I know that almost all of you love exposing your hot bodies to the sun to get this sun-kissed skin. Sadly, some of us keep doing this without being aware of the bad and sometimes even devastating consequences that long sun exposure might lead to. Therefore, the moment you notice something disturbing happening to your skin, you must act immediately. Today I’m going to tell you how to help your skin regenerate after sunbathing.
What happens to skin after sunbathing?
Do you know that suntan is a defense reaction of our body to the sun? Being under the influence of the UV rays, skin starts producing melanin, which is a natural skin pigment. During tanning, our skin loses water and lipid coat might get injured seriously. The latter absorbs UV rays and the corneum, which bounces back the radiation, gets thicker. And this is the moment when cellular DNA gets damaged. Sounds bad? Yep.
Moreover, the sun contributes to reducing the thickness of our skin, even the level of collagen gets lower. Once the summer is over, skin often is left blemished by sun pigmentation marks which removal is pretty troublesome. I think it’s also worth realizing that UV rays speed up photo-ageing processes and lead to development of free radicals. If you want to get rid of them, try some beauty products containing vitamins E and C.
How to begin post-tanning skin care?
The way you should take care of your skin after tanning depends on whether you burned the dermis badly or whether it’s just slightly red. Even if your skin is far from being burned by the sun, if you don’t notice your skin peeling off and if you don’t feel this characteristic prickling sensation, well, you can’t be 100% sure that the sun hasn’t harmed your dermis at all. Therefore, always remember to
- carry out gentle skin peeling – it would be best if you used either enzymatic or fine-grained scrubs. In general, it’s a good idea to exfoliate tanned skin because this procedure encourages the skin to regenerate faster. Also, its tone will look prettier too;
- wash your body with some moisturizing gel – this cosmetic will soften, smooth out and nourish your sun-kissed skin. Just look at the ingredients and try to find a shower gel containing the right substances, such as vitamins and plant extracts;
- apply a moisturizing body balm or beauty oil – no matter if you’ve been sunbathing or not, you always have to supply your skin with a huge portion of moisture in order to help it restore the damaged hydro-lipid coat which, of course, is even more important after sunbathing.
After tanning cream? What should it contain?
A good body cream to apply after sunbathing should contain ingredients that will help you regenerate skin. Mostly, go for vitamins A and E, folic acid, urea, vitamin D3, sea algae extract and panthenol. Of course, body cream that you want to treat your skin with should be a good moisturizer too. In this case, look for hyaluronic acid and collagen. Last but not least, if you see that your epidermis is injured, give a try to emollients such as natural argan oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, shea butter and cocoa butter.
That’s pretty all I wanted to share with you today. Remember, sunbathe wisely and take care of your hot bodies all year!
