Summer Skin Care Tips

We spent the holiday weekend with my cousin in Chicago and had so much fun. I just love Summer! Sun, Sunshine and Salads has been my motto these past few weeks.

I don’t know about you, but I feel so much better after spending time in the sunshine but my main concern has always been my skin. I am pretty pale and have always turned a nice shade of lobster red after being at the beach too long.

I know that too much sun exposure can cause wrinkles and not enough time in the sun isn’t good for our body because we need Vitamin D. Vitamin D is actually a hormone not a vitamin that can only be produced in your body with sun exposure.

A person would have to drink 10 tall glasses of vitamin D fortified milk each day just to get minimum levels of vitamin D into their diet. Sufficient levels of vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Without sufficient vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium, rendering calcium supplements useless.

So spending time in the sun is actually super important to our health.

We just need to be safe in the sun. As your health and wellness expert I have spent a lot of time researching and trying chemical free products. I have put together my sun care health expert tips just for you so you can enjoy the sunshine without harming your body.

Protect Yourself!

Wear A Hat! This might sound pretty obvious to you but how many times have you run out the door without a hat? Keep your beautiful face protected by the sun with a cute summer hat. It will help provide shade for you and is a fun summer accessory.

Find Shade. Our beach umbrella is the best $20 investment we have ever made. The beach is now more enjoyable because we are not putting on sunscreen every five minutes and gives us enough shade to not be sweating on the beach. If you don’t have a beach umbrella find a place where you can sit under a tree or a place where there is some shade. If you are going for a walk or run outside be sure to go early in the morning or later in the afternoon and avoid the 10-2 time.

Invest in non-toxic sunscreens. I tried several safe sunscreens and my favorite is Badgers, they even make a kid friendly sunscreen. This sunscreen contains certified organic extra virgin olive oil, beeswax, jojoba oil and cocoa butter. It helps protects against UVB and UVA rays, offers 30 SPF protection, and is water-resistant for up to 40 minutes. It’s packaging is made from BPA- and phthalate-free post-consumer recycled plastic which is just fabulous! I buy mine at Whole Foods. Check out the EWG.org website for more info. I also LOVE Pure Haven products.

Eat Your Fruits & Veggies

Fruits & Veggies contain phyto-nutrients which help protect you from the sun’s harmful rays. Try to eat a variety of colors every day and get as many oranges and greens that you can in your body to help build up an inner protective shield.

Time Yourself

You will need to spend at least 15 minutes outside without sunscreen in order to get Vitamin D into your body. Depending on your skin you might start to burn right at the 15 minute mark. What I did was go outside for 5 minutes and then see if I got color, then I went to 10 minutes. Try and see how sensitive your body is to the sun and see how long you can be outside without protection. When I don’t have sunscreen on I always wear a hat!

Soothe Your Skin – If you have gotten to much sun I have several natural sunscreen remedies for you!

You might have noticed that in the sunscreen section of the store they have different packaged aloes available. Just like reading the ingredients of food we need to make sure that we are reading the ingredients of anything that we put on our skin. Most of the aloe that you buy in the store has artifical colors added to it to make it look pretty. Always look for the all natural aloe but if you can purchase an Aloe plant and use that instead! You can apply aloe at room temp or refrigerate fresh leaves before peeling them open for extra relief.

Another reason why I am so obsessed with Coconut oil is that it also helps calm the ski’s burning feeling after too much sun. You can also put this in the fridge to cool it down for some extra skin relief.

Take a bath with baking soda. Sunburns are painful at first because the ph of the skin is lower. Baking soda’s higher ph helps to normalize the acidity of the skin and helps it feel more comfortable. Add 1/4 cup of baking soda to a lukewarm bath and add 5 drops of lavender oil.

I am obsessed with Zeeta Body! I have mentioned them several times in many of my posts about healthy skin but I just tried their new sun kissed product. I got a little to much color the other day and put this oil on me and it totally helped soothe my skin. Always use oils on your body after getting to much sun because it provides the body with oils which helps it not dry out after a long day at the beach.

If you have any healthy skin care tips to share with us, please let us know in the comments section below.

Cheers to a fun summer in the sun 🙂

Big Hugs & Health,

Katie