Tips for Love Your Skin Day

July 8 is National Love Your Skin Day, and at Salon Patrice, we're all about helping you love your skin, whether it's through a custom facial, helping you find skincare products to create your best routine, or assisting with a makeup application for an event. While loving your skin should happen year-round, this day is a great time to evaluate your routine and give your skin a little extra TLC. Here are our tips to celebrate Love Your Skin Day:

• Evaluate your routine: Your skin's needs are unique to you. Whether you've got your Korean 10-step skincare routine down or just use a drugstore cleanser, we can all benefit from checking in with our skin from time to time. (Don't know your skin type? Read this first.) Here's how to evaluate your current routine in a gentle way:

  • What does your skin feel like after you cleanse? Dry? Sensitive? Red? Tight or "squeaky"? Are you cleansing more than twice per day, or is your cleanser really sudsy? These issues can be related to your cleanser, so try swapping out your current cleanser for something gentle. If you're prone to dry skin, you may only need to cleanse once a day, particularly in the winter.

  • How does your skin feel after you moisturize? Does it still feel tight? Is it tingly or burning? If so, your moisturizer may have common irritants in it (find a list here), so you may want to swap it out for something more mild. If your skin is really dry, add a humidifier to your room or put on an occlusive moisturizer (something like Vaseline) on your driest spots at night.

  • What does your skin look like? How does it feel? Are there bumps or red spots? Are there red patches on your cheekbones, beneath the eyes, or beside your nose? This, too, is usually a cleansing issue: Are your scrubbing your face with a washcloth when you cleanse or using a facial brush? How often are you exfoliating, and are you using a scrub or even chemical exfoliant more than three times per week? Scrubbing and frequent exfoliation can be irritating to some skin types, so try backing off on these things for a couple of weeks to see if your skin starts to improve.

  • Does your skin look dull? This is usually a sign of not enough exfoliation or lack of antioxidants. (Read more about skincare routines and antioxidants here.) Add a good chemical exfoliator and/or an antioxidant serum (one at a time) to see how your skin reacts.

  • Are you looking to bump up your anti-aging routine? First, add sunscreen daily to help prevent premature signs of aging. Next, an antioxidant serum will improve your photoprotection and boost your skin's ability to heal and repair itself. Third, AHAs and retinols are your next step for anti-aging products. Start with the lowest percentage and move upward; AHAs and retinol products can be very irritating for some people.

  • In what order are you applying your products? Generally speaking, you'll want to apply your skincare products from lightest to heaviest. That usually means: cleansers, toners, prescription topicals, treatments (AHA/BHA), serums, moisturizer, occlusives, sunscreen, primer for makeup, makeup. Not every person will need every type of product. Most skin types can get away with cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen. Adding a serum or other treatment will help target areas you may want to work on. You can also tap your serum and moisturizer up to your eyes and skip the eye cream if you want. (See our list of skincare myths here.)

• Get a facial: Monthly or quarterly facials are great to help reset the skin by deeply cleansing, exfoliating, and treating problem areas. What better way to love your skin than by booking a custom facial at Salon Patrice? We offer facials for every skin type and concern, and offer add-on treatments to supplement your goals. Find our list of facial services here.

• Stay hydrated: Yes, we say this all the time, but making sure you get enough water is so beneficial for your skin. Adequate hydration supports the skin's elasticity (reducing the appearance of fine lines), reduces dryness (combating dull, flaky skin and keeping the skin barrier functioning properly), flushes toxins (brings essential oxygen and nutrients to the body while getting rid of waste, and decreases puffiness (dehydration often causes the body to hold on to fluids, making the face or undereye area puffy).

• Wear your sunscreen: You probably knew this was coming. Wearing sunscreen is one of the best preventive methods to protect against premature aging, wrinkles, and dark spots. It also lowers your risk of skin cancer, helps maintain an even skin tone, and stops sunburn.

• Guys have skin, too: Guys, you should be taking care of your skin! Your routine doesn't have to be complicated, but you should be washing your face with something other than lava-hot water and a bar of soap. Learn more about a skincare routine for men here.

These are just a few ways you can love your skin! If you would like to book a facial or ask about our skincare products, call Salon Patrice at (815) 223-8643 or stop by.