Warm weather can be tough on your skin. Not only do shorts, skirts and sandals expose more of your skin, hot days can leave you sweaty and sunburned if you're not careful. Though most people know reapplying broad-spectrum sunscreen throughout the day is one of the most effective ways to protect your skin during summer, adding a few summertime strategies to your routine can keep you looking your best.
Scrub Up with a Twist
Fruit enzymes, like the ones in papaya, pineapple or pumpkin, are common ingredients in body scrubs because of their ability to boost the effectiveness of exfoliation, according to Elle magazine. Exfoliation helps remove dead skin cells before they can clog pores and cause acne. To get the benefits of fruit acids without investing a new product for the season, Elle recommends adding a generous squeeze of lemon juice to your favorite exfoliating scrub.
Restore Moisture
Sweat and sun can take a toll on your skin's moisture reserves, leaving it dull and dehydrated. To restore your skin to health, Linda Collins of Salon Blue in New York recommends in Health magazine combining a cup of plain yogurt with two and a half tbsp. of plain honey to create a homemade mask. Collins says honey cleans skin and restores moisture to it, while yogurt smooths and relieves irritation in parched skin. If your skin is oily, Collins suggests adding a squeeze of lemon to the yogurt-honey mix.
Relieve Bug Bites
If you get bitten by a bug, it's likely to show up as an itchy red welt on your skin. Though the itchiness is usually the most uncomfortable part of a bite, the inflamed red bump isn't attractive either, especially if it's in a highly visible spot. Reader's Digest recommends soothing bug bites with a drop of peppermint essential oil or a dab of toothpaste that contains peppermint oil. The peppermint speeds up blood flow around the bite to help it heal faster and provides a cooling sensation that relieves itching.
Chill Out Sunburns
Despite your best efforts, you may end up with a sunburn now and again. Instead of using aloe vera or other sunburn treatments, skin care expert Renee Rouleau recommends soothing sunburned skin with cold yogurt instead. Lotions can trap heat, making sunburn last longer, explains Rouleau, but yogurt lets skin breathe, releasing heat while it soothes inflammation. Rouleau says you'll get best results if you apply it once an hour, letting the yogurt cool your skin for about 15 minutes before rinsing it off.
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