Spring Skin Changes: How to Reset Your Skincare Routine for Spring

With spring comes warmer days, longer sunlight hours, and blooming flowers; but also unpredictable weather patterns that wreak havoc on your skin. One day it’s 80, the next it’s 40 degrees. This time of year, many skin problems, like breakouts and dry skin, happen more frequently than we’d like. These sudden weather shifts leave your skin confused and sensitive. Today we are talking about spring skincare, how to care for your skin when the weather changes, how to support your skin and your body, and how to prepare for the warmer months ahead.

How Do Temperature Shifts Affect the Skin?

Did you know it takes 10 days for your skin to fully adjust to a new temperature? When the weather fluctuates rapidly, our skin doesn’t have time to adapt properly. This can weaken the skin barrier, leading to dry patches, breakouts, and overall imbalance.

Why Does My Skin Breakout More in the Spring?

Springtime breakouts are incredibly common, especially in areas where humidity levels rise as temperature increases. If your skin seems oilier or more acne-prone than usual, it’s time to make some tweaks in your routine. 

Why is My Skin So Dry in the Spring?

This new season doesn’t just bring on breakouts, it also triggers dry skin. One day your heat is blasting warm, dry air. Next, you’re opening windows to let in the cool breeze. These rapid shifts in humidity can strip the skin of moisture, leaving it feeling tight, flaky, or even dehydrated, which means it feels both oily and dry at the same time. PubMed says, “The seasonal climate also impacts skin hydration. A study that sought to understand the influence of different seasons on stratum corneum lipid composition reported that stratum corneum lipid levels decreased in winter vs. spring and summer.”

Why Should You Shift Your Skincare Routine in the Spring?

Just like you swap out your winter coat for lighter layers in the spring, your skincare needs an adjustment. We always recommend a seasonal skincare adjustment to prep your skin for the warmer months ahead. Everyone’s skin is unique, so we tailor these recommendations for each client. The goal is to help you find the right balance for your personal skin’s needs.

Steps to Freshen Up Your Skincare in the Spring

• Swap a cream or oil-based cleanser to a lightweight gel cleanser for combination or oily skin types
• Cut back on hyaluronic serums if humidity increases
• Switch to a lighter moisturizer to prevent clogged pores
• Add in an acne serum to spot-treat breakouts.
• Sunscreen is a must when outdoors during peak times to avoid a sunburn.

How Do Spring Allergies Affect Your Skin?

Everything comes to life in the spring, the grass turns green, flowers start to bloom, and the rise of allergies comes back with a vengeance. How does this affect your skin? Pollen can cause allergic reactions by increasing inflammation and histamine. Histamine reactions are an immune response to a trigger, such as pollen, resulting in skin redness, runny noses, sneezing, or itching. PubMed says, “As interface organs, the skin shares a number of common features with the gut, for example being integrated into the overall immune system. Thus, it makes sense to have skin co-morbidities with gut disorders. The recognition of gut and skin connections could date back to the 1930s when Dr. Donald M. Pillsbury and Dr. John H. Stokes, the two most influential dermatologists in the last century, came up with the idea of a gastrointestinal mechanism for skin ailments like acne. In their theory, altered intestinal microflora induced by stress caused skin inflammation.”

Eczema is another common skin condition that increases during the spring months and this can be more prominent because of an unhealthy gut. Our immune system lies in our gut and if there is underlying inflammation from leaky gut or pollen, inflammation gets triggered and we either notice it in our sinuses or we see it flare up on our skin. 

Internal Factors Affecting Skin Dryness

Often dry skin develops due to a compromised skin barrier, but there are internal factors that contribute to barrier breakdown. This goes back to gut health and how the gut influences not only our skin but other organs of the body. If we have gut dysbiosis or leaky gut and are not eliminating properly, that inflammation shows up in the skin. Acne or inflammatory skin conditions are the most common, however, a compromised gut barrier, otherwise known as leaky gut, influences the health of your skin barrier. If you are prone to dry skin, this is going to worsen your skin conditions. This may also be why you apply moisturizer and you never feel like it hydrates your skin; this is because the barrier is compromised and can’t hold water.

Medications, certain illnesses, autoimmune diseases, and food sensitivities impact the skin barrier and can contribute to dry skin. The number one goal for you to address is to start with your gut health. Eliminate inflammatory foods, such as anything prepacked or processed and only eat whole foods. Paleo, Mediterranean, or Keto diets are great places to start because they have a variety of recipes available so you can eliminate foods without feeling deprived. 

Ready to Get Started?

We would love the opportunity to help you with your skin. If you are looking to switch your skincare into summer gear, you can click here to shop skincare. If you need help healing your gut or skin, we are offering our Jumpstart Program to those interested in Functional Medicine but aren’t ready to commit to a 3 or 6 month program. Click here to book your consultation.

And always remember, you deserve to love the skin you’re in!