The main thing that I always stress to my clients when they are receiving treatments is that, you have now invested in yourself and you need to take care of your investment. You wouldn’t purchase a new car and not keep it shiny and in perfect brand new condition, am I right?
Of course, using a good skin care line at home is a key part of it, but the main thing that you must do is always apply a SPF (sunscreen).
Sun Damage
Even if you are not receiving treatments, using a SPF and wearing a hat while outside will protect the dermis from the harmful effects of the sun. If you’ve ever had a sun burn you may have noticed after it has healed up, there may be brown marks that appear. This is called hyperpigmentation. Depending on your skin type, these pop up in different ways on our skin.
Some people get them in the form of freckles or small spots, and some get them in bigger forms. They can appear anywhere on the body that the sun has hit, from your hands, chest, face, arms, back, well you get the picture haha.
Intense Pulsed Light
Having IPL or BBL treatments has been known as the most effective way to rid of these unwanted brown marks. These machines use a light to target the pigmentation in the skin.
When getting any sort of laser treatments you must always protect your skin from sun exposure before and after. Basically when using IPL or BBL, you have created a bunch of targeted heat to the dermis. Any sort of added heat or sun exposure after these treatments can lead to adverse effects. You can create more unwanted damage that, in some cases, be irreversible unfortunately.
A lot of the time, I have clients coming in before the summer months and again in the fall. Just to keep on top of maintaining their pigmentation. These types of clients usually like to be outdoors a lot of the time.
Skin Resurfacing
If you aren’t too familiar with how these treatments actually work, imagine it as aerating your skin. Depending on if it is Microneedling or using heat with Fractional, you are leaving tiny holes or dots on the skin damaging an area and leaving an area intact. This actually forces the skin to repair itself.
With these treatments you MUST avoid the sun for 4 weeks prior and 4+ weeks after. I usually get my clients to wear a big hat afterwards and hide out for a few days to ensure that they are absolutely on top of maintaining the results from this treatment while their skin is healing. If you were to get any sun exposure after a treatment like this, it would only just create more hyperpigmentation.
Finding a SPF
It’s so easy to apply SPF, especially on the face. These days, most foundations and powders have a SPF 15+ in them .
Ones for the body have come a long way as well, and aren’t full of all of the chemicals like they used to.
Our Pressed Mineral Powder Foundation has a buildable coverage that allows to the pores to ‘breathe’, with calming properties that soothe the skin. It also has a SPF of 15+, to keep your skin protected from day to day.
Enjoy the sun, but keep yourself protected :).
Cheers! Alexandra