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How Often Should You Change Your Skin Care Regimen?

how often should you change your skin care regimen

Do you know how often you should change your skin care regimen? The question of when to change your skin care regimen can be complex. The simple answer is that you often need to change your skin care regimen. But the longer answer helps you understand why, when and how your skin care regimen needs to change.

What are some of the most common reasons your skin care routine needs to change?

Seasonally harsh weather will be harsh on your skin and require you to protect you skin from the climate change.

how often should you change your skin care regimenJust like bundling up in warm winter clothing, your skin care routine needs to protect your skin from the elements. For your complexion to stand up to harsh, cold and windy weather, you need to:

  • fortify and enhance the strength of your skin barrier,
  • deeply hydrate your skin to compensate for moisture lost to these elements.

Dr. Bailey Skin Care Advice for Seasonally Harsh Winter Weather

Use only gentle cleansers and lather just the parts of your skin that really need it. Apply deeply hydrating products within 3 minutes after toweling off. Here are the product options that I like to add to winter skin care:

Winter Skin Care for Your Body

best body lotion for winter

Cleanse and hydrate your body skin to fight dry skin. Use my Naturally Best Bar Soap for showering followed by my All Natural Lotion.

Use glycolic acid body care to strengthen your winter body skin. Use a product like my  Ultra-Fast Body Smoothing Triple Action Kit to deeply hydrate and smooth winter skin. Glycolic acid induces skin to make hyaluronic acid and it compacts your outer dead skin cell layer (the stratum corneum) to fight dry skin flaking.

Ultra-fast triple action body smoothing kit
best hand care for winter

Prevent dry hand skin with products that specifically do this. Since your hands always need special care in the winter, I recommend my Survival Kit for Busy Hands to treat and prevent dry hands.

Winter Skin Care for Your Face 

Cleanse facial skin without creating dryness. Use a gentle pH balanced cleanser such as my Extremely Gentle Foaming Facial Cleanser. Consider a double cleansing with a gentle toner. Get both in my Skin Cleanse Zen. 

best facial skin cleanser for dry weather and winter

Use hyaluronic acid and antioxidants. Layer hyaluronic acid rich Instantly Luminous Multi-Action Serum to your routine to ensure firmer, brighter and smoother skin. Replenish antioxidants with Green Tea Antioxidant Skin Therapy to calm skin redness and fight sun damage. Get them both in my Layered Up Besties.

best winter face moisturizer and sunscreen

Moisturize and sun protect your facial skin. Choose a good facial moisturizer that replenishes skin barrier lipids with one of my Daily Face Cream and apply a zinc oxide sunscreen. Get both in my Fort Knox for Your Skin Kit

Keep your lips moist all the time with my Natural Lip Balm.

    Dr. Bailey Facial Recommendations for Your Summer Skin Care Routine

    Summer or warm climates bring you outdoors more. With this, you can expect more sun exposure. You need to understand your sun exposure risk and be certain to apply the right sunscreen as often as needed. My sun protection page has all the tools and sunscreens I trust for my skin, my family's skin and my patients skin. We have put these products to the test and they work. You may also need to stop using exfoliating skin care products when you expect extreme sun exposure.

    Dr. Bailey Advice for Summer or Warm Climates

    Wear sunscreen every day on all exposed skin. Use an SPF 30+ broad spectrum product matched to your skin type and product preferences. Be sure to use a water resistant product for wet and sweaty activity and reapply after swimming and/or every 2 hours for prolonged sun exposure.

    Also, add a real sun hat and sun protective clothing. Your sun hat needs to cover your scalp and have a 3 to 5-inch full circumference brim. Our Pinterest board has some great options for fashionable AND sun protective clothing.

    During times of extreme sun exposure, you may need to stop using exfoliating skin care products such as scrubs and rough cloths, retinoid products and even glycolic acid products so that your skin can thicken up to better deflect UV rays. Yes your skin tone will be a little duller with thickened dead cells but you will be better able to prevent sun damage if you let them build up. Don't worry, in fall you will change your skin care routine with the season and exfoliate these protective dead cells to brighten your complexion. Just like your clothing and activities, you skin care also changes with the seasons. 

    When your skin problems flare up you will need to change your skin care routine. 

    Examples include the seasonal flare of rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis (a.k.a., dandruff), acne, psoriasis etc.

    Find my dermatologist's tips for your skin problems on my Advice Pages or the section of the web site where I outline my Dermatologist's Skin Care Tips by Condition