How to Hydrate Your Skin this Summer

Hydration is the name of the game—especially when it comes to soft, radiant skin. With bright days and travel season at its peak, we spend almost every day under the sun or on excursions that can lead to dehydration or water loss in our bodies. This means learning proper hydration techniques is important now more than ever.

If you want that healthy summer glow, read on to find out our tips and recommendations on boosting your skin's hydration.

Why you need to hydrate your skin

Dermatologists, skincare experts, and the hottest new products always talk about hydration for a reason: It plays a crucial role in keeping your skin healthy and ensuring that its barrier is strong. Dehydration can leave your skin defenceless and disrupt its natural processes (renewal, moisture retention, etc.). This can then snowball into issues like irritation, inflammation, flaking, tightness, premature aging, and many more. So if you want soft, bouncy skin, you need to be hydrated.

Everyone needs proper hydration—yes, even you with the oily skin. It may seem counterintuitive but dehydration is also a contributing force to excessive sebum. When your skin lacks water, it overcompensates by producing more and more oil. In addition, if you have oily and acne-prone skin, you may tend to use skincare products with drying ingredients. Properly hydrating can make sure your skin remains balanced and healthy as you treat your acne.

Hydration vs. Moisture

Many people tend to use the terms hydration and moisture interchangeably when it comes to skincare, but they’re not the same. Hydration focuses on increasing the water content in your skin, binding water molecules to it. On the other hand, moisture or moisturising is all about sealing that water in, preventing it from escaping your skin. 

🍑 Learn more about the differences between hydration and moisture here. 

How to hydrate your skin

Quench your skin’s thirst and learn how you can hydrate your skin with these tips.

1. Choose wisely and use hydrating ingredients

Hydration is not synonymous to fancy skincare products or complicated techniques; the most important thing you can do is choose the right ingredients. In this case, it’s best to opt for gentle ones with hydrating properties. 

There is a wealth of skincare ingredients out there, with different uses and benefits. As we’re focusing on hydration, let’s put a spotlight on humectants—ingredients that attract water molecules, binding them and increasing the water content in your skin. In addition, you can also opt for botanical ingredients that are soothing, hydrating, and skin-friendly.

Here's a list of our favorite hydrating skincare ingredients:

Hydrating ingredients are found in most skincare products today. However, if you want to maximise the skincare benefits of these hydrators, use serums or ampoules as they contain high concentrations in their formulations. They are also lightweight so you can layer them without feeling sticky or greasy, especially during hot summer days.

2. Let your skin drink up some toners and essences

Toners and essences are your best friends. A toner rehydrates your skin after cleansing—a step that can dry out your face since it removes the natural oils from your skin to clean it. Toners also prep your skin by increasing its water content, helping it absorb the skincare products you’ll layer on next. As the lightest skincare product, you can layer on as much toner as your skin wants without worrying about feeling sticky.

You can create a hydrating DIY face mask by soaking cotton pads with a toner and leaving them on your skin for a few minutes. For convenience, you can also do this technique using toner pads (Writer J: I’m even writing this guide with 4 toner pads stuck on my face; we love multi-tasking ✨).

Essences, on the other hand, are often considered as liquid serums. It’s a great way to boost hydration since your skin easily absorbs its skincare ingredients and gets the most out of its benefits.

3. Have you met her? Introducing the 7-skin method

Continuing our love for toners, the 7-skin method is a skincare technique perfect for those who want to up the ante of their hydration game. It can sound overly dramatic but it’s all about applying thin layers of toner on to hydrate your skin.

This method can be used by all skin types but it’s a good match for individuals with oily or combination skin since they can find it difficult to choose moisturisers that are hydrating enough without feeling too sticky or heavy—especially during summertime.

How to do the 7-skin method:

• Put a dime-sized amount of toner on your palm.
• Gently rub your palms together.
• Pat the toner onto the drier parts of your face first. This will depend on your skin, but for most cases, it means going for your U-zone (cheeks and chin) followed by the T-zone (forehead and nose).
• Keep gently patting your skin until it fully absorbs the toner, then repeat everything up to 7 times—you decide how many layers to apply, whether it's more or less. As we always say, listen to your skin and adjust your skincare to what it needs. 🫰🏼 

Make sure to use toners with hydrating ingredients when doing the 7-skin method. Toners with active ingredients are not recommended for this technique. Similarly, exfoliating toners with AHAs, BHAs, and other chemical exfoliants are not meant for this technique and is best used twice or thrice a week depending on your skin.

🍑 Curious about the 7-skin method? Click here to learn more how it can help your skin. 

4. Pace your exfoliation days

Exfoliating daily is not recommended since it can be too harsh on your skin and may cause irritation, dry skin, redness, and the like. Over-exfoliating is especially discouraged during summer when the sun is at its hottest and dehydration is most likely. Depending on your skin, it’s best to exfoliate only up to 3 times a week (or whenever you feel like your pores are clogged).

You can also opt for AHAs and PHAs when it comes to exfoliating dehydrated skin. AHAs are humectants which, as we mentioned, bind water molecules to your skin. PHAs are also hydrating, gentle, and they boast antioxidant properties.

5. Treat your skin to some sheet masks

For days when your skin feels extra dull or dry, reach for a sheet mask and let it do its magic. Sheet masks are instant pick-me-ups that rejuvenate your skin—you can feel and see a difference after one use.

How do they work? Sheet masks are soaked in serums or ampoules, and often contain higher concentrations of ingredients in them. By leaving it on for 10 to 15 minutes, your skin absorbs all these and gets a boost in hydration.

6. Say no to long, hot baths and showers

Too much of a good thing can still be bad for you. Taking hot baths and/or showers for too long can actually draw out water from your skin which then evaporates. Go for lukewarm showers instead (too cold water is also a no-go) to keep your skin safe from dehydration.

7. Lock in with a lightweight moisturiser

Moisturisers are important since they seal in all the hydration in your skin, making sure that your hard work doesn’t go to waste. Go for lightweight ones, emulsions, or lotions during summer to avoid feeling sticky or greasy. In the morning, you'll wake up to soft and bouncy skin.

8. Don’t👏skip👏sunscreen👏

We will never get tired of sharing our love for sunscreen and how it benefits your skin. In this particular context, using sun protection daily prevents damage to your skin cells that leads to water loss, premature aging, dryness, irritation, and even skin cancer. So never ever skip sunscreen if you want to keep your skin hydrated and healthy.

9. Stay fresh with mist sprays

Keep a mist spray in your bag to make sure your skin stays hydrated even as you go through the daily grind. A few spritz is all you need to freshen up!

If you have a favourite hydrating toner (with no active or exfoliating ingredients in them), you can also use it as a DIY mist. Just transfer some in a travel-sized spray bottle and you're good to go.

Hydration has always played an important role in keeping your body healthy, so it makes sense that your skin would also need it. Let's treat our skin with the care it deserves by making sure that it stays hydrated, glowing, and soft this summer.

Get skincare recos from our founder and shop our summertime picks here ☀️