Autumn Skincare

Autumn Skincare: Does your skin look dull and uneven? Where have these breakouts come from? Are you imagining it, or do the fine lines around your eyes look deeper? Nature is in transition, and your skin barrier is paying the price. Your skin needs support – fast.

If your skin is having a strop, it’s struggling to adjust from Summer to Autumn and is begging for help. Never underestimate the season’s effect on your skin’s behaviour! Don’t worry – we can get your skin back on track with a few tweaks before the onslaught of winter.

Your Autumn Skincare Plan

We’ve already discussed the importance of adjusting your wellness routine going into Autumn, including marine collagen benefits. But our skin barrier needs extra protection from the cooler air, lower humidity and sharp winds. Here’s your Autumn Skincare Plan:

Repair any post-summer sun damage
Winter-proof your skin in advance.
Enzyme once a week
Wellness hacks: Marine collagen supplements

Repair post-summer damage

Maybe you neglected your skincare routine amidst a lazy summer haze, so Mother Nature has a kick in the teeth for you: breakouts, sunspots, dehydration and dullness. Your skin looked fabulous over the summer – Autumn is a cruel mistress! Remember that a fantastic, sun-drenched summer may have used up all your antioxidant reserves against pollution, stress and UVA rays, leaving your skin vulnerable to premature ageing.

Gentle cleansing

If you have been using a foaming gel cleanser over the summer to remove oil and sweat – stop. Our skin produces less oil in Autumn, so the foam is simply too stripping. (We need to hang onto as much oil as possible for soft, smooth, supple skin). Swap it for a more gentle, non-foaming milk cleanser.

Upgrade your moisturiser

Your skin is panicking: the change from warm, humid summer days to biting winds and central heating has stripped the natural lipids (oils) from your barrier, leaving it red, tight and sore. Thirsty skin shrinks, emphasising fine lines around the eyes and lips. Dry air leeches moisture from the skin, aggravating skin barrier disorders such as rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, and acne. Your skin is warning you – it can’t defend you from Autumn, let alone winter. Please listen.

We change our clothes as the temperature drops, so why not our moisturiser? We take our skin wherever we take our clothes, after all. It’s time to invest in a skincare wardrobe. Cooling, lightweight gels or oil-free moisturisers are perfect for summer when we have a natural glow, especially for those prone to congestion and irritation. But if your skin is feeling tight or itchy, try layering a hydrating serum under your moisturiser. Compare a grape and a raisin – the only difference is water. Then, switch to an oil-based night cream rich in skin-identical ceramides to trap moisture in the skin and repair your barrier as you sleep.

Don’t forget SPF.

Don’t be fooled by the shorter days and fading sun. It’s easy to become complacent about sun damage in the Autumn, but collagen-damaging UVA rays are constant all year round. (UVB rays drop in Autumn, so at least you won’t burn).

Enzyme, enzyme, enzyme.

Our skin knows the score: it produces extra cells to strengthen the barrier against the drop in temperature. But if you don’t keep on top of exfoliation, dead skin builds up, making your complexion look dull and uneven.

Bizarrely, breakouts increase in the Autumn. Cooler air makes our oil glands work harder, producing enough oil to keep our skin hydrated. If that extra oil is trapped in the pore by dead skin, you get a spot.

First of all – stay hydrated. (Hydration is another key marine collagen benefit). Dead skin can’t flake off unless our skin is happy, healthy and hydrated. Skin can be sensitive post-summer, so avoid harsh acids and scrubs – which can leave cracks in the barrier and cause more dehydration – and swap to a gentle enzyme.

WELLNESS HACKS FOR AUTUMN SKIN

Marine Collagen Benefits

Chasing skin-plumping collagen with tweakments such as radiofrequency, microneedling, or strong actives like retinol can dry out the skin barrier even more. Let’s be kind to your skin and stimulate collagen from the inside out instead with marine collagen supplements.

The unglamorous gut holds the key to our health, mood and skin. Collagen in moisturisers can’t penetrate the skin barrier (the molecule is too big), but collagen drinks cleverly trick your body into producing more collagen for smooth, firm, youthful skin. Yuvãfy Marine Collagen oral supplement is enriched with Hyaluronic Acid (to plump up fine dehydration lines), Vitamins C (to protect from free radicals) and B to calm redness – perfect for stroppy Autumnal skin. I am sure we will be learning more and more about the gut, skin and brain connection in the future. (Although eating lots of protein helps, we don’t always digest enough for optimal health. You are what you digest!)

Autumn Slumber

If you have trouble nodding off, your body clock might be struggling to transition from Summer to Autumn. Our metabolism works overtime at night, detoxing skin-damaging toxins, and it relies on eight hours of good-quality slumber to prevent dark circles and sallow skin. For more tips on getting sleep-fit, look at “Your Autumn Wellness Routine.”