Summer beauty tips: Be savvy with your sensitive skin
As a world-renowned dermatologist for about 20 years, Dr. Patricia Wexler certainly knows her way around skin treatments. She’s been a consultant to celebrities, an expert on shows like “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and she has her own skin-care line at Bath & Body Works. We asked her for a few tips on getting sensitive skin ready for summer.
Spring can bring such ups and downs with the weather. What’s the best way to deal with that when it comes to sensitive skin?
Changing skin-care from season to season depends on activity level. If you are a five-days-a-week office worker, you probably don’t change your environment much. If you are sports active, you need to incorporate a high-number SPF UVA/UVB — 45 or higher. Although micronized titanium dioxide is not allergenic, a high number can be heavy and irritating. Sometimes it is trial and error. [Try] a lighter moisturizer that’s non-comedogenic (not acne-forming) with no fragrance. No retinols in the sun if you are sensitive.
What’s the best way to exfoliate very sensitive skin?
Never use harsh products like nuts, shells, harsh aluminum oxide crystals or brushes. Use mild exfoliants, like glycolic or AHA peels, followed by barrier-repair lotions or cream containing HAs (hyaluronic acid), ceramids or niacinamide (Nia 24).
What will be the hot skincare ingredient for 2011 and why?
Nanoparticles will be the hot, new skincare ingredient for 2011. Nanoparticles are carrier molecules that can carry large particles deeper into levels of therapeutic skin tissues. Particles such as growth hormones, essential fatty acids, peptides and hyaluronic acids can be encapsulated into a particle and put into a cream for delivery to the skin, instead of taking by mouth or injection. Look for products that boast nanoparticles on the packaging — we will see this on all things topical: antiaging face creams, hair products to promote growth and strengthening nail products.
Metro style editor Tina Chadha gives you her picks for three new beauty picks:
1: Luscious locks
Help your locks get back the luster your curling iron habit is leaching with Bumble and bumble’s new Let It Shine line. Sunflower-seed oil and a blend of lipids in the shampoo and conditioner work to restore the hair’s natural protective layer. Then the finishing spray tames flyaways and adds moisture. Let It Shine shampoo, $22; conditioner, $23. Shine on (and on) finishing spray, $25, Bumbleandbumble.com
2: Baby face
Move over, Noxzema: British skin-care brand Elemis just introduced a new line for teens and 20-somethings. Freshskin includes nine products, like face washes and night creams, to ensure your skin looks like it’s 20 forever. $16-$42, Elemis.com/freshskin
3: At-home pedi
Weekly pedis can get pricey, so between salon visits, try some at-home maintenance with scrubs and soaks like those from natural foot-care line, Pedicureans. Coconut milk soak, $22, Pedicureans.com
Follow both Heidi Patalano (@HeidiatMetro) and Tina Chadha (@TinaatMetro) for all your entertainment and style news.
