One Minute Micro Self-Care Tips for a Healthier & Happier Summer. Advice from consultant dermatologist Dr Eva Melegh;
Boost Good Skin Bacteria
Like the gut, the skin has both good and bad bacteria populating it. Bad skin bacteria are caused by external dirt and pollution as well as oxidisation of skin sebum as it reaches the skin’s surface and mixes with air.
Bad skin bacteria can cause inflammation and infection of skin pore which leads to acne as well as get into cracks and weak spots on the skin and cause itching, swelling and slow down healing. Bad skin bacteria can also damage skin barrier function which leads to skin dryness and cracking.
Good skin bacteria are bacteria that’s beneficial to skin growth and helps maintain and protect skin barrier function, makes skin more flexible and robust against external pollutants and chemicals from other skin care and cosmetic products and reduces infection of the skin pore from sebum oxidisation as well as keeping the skin pore more flexible.
Summer skin is prone to harbouring more bad skin bacteria due to sweat and suncreams.
One Minute Micro Self Care Tip
Clarol Silver Serum (clarol.co.uk) is a light skin serum that contains a specific ‘smart’ silver ingredient that feeds good skin bacteria while starving bad skin bacteria. One minute a day could result in avoiding hours and days of problem skin issues that can result from skin bacterial imbalance. Apply daily straight after cleansing under cosmetics or sun creams and overnight under any overnight skincare products to maintain and boost levels of good skin bacteria while you sleep.
Stop Washing Your Face
Sebum is an oily, waxy substance produced by your body’s sebaceous glands. It coats, moisturises, and protects skin. We need sebum for healthy skin yet too often we strip the skin of this vital substance in the name of cleanliness.
Scrubbing your face with cleansing washes with water to clean out pores and wash away dirt, cosmetics and general ‘grease’ also results in removing most the skin’s natural oils, leaving it drier and more fragile which is exactly what you don’t need in sun-exposed skin.
One Minute Micro Self Care Tip
You can clean away all the dirt and make up from your face while protecting and preserving the skin’s natural oils by doing several swipes of a non-comedogenic perfume-free water-free cream cleanser such as Kalme Water-Free Cleanser (kalme.co.uk) for sensitive skin to clean skin.
This method is far more beneficial for preserving your skin’s moisture and elasticity over the summer months than washing daily with facial washes or foaming cleansers and water, especially as you enter your 30’s when skin naturally starts to become drier.
Use a Daily Lubricant
Vaginal discomfort is a symptom of summer, especially for women in perimenopausal years and beyond which is experienced by 1 in 3 women aged 45+. Sweat, heat and external irritants such as chlorine from pools or salt water can trigger irritation, itching and vaginal dryness, all of which can ruin summer activities and holidays.
One Minute Micro Self Care Tip
Lubricants are not only for sex, but some are also designed to help relieve vaginal dryness and discomfort on a daily basis. A quick dob of a daily natural and skin repairing lubricant twice a day can help avoid a whole host of summer vaginal discomfort issues.
In2mate Lubricant (in2mate.co.uk) contains a natural plant based lubricating ingredient plus antioxidants specially designed for vaginal use to improve elasticity of vaginal skin as well as prebiotics to help increase the growth of good bacteria in the vagina, all of which helps guard against bacterial build up, irritation and dryness.
Wear a Zinc SPF Every Day
Sunburn is the quickest way to age skin, and inflammation from it can trigger a host of other sensitive skin issues such as rosacea and eczema flares.
One Minute Micro Self Care Tip
Many sun creams can cause skin reaction in sensitive skin, especially chemical filter ones and those with perfume.
Wear a day cream with a natural mineral based daily SPF (even on cloudy days) every day during summer to protect skin from UV damage from sun and daylight, which can break down skin barrier function and increase the risk of sensitivity and redness. Zinc is the best mineral SPF for sensitive skin as it has the lowest reactivity of any mineral based SPF. Kalme Day Defence (kalme.co.uk) has a pure mineral SPF25 plus an anti-redness ingredient for sensitive skin and skin prone to redness.
Prepare to Avoid a Holiday Cold Sore
Sun is the most common trigger for herpes simplex outbreaks (cold sores) which are experienced by 50% of the population meaning that summer and in particular summer holidays are a high-risk time for a cold sore to pop up. Cold sores typically last 5-10 days, and aside from looking very prominent, they are painful and mean you must avoid intimacy while you have one, all of which can ruin a summer holiday entirely.
There is no cold sore cure as such, and most available treatments are only for when a cold sore has broken out but once this has happened the sore is going to take its course and likely crust, burst and then scab. The key is to try and prevent this from happening.
One Minute Micro Self Care Tip
The earlier an emerging cold sore is caught the less severe the outbreak is likely to be and sometimes the sore can even be prevented from breaking out at all, so preparing for this say before a summer event or holiday can save a cold sore from ruining the occasion.
Lip Q Liquorice Balm (lipq.co.uk) is a daily lip balm proven by the Herpes Virus Association to help reduce the intensity of outbreaks due to its strong anti-viral action. Apply a quick slick of balm it 2-3 times daily through the summer months.
Also avoid hot water and hot drinks instead drink tepid Liquorice Tea in the run up to a summer event or holiday.
Poppy Watt