You’ve probably noticed how your skin looks and feels different in the summer compared to the winter. One of the reasons behind this is the difference in humidity. The high humidity levels in the summer months, compared to the lack of humidity in the air during the winter, can have a significant impact on your skin. How? Read on as Lavelier explains exactly how humidity affects your skin.
Transepidermal Water Loss
Let’s start by talking about transepidermal water loss. This is the process where moisture evaporates out of the skin and into the air. The faster this occurs, the sooner your skin cells will start to feel dehydrated.
Humidity has a huge impact on transepidermal water loss. High humidity levels mean that there’s already plenty of moisture in the air around you. This slows down the rate at which water evaporates from the skin. Meanwhile, low humidity levels/dry air sucks moisture out of the skin at a much faster rate.
Therefore, while it’s important to keep your skin hydrated at all times, you may need to take some extra steps to ensure this when humidity is low. Slathering your skin with a rich moisturizer, like the Lavelier Oceana Restorative Night Moisturizer, will help to block evaporation, slowing transepidermal water loss right down.
For even more benefits, apply a hydrating serum before you coat your skin with a moisturizer. The Lavelier Flawless Finish Silk Capsules, which contain a blend of sodium hyaluronate, coral seaweed extract, and other super-hydrating ingredients, will leave your skin feeling plump and supple. Topping this with a moisturizer will help to lock all of those hydrating ingredients in, pushing them deeper into your skin.
Sebum Production
Sebum production is something else that can fluctuate with changing humidity levels. The more humid the air around you is, the more sebum your sebaceous glands will produce. This is due to how those glands are activated by heat and humidity.
For those with dry skin, the extra sebum that’s produced in humid conditions can be a godsend. However, if your skin type is oily, extra sebum is the last thing you need. It will quickly lead to clogged pores, which then trigger acne breakouts. This is why many notice that their acne becomes much more prevalent in the warmer months, when humidity starts to soar.
The best way to deal with how humidity influences sebum production is to rotate the cleanser you use based on how humid it is. When humidity is low, keep your cleanser gentle. A formula like the Oceana Breezy Facial Cleanser from Lavelier would be ideal. It’s a mousse cleanser that contains several moisturizing ingredients. When humidity is high, however, you may want to switch to a more powerful cleanser, like the Lavelier Oceana Pore Perfection Polish. It’s a sulfate-free foaming cleanser, with its foaming capabilities giving it a little more cleansing action.
Skin Barrier Performance
As we explained earlier, high humidity levels reduce transepidermal water loss. This then means that the skin is better hydrated. One of the knock-on effects of this is improved skin barrier performance. You’ll find that your skin barrier functions more efficiently in high-humidity conditions versus a low-humidity environment.
How does this affect your complexion? Not only does it help your skin to look healthier overall, but it also reduces the feeling of sensitivities. Since one of the roles that your skin barrier performs is to keep irritants away from the skin, an optimized barrier will be able to do this to a greater extent.
What can you do about the increased sensitivities that can come about when humidity is low? Keep your skin covered with a barrier-loving moisturizer at all times. The Lavelier Oceana Skin Dew Moisturizer, for example, is packed with ingredients that will leave your skin barrier feeling stronger and more resilient. Between shea butter, oat extract, vitamin E, grape seed oil, and more, it’s the perfect moisturizer to use when your skin is struggling with the impact of low humidity.
Cell Turnover Rate
Cell turnover is the rate at which your skin naturally sheds its dead skin cells to make way for the newer cells beneath. The higher your cell turnover rate, the brighter and more radiant your skin will look.
There are several factors that affect cell turnover, and humidity is a big one. High humidity is linked to increased cell turnover, while low humidity has the opposite effect. This is why low humidity conditions give the skin a duller and drier finish.
One way to help with the regulation of cell turnover is by exfoliating your skin regularly. Exfoliation removes the dead skin cells that build up on your skin’s surface, essentially taking care of one part of the cell turnover process. Exfoliating regularly helps to keep cell turnover feeling consistent, meaning that it won’t be quite as impacted by fluctuating humidity levels.
One exfoliator that works beautifully in both dry and humid conditions is the Lavelier Oceana Refining Coral Peel. With coral seaweed extract, vitamin C, green tea extract, and vitamin A, it’s packed with ingredients that will leave your skin cells feeling supported.
The Skin Aging Process
There are several different factors that contribute to the skin aging process. Some, like sun damage, are well known, whereas others, like humidity, aren’t talked about quite so often.
How does humidity affect the skin aging process? It all comes down to everything that we’ve already discussed above. Humidity is so influential when it comes to cell turnover, skin barrier performance, skin hydration levels, and sebum production, and all of these play into the skin aging process.
Simply put, the drier the air around you is, the faster your skin will age. While this may be good news for those of you who live in a humid climate, people who reside somewhere much drier won’t be too happy about this! Fortunately, as always, there’s plenty that you can do to counteract this.
A humidifier is one. Set one up in your home, in the room that you spend the most time in. It will add humidity to the air, giving your skin a break from the dry air around you.
Of course, there are also plenty of topical products that you can turn to if you want to prevent or reduce the appearance of aging. The Lavelier Oceana VitaGlow C-Serum is one, with this serum loaded with skin-loving antioxidants. If you’re hoping for faster results, check out the Oceana Wrinkle RejuvenaFill Syringe. It works pretty much immediately to smooth away the visibility of fine lines and wrinkles. It will quickly leave your skin looking firmer and younger.
The Impact of Sweat
The body’s natural cooling system is something else that’s impacted by humidity. If you’re in a humid environment, chances are that it’s also warm. This means that you’ll be sweating more. However, as we explained earlier, transepidermal water loss slows down in humid conditions. It takes much longer for moisture to evaporate away from the skin, and this applies to your sweat too. This can make it much harder for the skin to cool itself down.
What does this mean for your complexion? It will likely cause you to sweat even more, which could exacerbate breakouts. When all of that sweat mixes in with the dirt, oil, and other impurities on your skin, blockages will form in your pores. Sweating in humid conditions is also linked to an increase in heat rash, which will cause small, raised bumps to develop on your skin.
What can you do about this? Keep your skin as sweat-free as possible when the air around you is humid. You may also want to help your skin to cool down if it’s struggling with this. Try spritzing it with a facial mist when it starts to feel hot. The Collagen Plumping Mist from the Lavelier Collagen Cooling Set Limited Edition does this well. This set also contains a cooling moisturizer. Apply this to your skin, and it will immediately leave your skin feeling calmer and more refreshed.
Microbial Growth
We’ve already talked about the different ways in which humidity can trigger acne. The increased sebum production, combined with all of that extra sweat, can quickly lead to clogged pores. With that said, clogged pores on their own don’t create pimples. Bacteria need to enter into the mix before this can happen.
Unfortunately, this is something else that is induced by humid conditions. Warm and moist environments allow bacteria to thrive. This not only applies to acne-causing bacteria but also to other types, meaning that fungal infections also become more prevalent in a humid environment.
This is yet another reason why it’s so important to keep your skin clean. It’s not just the skin on your face that needs this either – the skin on your body will also be prone to the same problems. If you live in a humid environment, make sure that you have a good body wash and body scrub. The Lavelier Seascape Body Scrub would be a great choice as this formula contains sea salt. It’s full of minerals that will leave your skin feeling fresh and healthy.
Summary
As you can see, humidity affects your skin in so many different ways! There are pros and cons to both high and low humidity levels, making it difficult to say which one is ultimately best for your skin. In the end, the key to maintaining a flawless complexion is to adjust your skincare routine in accordance with how humid it is. This will help to ensure that your skin is receiving all that it needs to happily cope with the high or low humidity levels around you, resulting in skin that always feels healthy and resilient.
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