It’s really important to protect your skin in the summertime, or any time, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your skin care routine should be difficult.
Dr. Randa Khoury, a dermatologist at Kaiser Permanente, says a lot of skin care products try to sell themselves as indispensable to having clear, clean, young-looking skin, but for most people it’s a fairly simple process.
“The big secret is that less is more,” Khoury says. “There are so many things out there that are telling us that we need 12-step skin routines every morning and every evening, and that this should be both expensive and laborious, when that’s simply not true.”
Khoury has eight skin care tips, but they come down to the basics: gentle cleansing, an oil-free moisturizer, and sunscreen.
Take the Steps
Her eight tips:
Brush your teeth before going into your skin care routine. “Even a small amount of toothpaste residual on the skin can lead to perioral dermatitis, which is a really difficult condition to treat, and it looks like a nasty cross between acne and eczema.”
Get your face ready to cleanse. “If you use a headband to keep your hair away from your face, make sure it’s pushed all the way back so that you’re not missing that band of skin at the hairline. Essentially don’t have anything covering your face prior to starting your cleansing process.”
Remove any makeup with a soft cloth or a cotton pad with micellar water. “I don’t recommend using those pre-moistened makeup wipes,” Khoury says. “They don’t do a good job of taking off makeup, and something that’s damp and sitting in a package just really grosses me out, because that is how you grow mold.”
Use a cleaner that’s right for your skin type. If you don’t know your skin type, wash your face with whatever you have and wait an hour. “If your skin feels dry or tight, you probably have dry skin and you want to choose hydrating products,” especially those with glycerin, Khoury says. “If your skin feels oily or greasy, you probably have oily skin” and acne-prone skin, which means you’ll be looking for something with colic acid or salicylic acid. “If your skin feels comfortable, you have balanced skin. I don’t like to use the term ‘normal skin’ — everybody has normal skin.”
Pat your face dry with a clean cloth. “Don’t rub; don’t manually exfoliate it,” Khoury says. “This is where you can cause those micro tears that make your skin more prone to irritation and accelerate the signs of aging.”
Put on any active ingredients, if you need them. “If your skin is balanced and you don’t have specific concerns like acne, skin texture, dark marks, fine lines, etc., skip this step completely.”
Moisturize, then apply sunscreen, or a combination moisturizer-sunscreen if you prefer. Khoury recommends using a product with an SPF between 30 and 50; 50 is best, she says, but more than that is “just probably more expensive.” If you’re using a chemical sunscreen, wait 20 to 30 minutes before going out in the sun. “If you’re using a mineral or a physical sunscreen that’s basically like a liquid shirt, you are good to go.”
And the final step: “Essentially you’re going to do the exact same process at night before bed. But you can skip the sunscreen, because even dermatologists don’t wear sunscreen to bed.”
Cosmeceuticals can help with fine lines or uneven skin tone, “but those aren’t things that everybody needs or everyone should be using,” Khoury says. “Those are things that should be chosen individually and thoughtfully based on your specific skin concerns.”
Feature image by kei907/stock.adobe.com
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