in spring because it’s fortified with Rice Water (a natural probiotic) to shrink pores. It also features Mandarin Orange, which works to rebalance acne-prone skin for a fresher radiance.
Wear an SPF lotion
Boosting our dermal immunity includes protecting our skin from UV light. Even if it’s a rainy overcast day, we’re still vulnerable to 30% of the sun’s free radicals. So, the solution?
Dr. Emer recommends layering a vitamin C serum under your SPF lotion. This way, even after the sun block wears off (after two hours), you’ll still have that second layer of defense from the UV-blockers in vitamin C. It also works to reduce dark spots and repair damaged skin cells, helping to brighten and perk up your complexion over time. Yet, keep in mind, you shouldn't rely on a vitamin C serum alone to combat the aging effects of UV light. You should always re-apply your SPF lotion every two hours to stay sun-safe all day.
Our skin needs are always changing with our environment. And as much as we love clinging to our ol’ faithful formulas, it’s important to step outside that comfort zone, so our skin can flourish in any weather! Besides, knowing how to tweak our routine can be an empowering skill. The more we listen and learn about our skin’s seasonal cravings, the fewer struggle-is-real moments we’ll have.
About the author, Jasmin Figueroa
Jasmin is an accomplished formulation scientist and skin health expert who has spent her career listening to consumers and developing products that rock. A founding member of the Nuria community, she loves traveling with her family, chilling with her friends at the beach, and will totally judge you if you don’t wear SPF.
