Our Top 5 Tips for Preparing Your Skin For Summer

Its the end of April, and summer with soon be upon us. The lighter evenings, birds tweeting, and (some) sun trying to poke through the Manchester clouds; its giving *summer is coming*! 

At the clinic we love to educate our clients on creating healthier, happier skin, so what better way to start our blog, by giving 'Our Top 5 Tips for Preparing Your Skin For Summer':

1. Get an exfoliating facial treatment

The skincare world has an overwhelming amount of offerings for different facial treatments. But which one do you go with? Over the winter, our skin cells are shedding more rapidly. If we do not get these removed, we then have a build up of dead skin cells on the surface of our skin. This is going to give us that dull, tired-looking appearance as we come out of the winter period. You want to be searching out exfoliating treatments to get rid of that build up of dead skin cells, press reset on the skin, and allow those shiny, new skin cells to come through and bless the world. After all, we all want that summer glow!
"Which treatments are exfoliating?" - I hear you ask
At Afterglow, we offer a range of chemical peels, enzyme peels and dermaplaning treatments to rid of those dead skin cells.
For summer, enzyme peels work amazingly to gently (but effectively) remove the outer epidermis, without the use of active acids or chemicals. If you are about to go on holiday, this is the best option for you!
If you experience acne or pigmentation issues, you may want to go for a chemical peel as this is stronger, and the active acids will penetrate deeply into the skin, to change the health of the skin and reduce conditions such as acne and pigmentation. Rememeber to book your chemical peel at least 7 days prior to any sun exposure/holiday!
If you have an event coming up, maybe you are going to the wedding of the year, or being a guest at a baby shower, Dermaplaning is a gorgeous treatment to exfoliate, brighten, and get your skin makeup ready!

2. Ensure your SPF cupboard is stocked!

Sun Protecting Factor (SPF) is an absolute must for your skincare cupboard. Did you know that the No.1 cause of premature ageing, is sun damage? We must protect the skin on our face and neck from sun damage as much as possible to prevent fine lines, wrinkles, pigmentation issues, enlarged pores, texture, etc. OF COURSE we must protect all of our body, but the skin on our face and neck will age the quickest if we dont protect it! 
SPF 50 throughout the spring/summer months will help protect your skin against sun/photo/UV/blue light damage. Ageing is a privledge, right?! But no one wants to age any sooner than they have to!

3. Reduce your Retinol usage

Retinol is a fabulous anti-ageing ingredient, that I believe, all over-25-year-olds should have in their routine. Retinol is made from Retinoic Acid (derived from Vitamin A) which is extremely UV light-sensitive; meaning that the skin is prone to pigmentation issues if Retinol is used prior to sun exposure. (And when i talk about Retinol, im also talking about any other form of Vitamin A - retinal, retinaldehyde, tretinoin, adapalene, etc).
So you absolutely need to start cutting back on your Retinol usage if you are going baking in the sun! Ensure you dont use your Retinol at least 5 days before your holiday, and dont think you need to pack it in your suitcase - you can absolutely save some luggage weight on that item! The retinol stays safely at home!

4. Internal and external hydration

We, of course, know that during the autumn and winter our skin can be super dehydrated, but do not forget about hydration in the summer months too!
Internal hydration is adequate when drinking 2-3litres of water per day, it helps to keep the skin supple, whilst flushing out toxins from our system; and whilst internal hydration is what we all think about, external hydration is just as important! External hydration is where we feed the skin with hydrating ingredients such as Hyaluronic Acid, Beta Glucan, Squalane - just to name a few.
So, just because the sun is peeping through, don't forget to give your body and skin what it needs to keep healthy!

5. Clean your makeup brushes

I mean, you already KNOW that the rules are weekly/bi-weekly for this, but if you have been slacking, here's your reminder.
Makeup brushes harbour bacteria, there is no doubt about that. In fact, you don't need me to tell you that. But you do need to clean them with anti-bacterial brush cleaner to keep them free from grime! If you havent got brush cleaner, anti-bacterial hand soap also works very well. I've even known clients to throw their makeup sponges in the washing machine!
In the summer we love to maintain that healthy skin glow, so ensure you are using clean brushes to apply your makeup, before Mr Clogged Pores gets involved!

Thank you for reading our first blog post, I hope you've found it useful.
Let me know below what you want information on next...

Love, G xx