Tips for Beautiful Summer Skin

One thing I have never taken for granted is my skin. If you are good to your skin, your skin will be good to you.

Now, when you’re in the midst of winter and suffering from ultra dry skin – it’s easy to pull out a moisturizer and slap it on. Any moisturizer helps during those cold and dry winter months. However, when the humid dog days of summer hit, do you know how to respond?

1. Begin your beauty regimen on the inside. During the summer months, trade heavy stews and soups for salads. Drink iced green tea or a cool, refreshing wine spritzer or frozen fruit daiquiri.

2. Summer signals the beginning of increased activity, which causes you to lose moisture through perspiration. Drink water before you feel thirsty. Once you feel thirst, you’re already slightly dehydrated. Carry water with you to avoid those parched moments.

3. Chlorine is not so friendly with your skin, hair and nails; it leaves them dry and brittle. Wash off chlorine as soon as you step out of the pool or hot tub. Add a water filter to your shower to trap chlorine and other chemicals. You’ll notice a difference in your skin within a few days.

4. Apply creams and lotions with a high Sun Protection Factor (SPF). Lightweight summer clothes don’t completely block the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. In fact, lightweight clothing offers very little SPF—usually around 8. When you spend concentrated time in the sun, apply a water-resistant or waterproof sun block, and use a sun block with zinc on your face. Reapply often.

5. Apply protection against insects, and reapply as necessary. Not only will you avoid bite marks and annoying itching, but you could also avoid debilitating disease. Don’t take unnecessary chances.

6. Grow an aloe plant. They’re impossible to kill. Having immediate access to an Aloe plant is like having a drugstore at your fingertips. Break off a leaf and apply the gel on the inside to provide instant relief from sunburn, insect bites, burns from outdoor grilling, and minor skin irritations.

7. Lighten up on your facial moisturizing routine. Instead of dry flakes, your skin faces eruptions from clogged pores during the summer. Clean your face meticulously, several times each day if necessary. Switch to a lighter moisturizer with fewer emollients. Consider a tinted moisturizer to eliminate the extra layer of make-up foundation. Allow your natural radiant skin to shine through without obstruction.

8. Hands and feet require special care in the summer. Keep nails short to enjoy summer sports activities. Exfoliate hands and feet regularly, and don’t lighten up on rich, emollient hand and foot creams, because parts of the hands and feet contain no oil glands.

9. With your legs exposed during the summer, you may tire of daily shaving. Consider one of the sugar-based wax formulations. It may take several applications to master the technique, but after a few false starts, the efforts are worth the learning curve. Follow-up each waxing session with a moisturizer containing aloe to avoid skin bumps.

10. If your winter lip balm didn’t contain sun protection, make sure that your summer lip balm does. Chapped lips are annoying, but sunburned lips hurt! Reapply often, particularly when you’re on the water in an open boat or riding in a convertible.

Do you have a particular summertime skin practice you’d like to share?

Coppertone NutraShield – MomGadget Review & Giveaway

Just in time for Spring Break!

Spring Break is upon us as has the time when clocks spring forward causing for longer days. As the days grow longer, temperatures rise and so does your risk of potential skin damage from the sun’s UVA and UVB rays.

This Spring and Summer, you’ll have no need to look beyond Coppertone as your chosen defense and skin protection needs. New this year, Coppertone NutraShield with Dual Defense combines broad-spectrum UV protection with specially selected antioxidants to not only protect you from UV rays but also to help naturally repair your skin from past skin damage.

I particularly like the fragrance-free, non-greasy formula  that moisturizes my skin. Coppertone NutraShield doesn’t clog my pores so it’s perfect for daily use.

For maximum defense, NutraShield comes in SPF 70+, SPF 30 and a formula for faces in SPF 70+.

Through the generosity of Coppertone, SIX lucky winners will win their own bottle of Coppertone NutraShield with Dual Defense.

If you’d like to win, please leave a comment on this post.

Winners will be selected on April 6th. Please be sure that the email address that you enter with is one that you check regularly, and also check your spam folder when the winner is announced if you see your name.

This MomGadget prize package is open to residents of U.S. and Canada.

To Tan or Not To Tan?

Now that we’re actually feeling the push of spring and spring break about to begin for so many, tanning beds are filling up with those hungry for that sun kissed glow.

Years ago, it was suggested to me by a doctor that I visit a tanning salon periodically throughout the winter to help treat my seasonal depression. When I begin feeling as though I’m falling deeply into a funk, I make a couple of trips and the depression is kept in check. It actually does help me.

I’ve also had lengthy discussions with a few dermatologists who actually support “controlled” tanning in moderation.

Based on what they said, skin cancer is linked to repeated sunburn, but if a tanning bed is used properly and if the person doesn’t attempt to “power tan” they can actually achieve a healthy glow with minimal risk.

With that said, I’m wondering what MomGadget readers do when they begin changing out their wardrobes to bring their warm weather clothes out?

Do you visit a tanning salon or support the use of tanning as such?

Do you use a sunless tanning product? If so, which one and why?

Do you just live with being a white girl/boy?

While we’re on the subject, I found this interesting page that seeks to dispel many of the myths surrounding tanning.