After the Sun

You've been out in the sun, and you've either been smart, or not so smart. Either way, you need to get some moisture into your skin pronto. If you're burned, go for the aloe, the purer, the better. I know it's hard to take leaves from the plant and rub all over your body, but try to find the straight, 100% gel at a health food store or a similar place. If you can't, the gels that places like Walgreens or CVS or other drugstores sells will do. Try to get as pure and non-fragranced as possible. For pure moisture, straight cocoa butter is awesome, I mean, the real stuff. I order bulk from aromatherapy and spa websites, sometimes add essential oils (more on aromatherapy later!), it just soaks into your skin and is fabulous!

Of course, there are several lotions, creams and body butters out there that are wonderful, and I do have my favorites. But since I just have to share every detail of my routine with you, here we go:

Beach- I live super-close to the beach, so I don't do much. However, when I was in college, I was about an hour, hour and a half from the beach. There were those shower areas around, I'd rinse my hair and body off, and in the car on the way back, I'd put conditioner in my hair and aloe or lotion on my body. The only times I have that dilemma these days is when my friends get a place at the beach and I visit for the day, if I don't take a shower, there's always a place to rinse off and do that other stuff.
Pool- Even at my house, if I don't plan to shower immediately, I rinse my hair out with the hose, condition or oil, usually I already have some type of treatment on my hair already. Rinse my body, moisturize.

Time to Shower:

I use a super-moisturizing body wash, some summer favorites are:

Bliss Bergamot and Vanilla
Softsoap Body Butter Wash in Heavenly Vanilla
Softsoap Moisturizing Body Wash with Moisture Beads, Ultra Rich Shea Butter
Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar

Moisturize Body:

Hawaiian Tropic Body Butter
CVS or Walgreen's Aloe
Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar Body Butter
Laura Mercier Almond Coconut Milk Souffle Body Creme
Hempz Hydrosilk Herbal Moisturizer
Hempz Body Butter

Moisturize Face:

Sometimes I mix a little Josie Maran argan oil into my moisturizer after being in the sun, and of course, I have a gazillion lip balms to choose from.


My main focus here is on skin, as I know pretty much nothing about hair, but some of the great hair products that have been recommended to me that really work are:

It's a 10 Leave-In Treatment
MorroccanOil Treatment

So, to wrap up the fun in the sun days, keep your skin protected, take care to hydrate inside as well, moisturize.