Face
Jenny Stafford, director at Spa Minérale at Lansdowne Resort, gives us the run down on how to get your face prepped for the season ahead.
Dry skin
Get monthly hydrating facials and moisturizing body treatments. Products containing hyaluronic acid, grapeseed, jojoba and shea are going to help.
Oily skin
If acne isn’t part of the issue here, oily skin can actually be less quick to age, so don’t be too obsessed with defeating it completely. Using a clay-based mask twice a week, a gel-based cleanser, light serums instead of rich moisturizers and blotting throughout the day can help to keep excess oil under control.
Acne-prone skin
Monthly purifying facials and hydrating products are your best bet. When someone has acne-prone skin, sometimes they can over-do it with purifying products, and this can dehydrate the skin, trapping bacteria and impurities in the follicles. Hydrating serums and light moisturizers should be used in addition to acne-fighting ingredients like sulfur, kaolin and salicylic acid.
Sensitive skin
Avoid highly fragranced products. And don’t double up on beneficial ingredients that can be sensitizing when over used. For example, if your cleanser has retinol, your moisturizer should not also have it.
Anti-aging treatments
Go for professional products with higher concentrations of beneficial ingredients and don’t waste expensive serums by slathering. Applying a large amount won’t increase the benefit, your skin can only absorb so much at one time.
Body
Exfoliate, wax and check those expiration dates. Getting the body ready for the summer is a multistep process.
- Exfoliate the face and body before sun exposure, suggests Stafford. Not only will this rid your body of dead skin cells, it will also give you a smooth base for any sunless tanning products.
- Get your waxing routine started sooner rather than later. “The first couple of times you wax, your skin will be more irritated,” says Stafford. “Get a waxing routine started and get waxed every three weeks.” The routine helps sync up the hair growth for an entire area since hair grows at different rates.
- Some items you should have on hand throughout the summer: Stafford suggests a great facial mask in case of accidental over exposure to sun and a great aloe mask, not the green goopy kind. “Find one that is an organic gel,” says Stafford.
- Massages may not get your skin ready, but it will help workout any kinks from your gym workouts, says Jennifer Ferdinand of Serendipity Wellness Studio. “Exercise sometimes leads to more injuries because people don’t build up to where they need to be, they don’t have proper training and they over do it.” And this time of the year, we all tend to hit the gym hard.
- Check your products. There is no use slathering on an SPF if it has expired. Now is the time to take stock of what is in your cabinets. Toss what is expired and purchase quality sun-protecting products.
Nails
Be prepared to walk out in those sandals by pampering your nails before the temps jump. Holy Chic Nail Bar and Beauty Lounge, a waterless-based salon in Fredericksburg, owner Reece Gutierrez tells us how to get those nails in shape.
- Maintenance is key, she says. If you’re getting a pedicure, do it every three to six weeks. If you’ve taken a pause from pedicures in the winter, calluses build up and it will take several sessions to remove it without being abrasive. To avoid this, Gutierrez suggests putting lotion on every single day on your feet, hitting those heels. “Moisturizing is the key to making sure there are no calluses for open-toed season,” she says.
- For manicures, maintenance should be done every two to three weeks. Cuticles grow out and they get ragged, so moisturize as well and use cuticle oil. Her suggestions to condition and nourish the hands and nails: “coconut oil is great; jojoba oil is my No. 1.” But placement is key: Put it on the tip of you knuckle. “A lot of people put it on the line of their cuticle,” she says. “You don’t want to do that. Work around the nail bed and into the cuticle and around your hands.”
(May 2018)
