You Canadians are nuts for living here. Last week I was complaining about the cold weather, cowering inside the heated house wearing 3 pairs of socks and 2 sweaters. This week I’m complaining about the heat and humidity, yet again cowering inside the air conditioned house, or shops and cafes.
Yes, the temperature in Toronto, Canada has climbed by about 20 degrees celsius literally overnight. Madness! But, I can’t complain too much because I am a summer girl and I do love the warmth.
However, it has not been that great on my skin. Strangely, when I travelled from Brisbane to Fiji (from kind of dry to very humid), my skin loved it. That was when my skin finally started to clear to 100%. This time around my skin has kicked up a bit of a fuss! Mind you, the air has gone from extremely dry to extremely humid so of course it’s natural for my skin to have a little bit of a panic attack.
When we were initially hit by this intense humidity, the first mistake I made was to use the usual amount of facial moisturizer in the morning. I’ve been using one and a half pumps of my Olay moisturizer and it’s still only just been moisturizing enough. So I used the same amount this humid morning and regretted it! My face felt all sticky and greasy and remained that way for the rest of the day. My house mate even commented, saying “Eww, your face is all greasy and shiny today”. Grr.
Over the next few days (and using considerably less moisturizer), I noticed my skin also getting quite blotchy on my forehead as though a few pimples were just about to appear. Luckily they haven’t yet and the blotchiness is gradually dying down. But I’m guessing the humidty is making my skin a little oily so I’m getting the same kind of symptoms on my T-zone that oily skin people get. This morning I even noticed what looked like a small pimple emerging on my hair line on my forehead! I guess the humidity is not just making my skin a little oilier, but my hair as well.
So this is something completely new for me. Since I ‘grew up’ (um, turned 21), I thought I’d said a permanent goodbye to my oily skin. My skin has seemed to get a little drier the older I get …so this slightly oily skin I’ve suddenly been hit with has been a bit of a surprise.
What I am grateful for is the learning experience out of all of this. First, I realize how very important it is to modify your skin routine according to the weather. If the weather is relatively predictable where you live or changes very slowly, then you don’t have to worry …you’ll probably just modify your skin routine without even thinking about it. But if you do live in a place like Toronto where the weather can change so damn quickly OR you’re planning on going to a tropical island for a holiday, then be weary of your skin change and how important it is to modify your skin care routine.
What I’m also grateful for is now getting the opportunity to learn about how to handle oilier skin types, because lately I’ve felt as though I’m missing that chunk of knowledge. This has made me especially unhelpful when I’m trying to answer questions posted by oily and acne prone skin types. Perhaps something out there has granted me a wish and answered my desire to learn all that I can about acne prone skin. Ooh, spooky.
What I’m doing is just using a lot less moisturizer. If my skin continues to feel a little oily throughout the day then I’ll also change the moisturizer I’m using to one that’s less greasy. It’s also not a great idea to start using cleansers or cleansing routines that contains a lot of natural oils when you’re living in a humid city, because even natural oils that don’t clog our pores can somehow still manage to do a bit of clogging in times of high humidity. I guess the key is, to use less and be even more gentle.
Fran
Fran Kerr is the founding editor of High on Health. To cure your acne, sign up to Fran's FREE acne cure mini-course or download her latest how to guide, Eat Away Your Acne.
2 responses ↓
hi!
the weather in Sweden is the same, so I have a few questions. I’m using olive oil to cleanse my skin at night, do you think I should stop now that the weather has changed and it’s soooo hot?An other thing, I’ve read that chinese herbs are not good for you,and can’t help to fight acne, what do you think? Do you belive in detox of the body to help you get rid of acne?
Hi Jay,
Be very careful with the OCM if the weather in Sweden is humid. Pores can get clogged quite easily when using oils on the skin in humid climates.
Hmm, I disagree with what you’ve read about Chinese Herbs. I’ve been seeing a Chinese Herbalist since I was about 10 years old and apart from being better than conventional medicine and fixing illness for me, the herbs were the ONLY thing that fixed my constant stomach upsets (IBS). The herbs cleared it by 100%, after I’d been to different doctors for years to try and fix it. I also take herbs every day now and they help keep my skin clear
I think a detox is great if you can handle it. They can quite quickly reduce the inflammation and redness in the skin, and of course improve your skins health. But if you normally eat really, really well then it won’t do a lot. But there aren’t many of us out there like that
I haven’t done a detox because I chose to eat very well over a long period of time which I think is just as good. Since I’ve been travelling in Canada though my diet has been not so great and it’s showing on my skin, so I could probably benefit from a gentle detox!
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