We all love the sun…well, most of us do. However, we know that it’s not good for our skin. So, in order to maintain those youthful, radiant good looks, we need to take a little extra care in the warmer months.
Although the sun is a wonderful source of vitamin D, and lightly tanned skin looks very healthy, excessive exposure can wreak permanent damage, causing you to age before your time. To avoid this, and ensure your skin stays radiant and healthy throughout those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, follow these 5 simple tips.
1. Drink Lots of Water
Those harmful UV rays will dehydrate you, leaving you with dry and rough skin. To avoid this, make sure you’re drinking plenty of water. If you’re spending the day outdoors, even if you’re not in direct sunlight, try to drink between 10 and 12 glasses per day. Yes, that might mean you need to visit the little girls’ room more often than normal, but, you know what they say, a full bladder is beauty…really? They don’t say that?
2. Increase Your Intake of Fruit and Leafy Green Veg
These health-packed foods contain nutrients that help the skin to repair and replenish itself. They are also crammed with free radical (right on, dude) fighting antioxidants, which will actually help to keep you cool.
3. Exfoliate
If you don’t already have a regular exfoliation routine, it’s a good idea to start in the summer. The dry weather creates lots of dust, which will irritate your skin and get into your pores. To ensure that you’re skin is always completely clean and that you’re ridding yourself of all those pesky dead skin cells, exfoliation is key.
Exfoliating soaps or scrubs are readily available and, if you make it part of your daily cleansing routine, it won’t take any significant time out of your day (I know you’re a busy woman).
4. Always Use Sunblock
For the sake of your skin and the sake of your health, make sure you’re not exposing any part of your body to those harmful UV rays. If you’re always telling your kids not to got out without sunscreen, make sure you’re setting a good example. You should be using at least factor 15, anything less is as good as useless.
5. Get Plenty of Sleep
Yep, the amount of good, restful sleep you get will have an affect on your skin. So, this tip really applies all year round. Eight hours, is what many experts recommend, although some people now dispute this.
I would argue that we are all different, so the amount of sleep we need will vary from woman to woman. I also think that it is the quality rather than the quantity of sleep that counts. If you’re asleep for eight hours, but spend that time tossing and turning, because you’re under a lot of stress, it is as effective as having just two hours sleep.
So, make sure that you’re getting enough sleep for you and that you’re doing everything you can to relieve stress and tension.
So, now that you’ve taken good care of your skin, have fun out there, girls!
