For many of us in New York (and London) Fall/Autumn is our favorite season. The beautiful changing colors, the chance to layer wardrobe pieces into stylish outfits, the cozy candlelit (or wine-infused) evenings and of course, the early anticipation of the holidays approaching! Skincare however gets a bit tricky though, it’s bright and sunny one day only to be cold and rainy the next. It is hard for skin to adjust to the fluctuations so a little extra care is required. Here are a few tweaks to your skincare routine that will help a lot!
Exfoliate gently 1X or 2X a week: This seems counterintuitive, but as the air loses humidity, a gentle scrub helps to slough off dry dead skin cells. It reveals clear skin underneath and lets your serum/moisturizer do its job better by penetrating more deeply to keep your skin all nice and soft and glowy. Always use a scrub on clean skin. DIY scrub hack: for dry skin, combine a tablespoon of chickpea or almond flour with honey or milk to get a scrub consistency of your liking. For sensitive skin: use fine ground oatmeal instead for sensitive skin. Gently scrub face with circular motions. Rinse off with warm water, pat dry, and follow with serum/face oil. Do not use these scrubs if you have active breakouts/broken skin or inflammation.
Skip the morning cleanser: YES, skip the morning cleanser! This assumes most of us cleanse our face at night, before applying the moisturizer/serum of our choice and heading to bed. There is really no need to use cleanser again in the morning as your skin is still clean and as the humidity begins to drop through fall, over cleansing results in stripping the skin of its natural moisture. Instead, steam/warm water from while you are in the shower or a clean warm wet towel is all you need in the morning to freshen up your face before your morning skincare ritual!
Use a light(er) face serum/oil more frequently through the day: Till fall weather settles down and becomes consistently cold and dry, it's better to reapply a light serum through the day rather than a heavy moisturizer/serum just once in the morning. This gives skin a chance to breathe, while keeping it moisturized . Applying a once in the morning heavy moisturizer can leave skin feeling saturated. Tip: for those who apply makeup, when you reapply serum during the day, do it with clean hands and just dab it onto dry spots ( this is different from how we apply it to clean no makeup skin in the morning, where we massage in a few drops to fresh slightly damp skin)
