The most important factor in skincare nobody's talking about

The most important factor in skincare nobody's talking about

Posted by Aker Skincare on

Starting or developing your skincare routine can feel like a journey with a thousand paths, but there’s a secret skincare shortcut you can take to make your routine more effective and less complicated.

Yep, big promise, but science backs it up!

Before you even start thinking about which combination of cream, gel, mousse, and pavlova you should invest in for the sake of your face, there’s something much more important for you to consider first...

The seasons.

Honestly, if you’re going to do one thing to improve (or start) your skincare routine, it should be working with the seasons, not against them. Let us explain why.

How do the seasons affect our skin?

Before you start looking at the minor details of your lifestyle under the microscope, zoom out a little and you’ll find that the seasons are the cause of so many of our skin problems.

That’s not to say that lifestyle factors don’t affect our skin, but the seasons are a permanent fixture in our lives that we can’t change. We need to know how to work with the seasons before we start worrying about tweaking our habits and lifestyles.

If you’re after a detailed explanation of how the seasons affect our skin, we’ve got you covered.

But, if you’d like a really quick rundown, here’s a quick overview of how our skin changes throughout the seasons and how the seasons change our skin!

Spring and your skin

  • Unstable weather and climate conditions
  • Brighter, stronger sun
  • Changes in humidity

Expect: Increased sebum production, higher UV exposure, and temperamental skin

Summer and your skin

  • High temperatures
  • High humidity
  • Sun exposure

Expect: More sweat, UVA and UVB damage, and dehydrated skin

Autumn and your skin

  • Unstable weather and climate conditions
  • Dropping temperatures
  • Cooler, stronger winds

Expect: Decreasing sebum production, drier skin, and surprisingly-strong UV rays

Winter and your skin

  • Extreme temperatures (indoors vs outdoors)
  • Low temperatures
  • Low humidity

Expect: Dry skin, harsh conditions, and the potential for sore skin

So, that’s a quick look at what your skin goes through over the course of a year. Hopefully, you’re starting to see why changing with the seasons is so critical to having healthy skin!

Where skincare products get it wrong

Most cosmetic skincare products are designed to be used year-round, which is great for keeping a consistent routine, but not much else.

A year-round skincare product will either be:

  • best suited to one season and sub-par for the others

  • designed to try and do everything for everyone at every time of the year, which inevitably means it’ll only do a poor-to-average job across all the seasons

When it comes to your skin, you don’t want a Jack of all trades and you don’t want to use a specialist product in the wrong circumstances.

Think of it this way, using the same skincare product(s) throughout the year is a bit like not changing your wardrobe according to the seasons.

You don’t go to the beach in your Canada Goose jacket and you aren’t rocking up to Winter Wonderland in your flip-flops - so why are you doing the equivalent for your skin?

How to adapt your skincare to the seasons

Based on the climatic and environmental conditions of each season, your skin needs different things.

If you are looking to create a more seasonal skincare routine, you should consider the following factors, ingredients, and steps you can take to create the conditions your skin needs to thrive.

Aker Skincare - Seasonal Skincare

Creating a skincare routine for Spring

  • Plenty of exfoliation to clear away dead winter skin
  • Products containing hyaluronic acid will help a lot with improving skin hydration and smoothness
  • A cleanser with ingredients that regulate your sebum levels will help, as you will likely switch between drier and oilier skin in Spring

Creating a skincare routine for Summer

  • UV filtering ingredients, such as Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, will help prevent burns
  • Using an SPF moisturiser is good, but won’t be enough. On bright and hot days, make sure you use an ocean-friendly suncream to protect your skin and the seas
  • Your skin is still likely to get damaged, no matter how well you prepare. Summer is the season for inflammation, irritation, and burns, so look for ingredients that will promote healing and repair (we use beta-glucans and Vitamin C), too

Creating a skincare routine for Autumn

  • Don’t neglect SPF yet, as autumn can still surprise us with some strong, bright days
  • Hyaluronic acid, again, is a real winner here for its regulating, hydrating, and smoothing properties
  • Focus on products that use natural ingredients that are known to be highly hydrating (we use rosemary leaf extract), as these will avoid adding any extra burden to your skin as it adjusts to cooler conditions

Creating a skincare routine for Winter

  • Look for a thicker moisturiser that will deliver more hydration over a longer period of time
  • One of the most common complaints in winter is sore, red skin. A vitamin-rich, soothing moisturiser or mask will help with this a lot
  • Plant oils (such as jojoba seed oil and aloe vera) will also help protect and hydrate your skin as you find yourself spending more time indoors and under attack from the elements when you do head out!

An easy way to create a seasonal skincare routine

Researching, finding, and keeping stocked up on a range of different skincare products for the seasons will certainly take a bit of time. It’s a fair argument that many people make and it’s understandable why seasonal skincare can seem like a luxury outside of our reach.

That’s why we created Aker!

We know the importance of seasonal skincare, but we also appreciate that the Average Joe on the street isn’t going to bother going all-in on developing a seasonal routine.

That’s why we’ve expertly formulated all of our seasonal products and packaged them up in one helpful yearly subscription.

Seasonal skincare is just as important as it always has been but, with Aker, it’s now easier than ever to actually make it happen!

So, what are you waiting for?

Shop seasonal skincare now

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