Spring Cleaning Your Skincare!
It's that time of year when we get to purge the old, dusty clutter that has been hiding in our homes all winter and let that fresh spring air in! As an avid organizer and seasonal redecorator, this time of year screams yard sales, refreshing my decor both at work and at home.
Thrifting is a favorite hobby of mine and also doubles as a way to off load all that old clutter and shop, and did I mention yard sales?! I am obsessed with them! With all these activities, both outdoor and indoor, we forget to overhaul one very important piece of our lives...our skincare!
While cleaning out the cabinets at home, don't forget to sift through your skincare and see if there is anything running low or in need of swapping out. Your skincare should change to match the season/climate just like your clothes do. We don't wear heavy winter coats in spring and summer, so our skincare should reflect that same change.
Featured in an article in InStyle.com:
“‘The environmental conditions of where you live can impact the way your skin behaves, so paying attention to the weather will effect what types of treatments it needs’, says Saison skin care founder Julie Kim”
Before heading to your bathroom and throwing everything out, how do we change up our skincare without freaking our skin out? This is a question I get often as most skincare users are very dedicated to their product line and concerned that swapping out their tried-and-true products will lead to unbalanced, unhappy skin.
For starters, don't use more than 2-3 product lines on your skin (by product line I mean brands like Origins, Kheil’s, Skin Script, etc.) and keep your cleanser + moisturizer in the same brand, serums can be from two brands but one should match your cleanser or exfoliant brand. The idea is these product lines/brands are formulated to be layered with each other and their ingredients speak to each other, thus giving your skin good results. If there are too many product lines being layered, their ingredients might not be able to speak to each other.
One good way to make sure your products "speak the same language" is to use similar quality products. For example, I would want to layer a Clean & Clear Cleanser followed by Lira Clinical Serums. The serums are way more powerful than the cleanser, so the cleanser can't set the skin up correctly to recieve them.
I'm not saying change out all your products, but swaping out a few at a time shouldn't cause your skin to freak out. Changing up your moisturizer depending on the season is a great place to start. When it is turning from summer to autumn, go with a little heavier weight moisturizer so that you can combat winter dryness. When switching over to spring/summer your going to go in the opposite direction and will want a lighter weight moisturizer.
Also, look into a physical SPF as they are less likely to cause any skin reactions, Zinc is a natural skin healer and offers great sun protection. You might want to add in a hydrating serum if you’re not using one already, or a skin-protecting serum with Vitamin C and loads of peptides to replenish sun-damaged skin. If you are not currently using any skincare serums, start with a hydrating serum, this is also a good time to try a new product line out.
A very common product that rarely matches any of the other skincare products we are using are facial masks. Using a mask regularly is key, and often overlooked and under-used. A gel mask or sea-mud based mask can help winter-stressed skin, look for ingredients like Kelp, Kaolin Clay (doesn't harden) or Spearmint as they will help soothe and restore skin. Gel masks can also help soothe sun-stressed summer skin or keep skin balanced when traveling via airplane.
When practicing skincare spring cleaning, what needs to be tossed out and what can just be swapped out and saved for later? Things that for sure need to be tossed out are any products that claim to contain Vitamin C and have been open for longer than 6 months. Any SPF that has been open for longer than 12 months, throw it out! Exfoliants all have various expiration dates so if you're not sure how long its been since you opened it, check the date and think back, was it open longer then that? Toss it!
Not all products need to be tossed out, some products can be tucked away until a later date like in the case of your moisturizer which has a 12 month shelf life, or a cream-based cleanser which can be saved to use as a first cleanse followed by a foamy cleanser, or as a makeup remover. Traveling? Take some of these off-season prodcuts and put them into travel jars as sometimes the climate we travel to needs that seasonal skincare!
Speaking of which, when clearing out the clutter from winter, check expiration dates on everything you put in and on your body. Expired product is never safe and expired SPF may actually cause more harm than just being a little harder to spread. To read more about this check out this Throw It Out Thursday blog which breaks down tossing out old product, welcoming in new brands, expiration dates and even layering your products!
The last thing you need is old, expired product cluttering up your shelves. Doing all these things should be enough to keep you busy for a while, just be consistent with anything you do in regards to your self-care, no one else is going to do your self-care for you!
Till next time, be good to your skin and even better to yourself,
xx eri