Dermatologist Shereene Idriss tackles four summer skin problems: underarm odor (caused by bacteria, not sweat, so use benzoyl peroxide), facial flushing and breakouts (try azelaic acid serum), sunburn (skip heavy moisturizers, use cooling aloe and hydrocortisone), and ingrown hairs (exfoliate regularly with an acid cream).
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I'm at the Today Show and I stink because I'm so nervous, but these are the 4 biggest issues when it comes to summertime. Number 1, I should have Botoxed my pits to reduce the sweat, but the sweat itself is not what's causing the stink. When it comes into contact with body odor-causing bacteria, that, that's when the stink comes out. So it's not the sweat, it's the bacteria. It's the bacteria. So is there something to counteract the bacteria? Yes, and using something like benzoyl peroxide can help to reduce that odor-causing bacteria load. 2, if you are prone to flushing and you flush very easily on your face and you're prone to breakouts, This is where the Left Unread Reducer Serum with azelaic acid can help to visibly calm your skin down and reduce your breakouts. Number 3, we're all gonna get sunburned, myself included. No one is holier than thou. If you have a really bad sunburn, 2 important things. You do not want to put a suffocating moisturizer on top trapping that heat in. You want something cooling, calming, like an aloe gel. There's one by Sun Bum. The other one is using an over-the-counter hydrocortisone to minimize swelling. And these ingrown hairs. Because it's the season for shaving, plucking, waxing, sugaring, you name it. Hair that tends to grow back into your hair follicles or grow under the surface of the skin can become ingrown. So it's really important that we also exfoliate our skin. And if we are dry, there's a really nice exfoliating cream by Nécessaire which has exfoliating acids that can help to reduce that buildup. So it minimizes your risk of ingrown hairs. Let me know if you have any other questions below. I don't actually really stink.
