Spring Skin Problems - Protecting Your Skin from Pollen, UV, and Temperature Swings
Three Reasons Skin Trouble Clusters in Spring
Skin that has come through the winter can suddenly lose its balance once spring arrives. The causes fall into three broad groups. First, airborne pollen. Second, the sharp rise in ultraviolet radiation. Third, the disruption of the autonomic nervous system by swings between cold and warmth. What makes spring such an awkward season is that all three arrive at once.
Skin whose barrier function has been weakened by winter dryness is left defenceless against outside stimuli. Add pollen and ultraviolet light to that state and you get compound problems: itching, redness, breakouts and dryness. Spring skin trouble does not come from a single cause but from several factors overlapping, so your countermeasures have to work on several fronts too.
How Pollen Damages the Skin
Hay fever brings a runny nose and sneezing to mind, but it also has serious effects on the skin. Pollen grains contain enzymes that act on the stratum corneum, and leaving them sitting on the surface of the skin is thought to weaken barrier function. When pollen components get in through the weakened areas, the immune system reacts and inflammation follows.
The main allergen in Japanese cedar pollen is a protein called Cry j 1, and when it enters through compromised skin it becomes the trigger for an allergic reaction. Skin with a thinned barrier also loses water easily, dryness invites itching, and scratching strips the barrier further, which makes a vicious circle easy to fall into. The redness around the eyes and on the cheeks that appears during pollen season, known as pollen dermatitis, arises through this mechanism.
As countermeasures, it is effective to wash your face as soon as you get home so that the pollen comes off, and to apply a thin layer of a protective product such as petrolatum or a balm before going out so that pollen does not cling to the skin. There is no need to scrub when you wash; simply rinsing gently with lukewarm water removes most of the pollen.
Spring Ultraviolet Light Climbs Steeply From Midwinter
From March into April, the amount of ultraviolet radiation increases rapidly. The monthly average UV index values published by the Japan Meteorological Agency also climb a long way over a short period, from midwinter levels up into spring. Yet because many days still feel cool, awareness of sunscreen tends to fade. That lapse is what accelerates skin damage in spring.
Ultraviolet A (UVA) reaches down into the dermis, where it breaks down collagen and elastin and robs the skin of its elasticity. Ultraviolet B (UVB) inflames the epidermis and drives melanin production, which causes dark spots. Because UVA varies less by season than UVB does, a considerable amount is already reaching your skin during the still-cool weeks of spring. From an anti-ageing point of view as well, UV protection in spring cannot be skipped.
Make a point of starting sunscreen in earnest from March. Choose a product rated SPF30 or higher and PA+++ or higher, and reapply every two hours for best results. If you layer a face powder with a sun protection factor on top, it doubles as a pollen measure by helping to keep pollen from sticking.
Temperature Swings Unsettle the Autonomic Nervous System and Show on the Skin
In spring it is not at all unusual for the temperature to vary by more than 10 degrees within a single day. As the body tries to keep up with these abrupt changes, the autonomic nervous system works overtime. When it is thrown off balance, circulation suffers and cell turnover slows, which shows up as dullness and a rough, thickened texture.
Temperature swings also upset the balance of sebum production. Sebum increases when the temperature rises and drops when it falls, so your skin condition never settles over the course of a day. Combination-type symptoms become common, where the skin looks shiny in the morning yet feels dry by evening.
The basics of dealing with this are adjusting what you wear with the indoor and outdoor temperature gap in mind, and warming the body in the bath to steady the autonomic nervous system. In skincare, what is called for is flexibility that matches the state of the skin, such as varying how much moisturiser you use in the morning and at night.
Three Points to Prioritise in Spring Skincare
The most important thing in spring skincare is a three-step sequence: protect, remove, restore. Protecting means physically guarding the skin against outside stimuli with sunscreen and a barrier product. Removing means clearing away pollen and grime promptly once you are home. Restoring means the moisturising care that brings barrier function back.
For moisturising, products containing ceramides and hyaluronic acid work well. Ceramides are the main component of the intercellular lipids in the stratum corneum, so they tie directly to maintaining barrier function. Where the barrier has been damaged by pollen, the repair work depends on actively bringing in serums and lotions that contain ceramides.
Spring is also the season when you feel like trying new skincare, but avoid introducing several new products at once while your skin is sensitive. Testing one at a time, leaving a week or more between them, is the safe approach.
Skincare Habits to Avoid During Pollen Season
There are habits people easily slip into during pollen season that do more harm than good. The first is rubbing the skin because it itches. Friction destroys barrier function further and makes inflammation worse. When you feel itchy, hold a chilled towel against the area, or calm it with a lotion containing an anti-inflammatory ingredient such as dipotassium glycyrrhizinate.
The second is using peels and scrubs. Anything that shaves away the surface layer is too strong a stimulus for spring skin with a weakened barrier. The wish to speed up cell turnover is understandable, but holding off until pollen season is over is the wiser course.
Avoid washing your face with hot water as well. Water above 40 degrees strips away too much of the natural moisturising factor (NMF) and the sebum film, which accelerates dryness. Lukewarm water at around 32 degrees, slightly below body temperature, rinses off pollen and grime while leaving the sebum you need in place.
Preventing Skin Trouble From the Inside With Inner Care
An approach from inside the body, not skincare alone, is indispensable against spring skin trouble. In fact, a healthier gut environment leads to a more balanced immune system and can be expected to curb overreaction to pollen. Make a conscious effort to eat fermented foods and dietary fibre.
Vitamin C is an antioxidant and also promotes collagen production, which helps the skin recover from UV damage. The B vitamins are involved in controlling sebum production and normalising cell turnover. Taking these vitamins deliberately in spring lifts the skin's capacity to recover.
Sleep matters too. Growth hormone is secreted during sleep and drives the repair and renewal of skin. Spring is also a season when sleep rhythms are easily disturbed by the changing hours of daylight, so it is worth arranging things so that you go to bed at a consistent time.
What to Do When Spring Skin Trouble Drags On
If two weeks or more of appropriate skincare brings no improvement, consider seeing a dermatologist. Once pollen dermatitis becomes severe, over-the-counter skincare alone struggles to cope. At a dermatology clinic, treatment involves oral antihistamines or short, concentrated courses of topical steroids.
There are also cases where what you took for ordinary spring skin trouble was in fact a flare-up of atopic dermatitis or contact dermatitis. Getting an accurate diagnosis from a specialist is a shorter route to recovery than continuing to change your skincare on your own judgement.
If you go through the same skin trouble every year as the seasons turn, starting barrier-strengthening skincare a month before pollen begins to fly can reduce the symptoms. A preventive approach is the key to keeping spring skin problems to a minimum.