The Herbal Health Coach Health & Wellness Magazine - Summer 2021 Issue

So what does that mean to our skin?

If your skin type changes from normal to oily during summer, then you should also change your skin care system to treat oily skin, rather than using the system for normal skin. It is important to remember that with the changing of the seasons, your activity levels may change together with the types of foods you eat and the fluids you drink. They all contribute to your internal environment and this is reflected by your skin.

Remember your skin is a living, breathing organ that adapts to the environment and therefore you need to adapt your skin care approach accordingly.

The other seasonal extreme is Winter. In winter, the air is generally cooler – in some parts of the world it is freezing and thus our skin reacts just as it does in summer to the change in climate.

Unlike summer, during winter we tend to ad heat to our physical environment and like air conditioning, heating too dries the air reducing its moisture content. It is a principle of physics that if you are in a dry environment, your body will loose moisture to the dry environment. Hydration is therefore very important and necessary to stop your skin from becoming dry.

Dry and cracked lips are classic symptoms of dehydration that often appear during late Autumn and Winter. But the drying of the skin goes beyond the lips. Just like in Summer, your skin needs the right skin care regime to keep it moist and hydrated.

While in Summer normal skin may become slightly oily, in Winter normal skin will tend to become dry and in some people even increase in sensitivity. This is because the cold air will tend to close the pores rather than open them as happens during summer. So the bodies natural oils are not being secreted onto the skin and thus the natural oils that protect the skin are reduced and the skin will be more vulnerable.

Again it becomes necessary to increase the frequency of applying your moisturising cream and drink warming, hydrating fluids. You may want to consider using a nourishing night cream during this time, if you don’t already use one.

People suffering from Eczema/Dermatitis, which gets worse in Winter, need to pay particular attention to their fluid intake. I know from personal experience, that if I do not drink enough water, my skin soon lets me know and becomes very dry, itchy and irritated.

It easy to forget to drink water and other hydrating fluids during winter, because the temperatures are lower and the heat of summer which tends to make one want to drink cooling drinks is not there to remind us.

For people with oily skin types, Winter is often a ‘good time’, because the cold climate causes the skin’s pores to close and thus less sebum is secreted. Similarly, people with dry skin types tend to have a reprieve in summer when pores open and secrete more oils that lubricate the otherwise dry skin.

Again it is important for either scenario to adapt the skin care regime to the changes in the skin. So if you have ‘normal’ skin in winter (oily skin types), than use a skin care system suitable for normal skin. Conversely, if you have a normal skin type in Summer (dry skin types), than change the skin care system to suit. Your skin changes with the seasons and therefore so should your skin care system.

Often the ‘normal skin type’ or ‘true skin type’ is most obvious during the mid-Autumn/mid-Spring seasons. These seasons are usually mild, representing an ‘average’ of the seasonal extremes. It is then that your true skin type(s) is most easily determined.

I’ll give you an example. Most of the year round, my skin type is generally normal to dry from the neck down. My face has a tendency to a slightly oily T-Zone, while the lower half of my face and cheeks are slightly on the dry side and my neck is normal.

In summer, my T-Zone gets oilier and the rest of my body’s skin stays mostly normal, maybe with a slight tendency to dryness. In Winter, my oily T-Zone becomes normal, the rest of my face stays normal to dry, but my lower legs become very dry unless I stay on top of it and make sure I drink enough fluids and use plenty of moisturising cream.

Remember that most people have several skin types over their body and especially on their face. It is more common to see two skin types, as illustrated in the example above, than just one uniform skin type.

As I mentioned, mid-Spring and mid-Autumn are like the average of Summer and Winter and often during this time, your ‘true’ skin type is revealed. However you need to be aware that even during these two seasons your skin type may change as either Winter or Summer gets closer.

So get to know your skin and how it reacts to the changing seasons; adapt your skin care system and make sure you use natural skin care products to ensure you do not introduce potentially toxic chemicals into your body.