Proactive Skin Care: 4 Ways to Prep Your Skin Barrier For Winter

Hey skin addicts! We know winter is the last thing you want to talk about right now, but summer is the time to prepare our skin for cold, dry weather. Some of the most effective treatments for reaching your skin goals like Lumecca (IPL), RF Microneedling, and laser peels are done in the winter months, but can’t be done if your skin barrier is compromised. If you have big skin goals and are wanting to get serious about tackling them this winter, it’s crucial you are using the warmer months to build up a strong skin barrier! Here are 4 ways you can get proactive with your skin care this summer:

Incorporate a Daily Hyaluronic Acid Serum (HA)

Calgary has a dry climate all year round and unless you are super diligent about drinking your daily water intake (be honest!), it’s likely your skin is dehydrated. Hyaluronic acid repairs and protects a compromised skin barrier from excess sun exposure, dryness, and exposure to environmental pollutants. HA works by drawing water into the skin and locking it in resulting in a plump and youthful appearance, in addition to boosting elasticity and encouraging collagen production. One of our favourite lightweight HA serums is AlumierMD’s Ultimate Boost Serum. It’s super silky and leaves your skin incredibly soft after application, but it’s light and absorbs quickly providing that perfect hydration “boost” for summer.  Pro tip: Apply your HA serum on damp skin to allow it to draw in that water and instantly boost hydration levels.

Weekly Exfoliation

Our skin feels less dry and flaky in the summer, but this doesn’t mean we should skip exfoliation during this season. Our skin works all year round to shed dead cells which build up on the surface until they’re swept away. A build-up of dead skin cells clogs pores, traps bacteria, and prevents your skincare from properly absorbing. A once-weekly exfoliation keeps your skin barrier clean and allows your skincare to better absorb. Our choice for an effective weekly scrub is AlumierMD’s MicroDerm Polish. We can hardly keep this polish on the shelf, it instantly sweeps away dead skin cells with a delicious foaming formulation, and leaves your skin glowing, smooth, and refined! 

Regular Facials

Summer is the time for easy, no-downtime treatments, and facials are the star treatment of the season! Facials are about prevention and upkeep; preventing premature aging, breakouts, and skin damage (like a compromised skin barrier), and upkeeping the work you’re doing at home with your skincare regime and sun protection efforts. Your cell turnover cycle is approximately every 4-6 weeks, so a facial at the end of each cycle is recommended to give your skin a clean slate for the next cycle. Plus let’s not forget the self-care benefits of a facial… did someone say scalp massage? Browse our facial menu here!

Broad-Spectrum SPF

While sunlight is essential for our mood and circadian rhythm, we can’t stress enough how harsh the sun is on your skin barrier. Sunburns, dryness, and rapid premature aging force our cells to repair and reproduce each time the sun damages our cells. As we get older, it becomes harder for our cells to repair the damage and we start to see significant changes to our skin that are difficult to reverse like changes to our texture, laxity, sun spots, and deep lines and wrinkles. Wearing a daily broad-spectrum SPF allows you to reap the benefits of sunlight while mitigating the risks. Excess sun exposure is one of the biggest causes of a damaged skin barrier and requires the most prep work before undergoing a professional invasive treatment.

Getting More From Your Skincare and Treatments

A healthy skin barrier makes a huge difference in how your skincare and treatments work for you. A compromised skin barrier due to dehydration, unprotected sun exposure, or incorrect skincare makes reaching your skin goals challenging. Winter is extremely harsh on our skin, so using the warmer months to prioritize your skin health and build up a healthy skin barrier means you can waste no time booking your corrective treatments like RF Microneedling and laser peels for September and onwards! Read about the gold standard in anti-aging treatments in our recent blog post: PRF: Turn Back The Signs of Time, Naturally.