E95: Essential Summer Advice for Melasma and Rosacea

Hello hello everyone welcome back to the podcast Emilie here as usual and as always, this episode is brought to you by Meta Esthétique, premier Ottawa skincare establishment since 1979, where we guide and educate our clients on how to age gracefully and how to feel confident in their own skin. So we are well into the Summer. The heat is on, so for many of you, I’m sure all around the world the summers are just getting warmer, hotter, more humid, and it does take a toll on our skin. Especially if you have a skin condition such as melasma, hyperpigmentation, rosacea or just general redness. The summertime can be a little bit tricky on how you will treat your skin and how your skin is going to look. Especially when it comes to rosacea and melasma.

Unfortunately, heat and sunshine is going to be a trigger that will probably give you a flare up. So that means that either your rosacea will get worse, or your melasma will get worse or you’re going to get more patchy and more dark melasma coming through. So don’t worry, there are some things that you can do but you just have to be aware to prepare for the summer season and for the heat that it’s going to bring into the skin. So I’m going to share with you some tips on essential summer advice that you can use if you have any of these conditions or if you just generally want your skin to retain less heat. Too much heat will lead to more inflammation, and when we have more inflammation, the skin is simply just not happy. So here are the tips.

Obviously sunlight is going to be an issue, so with sunscreen, you’re just gonna have to reapply. There’s no way around this, you just have to apply, apply, apply, apply every two hours especially if you have rosacea and melasma. Unfortunately, those are conditions that will be triggered with heat, with light and if there’s too much heat inside the skin too. It will trigger a flare up so obviously some people have you know, more melasma than others have more active rosacea than others, but you know,  you just got to live with it and work with it.

Humidity will influence the outlook of your skin. I know that in the summertime, a lot of people will be less dry because the humidity levels are much higher. So we have that like super dewy skin. It’s super moist and everything.

You know that’s one plus side of the summer, that’s for sure. But number one you just want to have your sunscreen habits on point. I’m super annoying. I know I know. I know. But just keep that powder stick that Colorscience sunforgettable stick in your purse, bring it with you everywhere have it just beside your computer. If you’re working from home, that way you can see it and you do the same habits as if you were drinking water.

Wearing a hat is going to be another very simple one. I’ve actually gotten into having funky hats and now my hairline and my forehead gets so much less heat and that is usually does. This will help the skin because every time you have a sunburn guys you’re just promoting the chances of you getting a skin cancer or potential melanoma or anything that can be dangerous on skin. So wear that hat, keep your habits with your sunscreen super active.

Another one is keep it cool. So after your day in the sunshine because you know we all enjoy summer, we like being outside we like spending time outside but after the day you want to keep your skin cool because for some people, especially with the skin conditions that you mentioned earlier, you will retain that heat a little longer  okay? So you’re gonna do ice cubes, you can put some ice cubes in your in a little towel and then you can pass the ice cubes for 10 minutes on your skin to lower the heat. You can do a cold plunge if you want to that that really works super well and has amazing health benefits to to flush that heat from your body. You can also, during the day, you can stay out of direct sun between 11 and 2 because that’s when the sun is at its most intense. And you can do cold towels do which is great.

You might want to keep your hydration up because you know obviously the sun the heat will dry you out in the sense because you’re sweating so much So you want to make sure you keep your water intake super high.

And finally, don’t be afraid to re-adjust your home care regimen. If you have a skin that kind of stays the same throughout the year then good for you. If you live in a climate that stays nice throughout the year, then that’s great for you as well. But for people that are in Canada, the temperature really does change. Whether it’s fall, summer, spring or winter. So in our culture, it’s very common to modify our skincare regimen for the seasons that are coming, so don’t be afraid to ask question!

Don’t be afraid to look into it. Change your cleanser to a more to a gel cleanser so that it just cleans a little bit more thoroughly than using a milk cleanser that’s more comforting and gentle on the skin in the wintertime. Another example would be to use a lighter weight moisturizer or to have less steps in your regimen because your skin simply can’t take it in the summer because it’s just so humid. You can up your exfoliation, like there’s just so many things that you can do to keep your skin healthy in the summertime but ultimately speaking it’s going to be: be careful in the sun like honestly, I know it’s really boring of me to say but that is THE way that you’re going to keep your skin healthy. In the summertime. I have a lot of clients that have melasma and every summer it’s always like okay, we got to make sure that your good with your sunscreen, that you wear your hat and that your being careful in the sun. Otherwise, your Melasma is gonna come out and you just have to make your peace with it, you know. There are ways that you can work around it and you can do treatments in the wintertime to lower your melasma but in the summer, you’re just a little bit more  limited to what you can do because of the heat and because of the sun.

When it comes to rosacea. Rosacea is not a friend of any heat, either, but you have to keep in mind that with rosacea, anything that’s going to trigger inflammation, you know even from like alcohol intake or spicy foods will trigger some flare ups  again, depending on the level of rosacea that you have. Some people aren’t affected by what they eat and others will but it’s something that you can keep in mind that whenever you have a flare up, just take a look at what you ate what you drank. and maybe you can say okay, red wine. I know I’ll get a flare up and I’m okay with it but I know it’s a trigger for inflammation for my rosacea. 

That’s all I have for you guys today. I thought making a really short quick one would be useful for the summer months that are coming ahead. So if you have any questions feel free to reach us on Instagram @metaesthetique or just send us an email: hello@themetaesthetique.com and we’ll be happy to help you out with your skin, you may customize 6 month programs for everyone that come through our doors so we can help you transform your skin through the six months, so we will chat very soon, reapply that SPF, and take care!