Outdoor Skin Survival Guide

Hooray — warm weather’s here! Keep your skin looking and feeling great with these simple tips

Sunny, summer days and the craving for open-air action can mean major sun exposure, but your skin doesn’t have to suffer. With the right beauty habits, you can have all the outdoor fun you crave without rough hands or chapped lips to show for it.

Gardening

What takes a beating: Your hands. Digging in damp, rocky flower beds can take a toll on your green thumb. Your garden-hardened hands need serious soothing.

Smooth-skin solutions: Thoroughly massage hands, nails and cuticles with emollient-rich creams several times a day. Try lotions loaded with alpha hydroxy acids, which restore natural pH balance, and vitamin E and keratin, which do double duty by nourishing nails.

Swimming

What takes a beating: Your entire body. Too much time in the deep end can actually sap your skin of much-needed moisture and will wash away applied lotions and sunscreen.

Smooth-skin solutions: Moisturize your skin by adding bath beads or foaming crème bath to your (tepid) tub. After showering or swimming, always blot skin dry with an absorbent towel — that way, you won’t rub away your skin’s natural oils. While skin’s damp, apply a thin layer of lotion.

Biking

What takes a beating: Your lips, chin and cheeks. These supersensitive spots are prone to chapping and windburn. Lips are especially vulnerable because they lack oil and sweat glands.

Smooth-skin solutions: Pull out the petroleum jelly anytime your skin needs instant relief. Petroleum-based lip balms and lotions help heal raw, chapped skin. At night, indulge your face by smoothing on petroleum jelly in place of your usual cream.

Tennis

What takes a beating: Your face, arms and legs. Even on brisk, cloudy spring days, exposed skin needs protection from the sun and other environmental elements.

Smooth-skin solutions: Slather a product with an SPF of at least 15 onto your face and body 30 minutes before hitting the courts to prevent sun damage. After you shower, smooth on a refreshing aloe or cucumber-spiked lotion to soothe weather-beaten skin.