Jayanti Krishnan

Summer is not everyone’s favorite! After all, it creates havoc when it comes to our skin, taking a toll if not cared for properly. With a simple routine and a few easy tips, you can keep your skin looking and feeling its best and save yourselves from damage, tanning, and other skin issues. During this season, it is all the more difficult to keep our skin soft, protected and glowing because of the harsh rays of the sun.

The key mantra is hydration, and only hydration. This can be achieved by following a healthy lifestyle and drinking lots of water, in addition to a basic beauty regime.

Here are six rituals you should include in your beauty regime to keep your skin healthy and glowing this summer:

Fuel it

It is essential to hydrate your body every now and then. While it is important to drink 10 to 12 glasses of water in a day, make sure you also increase your fruit intake to keep yourself hydrated all day long.

Your body runs better when you give it plenty of vitamins and nutrition naturally from fruits and vegetables. These natural wonders are good for the body inside and out. The less sugar you consume and the more vitamins and healthy foods you fuel your body with, the healthier your skin will be overall. Please note that both caffeine and alcohol are diuretics which increase the amount of water and salt expelled from the body. This depletes the water content of the body, dehydrating the skin.

Moisturise 

Moisturising is an essential daily skincare step for every skin type all year round. Believe it or not, the warm, moist air of summer can be just as damaging to skin as cold, dry winter winds. So make sure to follow the ritual of cleansing, toning and moisturising at night before sleeping to revitalize the skin. If you want to go natural, you could use milk and honey or glycerine and rosewater. These are great moisturisers for the skin. For that glowing skin, ensure that you do cleansing and toning before moisturising.

Cleanse and exfoliate

Cleanse your face twice a day and scrub your skin two to three times a week to get rid of dirt and grime from deep within the pores. Exfoliation removes dead, dulling skin debris thereby preventing congestion and improving hydration from toners and moisturisers. A good way to keep your face fresh and cool during summers is to use tomatoes, a great source of antioxidants.

Mix tomato and lemon juice and apply it all over your face (you could also make ice cubes of it). Leave it on for 10 minutes and then wash with cold water. It will cool your skin and keep it hydrated too.

Eyes and skin protection

Use a good sunscreen whenever you step out, especially during summers. This is crucial as sunscreen helps in shielding your skin from harmful UV radiations that bring about the early onset of skin aging. Also, it is best to avoid the excessive heat between 11 am to 4 pm. In case you cannot avoid this, make sure you wear sunglasses, sun hat or carry an umbrella to protect from the blistering heat.

Stay low on makeup

Sure, we all love to apply makeup but during summers you need to keep it low. To protect the skin’s natural glow, the most important thing is to stay away from heavy makeup. Even if you do apply, get into the habit of taking it off before sleeping to let the pores breathe. Stick to simple lip gloss, BB cream and light kajal during summer.

Use home-made face packs

Face packs made from kitchen ingredients like milk, honey and oatmeal can do wonders for your skin by keeping it smooth and hydrated. You can also choose fruit face packs and sheet masks. For suntan, gram flour with lemon and yoghurt may be used. And for a cooling effect, use cucumber based mask.

Put in the time to take care of your skin and stay beautiful and fresh despite the scorching heat.