Spring is finally here! And it took long enough... The warmer weather means shedding those clunky winter layers and letting your skin breathe! In this Healthy Skin series, I'll be talking about what
you'll need in the coming months to protect your skin from head to toe. (This means a lot of sunscreen!)
First of all, you know that your body skin is not the same as the skin on your
face. If you suffer from breakouts or have
even slightly oily skin, most sunscreens just feel gross. The creams are either goopy or greasy and even the
ones that say "oil-free" often don't feel so great.
Here are a few things you need to know about sunscreen
for the face is that for a long time manufacturers thought consumers want to have a moisturizing sunscreen, since the sun
has a slightly drying effect on certain skin types. This has caused way too many SPF moisturizers to be formulated as though everyone has super dry skin. Watch out for labels that talk too much about the cream having moisturizing qualities. What the skin really needs is water, not
lubrication.
Sometimes the claim of "oil-free" can actually be a red flag. Many base ingredients that are meant to replace oil are waxy substances that clog
pores until they're totally stuffed. If you like natural or organic
brands, check in with a knowledgable Esthetician (like me! :)) to make sure the
ingredients are suitable for your skin type.
People email me all the time with ingredient lists, and what surprises them when I respond is that some of the most pore-clogging ingredients are natural! Raw materials like cocoa butter
and coconut oil are known to be
very pore-clogging. Shea Butter is
another comedogenic (pore-clogging) ingredient.
