Our skin glows with red and becomes slippery even for the short period of outing under the strong UV rays. For every 34 degree F (1℃) increase, sebum secretion increases by 10%. When the amount of sebum secretion increases, the probability of our skin to be exposed to skin problems increases as well. Therefore, we need a systematic know hows to keep skin clean and smooth during summer season.
Why should we pay attention to sebum skin care?
Strong UV rays of July requires not just sunscreen products. We need to resolve excessive sebum secretion that bothers our face throughout the summer. No matter how we carefully put makeup every morning, due to continuously produced sebum mixed with sweats, pores completely filled with sebum are openly revealed sooner. Furthermore, unclear identities that can be acne or pimples appear on different areas of our face and pores look just as ugly as if toothpicks poked our face. In order to resolve all of these seasonal problems, we must devote to thorough cleansing, diligent skin care and post makeup skin care.
Q1 What happens to this slippery face?
As I mentioned above, as the temperature goes up, the amount of sebum secretion increases. Our pores are sensitive to temperature change so for every 34 degree F (1℃) increase, sebum secretion increases by 10%. When sebum is combined with dirt or pollutant in the air, it is oxidized, blocks pores and causes skin troubles. We can always prevent pimples caused by blocked pores if we know how to do sebum skin care.
Sebum and sweats combined skin has a weak resistance against external environment. During summer, pollutants are easily accumulated on our skin and due to increased sebum secretion, our face is sticky and makeup is smudged easily. In addition, our skin is skewed toward alkalinity from sweats, our skin becomes an easy environment for germs to multiply easily. Consequently, diminished resistance ability of our skin cause more skin troubles.
Although the surface of our skin is humid and sticky, inside our skin is dry and rustling. Due to high humidity, sweats and excessive sebum secretion during summer, our skin surface is humid. However, if you are working in an office environment, an air conditioner will evaporate your sweats and take moisture inside your skin so ultimately your skin will become drier and have less elasticity.
Q2 What should we do then?
Point 1: Oil-moisture balanced skin care
If you can keep oil-moisture balanced basic skin care, your sebum management is half successful already. Generally, people with excessive sebum secretion tend to be absorbed in removing sebum. But the prior thing to do is to adjust moisture-oil balance. If your skin lacks moisture, it will produce sebum in order to maintain gloss on your skin so skin surface becomes slippery but inside your skin is dry. First of all, reduce the gap of indoor and outdoor temperatures and lowered indoor temperature by air conditioner should be adjusted. In addition, sweats, frequent cleansing, artificially lowered temperature all makes our skin drier and lower resistance ability. Therefore, provide enough moisture to your skin using toning lotions with moisturizing essence days and nights. Regular use of facial mask sheets is recommended. If you are the person who cannot stand stickiness and use oil papers all the time, this can only break the oil-moisture balance and your skin condition can be worse.
Point 2: Control the environment where sebum secretion is supported
The important point of summer skin care is how much skin temperature to drop. If your skin is exposed to sun for a long period of time, you'll face with increased skin temperature, increased sebum secretion and enlarged pores. The best method for skin care in this case is to open your pores with warm water and remove wastes by cleansing thoroughly with a foam cleansing product then finish with splashing cold water in order to tighten your pores. If you are outside, you can use portable mist and provide cooling effect on your face. Facial mask sheets or cooling masks kept in a refrigerator can help adjust your skin temperature.
Point 3: Pay more attention to pores around your nose where sebum is concentrated
Since blackheads cannot be completely eliminated by one-time method, consistent skin care is required. Many people use their fingers and nails to squeeze out blackheads. If you do that, ugly scars can be remained and the pore walls can be damaged so this will only lead to enlarged pores.
Remove blackheads using light peeling products or packs. When you have a severe blackhead problem, you should consult with a dermatologist. As long as you are devotional to daily thorough cleansing and 2-3 times of deep cleansing (exfoliating skin) and applying facial mask sheets a week, keratin and sebum problems can be eventually improved. I've already said this several times in previous articles. But I will repeat again. While double cleansing your face, open your pores with warm water and remove sebum and other impurities in pores using a foam cleansing product. For deep cleansing, open your pores with a steamed towel (this can soften keratin). For closing, always splash with cold water in order to tighten back opened pores and maintain skin elasticity.
