Summer Skin: Cleansing, Actives, and Getting Back to Basics

If your skin has been feeling a little… off lately, you’re definitely not alone.

Summer is wonderful, but it’s also a lot for your skin.

In one day, your face might be wearing:

• SPF
• Sweat
• Makeup
• Extra oil
• Salt water or chlorine
• Pollution and everything else floating around outside

Sometimes, one quick cleanse at the end of the day just isn’t enough to completely remove it all.

That doesn’t mean scrubbing harder, using an aggressive acne cleanser, or buying a bunch of new products.

It simply means making sure you’re actually removing everything before your head hits the pillow.

Let’s Talk About Getting the Day Off Your Skin

If you’ve been wearing sunscreen, makeup, or spending long days outside, I recommend cleansing your skin twice at night.

What we like to call a double cleanse.

My favorite way to do that is by starting with an oil cleanser, followed by a gentle cream or gel-based cleanser.

The oil cleanser helps dissolve sunscreen, makeup, excess oil, and everything else your skin collects throughout the day. Then your regular cleanser can do its regular job.

If you don’t have an oil cleanser, don’t overthink it.

Simply washing twice with the same gentle cleanser is still a great option.

The goal isn’t following another skincare trend.

The goal is making sure your skin actually ends the day clean.

Choosing a Gentle Cleanser

This is one of the reasons I’m so excited to bring La Roche-Posay to Studio NDB.

I truly believe not every skincare product needs to be expensive to be effective, and these cleansers are some of my favorite recommendations because they’re gentle, effective, come in extra-large bottles, and don’t come with an extra-large price tag.

As a general rule, I recommend:

• La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle Cleanser if your skin leans normal to dry.
• La Roche-Posay Toleriane Purifying Foaming Cleanser if your skin leans normal to oily.

Honestly, because they’re so affordable, my favorite option is having both.

At night, use the Hydrating Gentle Cleanser first, followed by the Purifying Foaming Cleanser as your second cleanse.

In the morning, use the Hydrating Gentle Cleanser to refresh your skin without overdoing it.

Why Cleansing Affects the Rest of Your Routine

Getting your skin truly clean doesn’t just help keep pores clear and your skin healthy.

It also allows the rest of your routine to do its job.

If you’re investing in serums, you want them applied to clean skin, not layered over leftover sunscreen, makeup, excess oil, and buildup from the day.

Again, the goal isn’t simply to say you double cleansed.

The goal is making sure your skin is actually clean before bed.

Summer May Be the Time to Simplify Your Actives

Summer is so fun, but it’s also a lot for the skin to handle.

If you’re pooling, beaching, boating, applying SPF, and sweating all day, it’s completely okay to pull back on active ingredients.

Why?

Because if your skin is already struggling to keep up with you, you don’t want to add any more unnecessary stress.

Strong, healthy skin looks and feels better than skin using strong active products at the wrong time.

Try to listen to what your skin is actually communicating to you.

If your skin feels unusually dry, irritated, tight, rough, or reactive, it may need fewer actives and more support.

Sometimes Better Skin Comes From Doing the Basics Well

One of the biggest myths in skincare is that if your skin isn’t doing what you want, you need another product.

After treating skin for more than 13 years, I’ve found that’s rarely the answer.

Sometimes better skin doesn’t come from adding another product.

Sometimes it comes from doing the basics really, really well.

For most people, that starts with making sure your skin is actually clean at the end of the day and following it with a hydrating moisturizer that helps support your skin barrier.

It sounds simple, but those two habits alone can make a bigger difference than constantly chasing the next “miracle” serum.

That’s one of the biggest mindset shifts I teach inside The Studio NDB Method.

Once you understand why your skin behaves the way it does, shopping for skincare becomes so much simpler.

What’s Next

You’ve been in the sun all summer. Now what?

Next, we’ll talk about why your skin barrier always needs support, but especially after beach days, pool days, boating, and heat.

Barrier repair isn’t only for sensitive skin. It’s one of the foundations of strong, healthy skin.

Nicole 🤍