A Complete Guide to Summer Skin Care in Dallas & Ft. Worth
Is your skin ready for summer?
It turns out that your clothes, makeup shade, and decor aren’t the only things you should switch up when the seasons change; your skin requires some special attention, too. While healthy skin shouldn’t change much with the climate, there are some key summer skincare rules to mind.
Southlake Plastic Surgery & Medspa is proud to serve Dallas & Ft. Worth area with a multitude of skincare products, treatments, and other services!
In this blog, we’ll help bolster your summer skin care with product recommendations, in-office aesthetic treatment recommendations, and preventative skincare health tips to ensure a healthy, radiant glow this summer and all the seasons to come. You can use this blog as a general resource for all your summer skincare needs in Dallas & Ft. Worth. So let’s dive in! 💦
Summer skincare routine
We’ll begin our comprehensive guide with perhaps one of the most powerful tools anyone can have: a skincare routine. You may already have a regimen in place, but In case you’re in need of one, we’ve put together a very simple outline. Farther down in the blog, we’ll explore some potential products you can plug into each of these steps!
Cleanse
This one’s pretty simple. There are different cleansers that work best for sensitive skin, cleansers for dry skin, and even ones for acne-prone skin.
We recommend cleansing your face with warm water at least twice a day, once in the morning to get rid of build-up from your night’s sleep and once in the evening to get rid of dirt and debris from your day!
Exfoliate
You don’t necessarily need to use an exfoliator every single day, but after a long winter, your skin may need it. During the winter, your skin builds up dead skin to help protect it.
So an exfoliant product helps clear out that build-up and open up the pores. This keeps your skin soft and smooth, and also helps other products to fully saturate the layers of the dermis.
Hydrate and treat
Did you know that hydrating your skin is different than moisturizing your skin? Hydration is the process that pulls moisture in, and moisturizing locks and seals that moisture to keep your skin soft and smooth long-term.
The hydrating step includes things like hydrating serums, face oils, and hyaluronic acid gels. You may encounter a moisturizer that includes these items, so the steps can be combined if you like.
Moisturize
Now is the time to lock in that hydration with a moisturizer. Be generous with your moisturizer; your skin will thank you!
Protect
You know what this means: sunscreen!! We love sunscreen 🥰Check out our selection of SPF and take your pick.
Some people prefer to apply it before their moisturizer, but we recommend using your sunscreen last so that there is no extra barrier between you and the sun.
Products for summer skin care
If you’re curious about some of the fan-favorite summer skin care products, peruse through this list. You can browse and decide which ones sound best for you; we’ll let you know for each product how to incorporate them into your routine.
Hydrating retinol
Maybe you’ve heard of retinoids-they’ve kind of been taking the industry by storm lately. If you have yet to implement a retinol into your summer skincare routine, then take this as a sign to do so! Your skin will thank you, and you’ll be that much closer to that summer glow.
Retinol is made of vitamin A and exfoliates the skin, encourages cell turnover and collagen growth, and thoroughly hydrates the skin.
You can add this quick step to your routine during the hydrate and treat phase!
Jojoba oil
Jojoba (pronounced ho-ho-ba) is all around one of the best hydrating additions to your summer skin care regimen. Some of the benefits of jojoba oil include:
- Safe for those with nut allergies
- Non-comedogenic (doesn’t clog your pores)
- Non-toxic
- Shelf-stable
You can use it as your primary moisturizer or add it in as needed. Additionally, jojoba oil is perfect as a carrier for essential oils or other products like retinoids. It is safe enough to use on babies and light enough to hydrate your hair without dense build-up.
Since it’s so lightweight and feels absolutely fantastic on your skin, it’s a great product to apply before or after a long day in the sun. Simply apply it during your hydrate step of the above-mentioned skincare routine, and you’ll be good to go!
RevitaBody spray
Our medical-grade revitalizing skin spray, RevitaBody contains the potent-but-gentle retinoid Hydroxypinacolone retinoate (HPR). The formula is enhanced with antioxidant Vitamins C,E, and Ferulic acid ester in a Jojoba oil base and barrier lipids.
It’s lightweight, absolutely silky smooth, and you can use it anywhere on your body. It dries to a powdery finish that won’t stick to clothing. It’s also 100% fragrance, glycol, and preservative-free!
This is a bonus step you can use after your skincare routine is complete!
Hydra-Riche Moisturizer
This moisturizer is super lightweight, so it’s perfect for the summertime, and it locks in moisture to keep your skin hydrated.
Use this during the moisturizer step!
Treatments for summer skin care:
You can book tons of fantastic aesthetic treatments at our office to ensure you practice the best summer skin care. The aesthetic specialists at Southlake Plastic Surgery & Medspa love to keep you looking and feeling your best all year long. No matter your skin type or concerns, we’ve got a treatment that will do wonders for you.
Here are our suggestions for treatment that will give you the best summer skin of your life!
Moxi laser treatment
Laser skin resurfacing is an incredible treatment for skin care, and is one of our specialties. Moxi is absolutely perfect for the summertime for many reasons.
For one, most of the time it is recommended that you avoid laser skin care in the summer. However, the Moxi laser is perfectly safe for those with a tan or those with darker skin tones, and you don’t have to avoid the sun before or after your treatment!
You can use Moxi as your laser skin resurfacing maintenance treatment during the summer or as a preventative measure. Moxi is wonderful for first-time laser users, as the treatment is gentle and works to prevent signs of aging before they even appear.
SkinTyte
SkinTyte is a quick, non-invasive treatment that tackles skin laxity and stretch marks so that you feel ready for your little polka dot bikini! It works by gently heating the layers of your skin, which induces collagen growth. Collagen is responsible for keeping your skin firm, tight, and smooth, so having more of it is always a plus!
SkinTyte is safe for all skin colors and can be performed on any area of the body where an improvement in skin firmness is desired.
Hydrating facial
A HydraFacial is an amazing way to beat the summer heat and give your skin an extra dose of hydration. Plus, it encompasses the ultra-crucial exfoliation we discussed earlier, extracts the remaining oil and dirt in your pores, and infuses deep moisture.
Serum boosters can be added, which enhance the skin’s vitality and targets issues like dull skin, sagging skin, and aging skin.
Schedule a HydraFacial in Dallas & Ft. Worth with Southlake Plastic Surgery & Medspa at the beginning of summer to help ease the transition of your skin to new temperatures. Schedule monthly recurring treatments, if you can, to maintain results and keep your skin healthy all season long.
RevitaLash®
Summer skin care is much easier when you don’t have to worry about your makeup. If you want a more permanent solution to accentuating your lashes or Latisse® irritates your eyes, come to us for RevitaLash!
This lash treatment will help you achieve fuller, darker, and more dramatic lashes, allowing you to put away your mascara and avoid summer makeup meltdowns.
Dermaplaning
Dermaplaning is an amazing start-of-summer skin resurfacing treatment. If you have dry, uneven, rough, or sensitive skin, dermaplaning offers gentle exfoliation to reveal smooth, radiant skin.
We gently glide a razor-sharp blade over the skin to remove dead skin and vellus hairs (AKA “peach fuzz”) to give you touchably soft skin that’s ready for summer (and SPF 30+, of course).
Bonus product: BodiFirm by Revision Skincare
BodiFirm uses patent-pending iFirm Technology and a unique blend of ingredients to help achieve the appearance of firmer, more tone-looking skin on your arms, abdomen, buttocks, and thighs, especially after a treatment. The benefits of BodiFirm include:
- Improves the appearance of thin, crepey skin
- Corrects sun damage and other signs of aging
- Restores hydration by supporting the skin’s moisture barrier
It is perfect to use after healing from any surgical procedures as a way to complement overall results.
TIPS AND TRICKS
Here are a few expert tips from our skincare specialists for summer skin care in Dallas & Ft. Worth that will help you keep your skin healthy all summer:
Cleanse twice daily
Extra heat and humidity mean it’s absolutely essential to cleanse harmful dirt and oils accumulated on the skin morning and night to keep summer skin looking matte and feeling clean.
Check out our favorite cleansers!
Exfoliate weekly
Regular exfoliation is key to healthy-looking skin. Find an amazing sugar or salt-based body scrub to slough away dead skin cells, excess oil, and harmful dirt and debris. Use chemical exfoliants on the face, like an AHA/BHA product or a retinol in the evening to keep bright, fresh skin shining at the surface. Note: using exfoliants makes daily SPF application even more important!
Lighten up your regimen
Put away your rich, heavy creams and moisturizers along with your cashmere sweaters and winter blankets. Summer skin care is all about lightweight gels, nourishing serums, and hydrating body oils.
Add a Vitamin C boost
Extra UV radiation exposure in the summer leads to more damaging ‘free radicals’ on the skin. Fight this damage with antioxidant-rich Vitamin C! Plus, adding a boost of Vitamin C to your summer skincare regimen helps block the UV rays that aren’t fully blocked by your sunscreen.
Check out Southlake Plastic Surgery’s medical-grade CEF-30 serum, an antioxidant cocktail of Vitamins C and E that enhance retinoid effectiveness.
Preventative summer skin care for healthy skin
Protecting your skin, especially before signs of aging even begin to appear, is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself. However, it’s never too late to begin practicing preventative measures, so take a look at some of these summer skincare information on how to keep your skin healthy for a lifetime.
What happens to skin in summer?
Extra summer sunshine naturally changes the skin’s environment. Changes to our Texas climate require most of us to adjust our skincare habits accordingly. In the summer, this means extra skin care precautions, but you’ll be glad you did. Approximately 90% of changes to your skin are due to UV exposure. This includes signs of aging like wrinkles and sun spots.
More hours spent in the sun make it absolutely crucial to apply (and re-apply) adequate UV protection to avoid skin cancer, brown spots, wrinkles, and sagging skin.
Thanks to summer heat and humidity, you may also feel more sweaty, oily, and shiny than you did during the drier winter. This requires you to switch up your skincare and makeup products to avoid meltdowns, breakouts, or adding any more unwanted oil—while also providing the beneficial moisturization and SPF protection your skin needs.
While many think of tanned skin as a “healthy glow,” skin actually darkens when exposed to sunshine as a protective measure against UVA (aging) and UVB (burning) rays.
Skin cells make themselves thicker with melanin (what we see as “tan”) to prevent UV radiation from penetrating deeper into the skin. This keeps your internal tissues and organs safe from damage to the DNA in your cells. That tan you see? It’s pure damage.
Preventing skin cancer
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, “UV exposure is the most preventable risk factor for skin cancer.” In fact, UV exposure directly causes most cases of melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer.
The experienced skin experts at Southlake Plastic Surgery & Medspa, alongside the AAD, encourage everyone to practice safe sun this summer. That’s why we made properly applying SPF our number one summer skincare tip for patients in Dallas & Ft. Worth.
Meet your new best friend…SPF 30+. Utilize sunscreen generously and often.
Also, schedule regular skin cancer screenings!
Make a habit of thoroughly examining your skin, head to toe, every month. If you notice any new or suspicious spots, in addition to any new itching or bleeding, it’s time to go see your dermatologist.
Even if you haven’t noticed anything suspicious in your monthly self-exams, it is vital to schedule annual professional skin exams with a dermatologist to be doubly sure.
How does sunscreen work?
You probably do not have fond memories of sunscreen from childhood. It was a greasy, messy hassle that could cause painful burning in and around your eyes (and likely kept you from fully enjoying the pool and other outdoor activities).
The good news: there are now sunscreen formulas in just about every texture and delivery method imaginable.
If you need a tinted sunscreen that also protects the skin from free radical damage and gives you a dewy glow, you got it.
If you have extra-oily skin in the summer and need a mattifying sunscreen mist, there are some out there! You can also find extra SPF protection in most makeup foundations and powders.
In 2021, there is no excuse for not wearing a minimum of SPF 30 daily on your face, neck, decolletage, and any other areas regularly exposed to the sun (and don’t be afraid to layer SPF products, too).
Southlake Plastic Surgery’s medical-grade sunscreens are specially formulated without PABA or preservatives—the main culprits in causing breakouts and allergies. Try these sunscreens in tinted and untinted versions to protect your skin.
Sunscreen works by using a combination of two main types of active ingredients: organic and inorganic. Inorganic molecules, like titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, form a physical barrier on the skin, reflecting or scattering UV waves trying to penetrate the skin. Organic components, like oxybenzone, absorb UV radiation and release the energy as heat.
Invest in wide-brimmed hats, and don’t be afraid to carry an umbrella for shade!
A wide-brimmed hat is where function meets fashion in the summer. If you hit the lake or beach, go the extra mile to protect your scalp, hair, face, and neck from the sun’s damaging rays with a wide-brim hat. We recommend bringing an extra-large umbrella to lounge beneath, as well.
Still insist on having a tan? Explore sunless options!
The only safe way to get bronzed skin is to opt for an out-of-the-bottle solution. Just as sunscreen has evolved tremendously, so too have self-tanning options. Gone are the days of looking unnaturally orange or blotchy after applying a self-tanning cream or gel.
Do your research, read lots of reviews, and go for products that offer a gradual or buildable tan to provide more control over how dark you look.
Our summer skin care tips for sunburns
Sometimes, no matter the lengths you go to prevent them, sunburns happen (especially under the Texas sun). Unfortunately, the damage to the skin is already done, but there are measures you can take to ensure you don’t suffer.
At the first sight of a pink glow on the skin, get out of the sun and indoors immediately. Begin applying a moisturizer with aloe vera, colloidal oatmeal, or soy to soothe your skin. Oral anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen or naproxen can reduce inflammation and assist with comfort.
A sunburn draws fluids to the skin’s surface and away from the rest of your body, so you should also increase your water intake to prevent dehydration. To prevent extra damage, wear loose-fitting, tightly woven fabrics that shield your skin from sunlight while your burn heals. Soaking in a lukewarm bath can provide some soothing relief as well.
If you’ve burned yourself to the point of blistering, this means you have a second-degree sunburn, and you must avoid popping the blisters. These blisters help your skin heal and protect you from infection. However, disrupting them could lead to scars.
Come to Southlake Plastic Surgery & Medspa for the best summer skin care in Dallas & Ft. Worth!
Southlake Plastic Surgery & Medspa is proud to be the premier aesthetics destination in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. When you come to our office for summer skincare recommendations and treatments we are with you from beginning to end. You can rest assured knowing a highly trained specialist performs everything from your consultation to your treatments.
Additionally, we invest vast amounts of time, energy, and money in research and continuing education to ensure we offer the best aesthetic patient care possible with the latest technology.
Schedule a Consultation with Southlake Plastic Surgery & Medspa Today
We want you to look and feel confident in your skin this summer. If you need help to achieve healthy, beautiful skin, we’re here for you! Schedule a consultation with us to chat about your skin’s needs, discuss a product, or get expert treatment recommendations.
Our consultation process is highly valued at Southlake, because it allows us to truly get to know you, your skin’s needs, your unique concerns, and your aesthetic needs. The process gives us the ability to customize a comprehensive treatment plan that takes you into consideration. Contact us today! We can’t wait to meet with you.
Or, if you’re not quite ready to make it into the office for an in-person consultation, try out our virtual consultation tool! It’s an incredible resource that allows you to input your concerns and receive expert advice straight to your inbox. This could be product or treatment recommendations. Give it a try now!
