Strong sunlight, tired skin

The recent heatwave really makes you feel the intensity of summer. In this kind of heat, you should be especially careful about exposing your skin to the hot sun. If you are exposed to strong sunlight for a long time, your skin may become rough, and in severe cases, develop skin conditions.

Even without direct sun exposure, if you cannot sleep in the heat, you may feel your face puffy the next morning. Also, if you lose your appetite, you may skip meals and eat only cold foods, which will make your skin rough. If you sweat a lot, your body's balance will be disrupted, causing your skin to sag. Therefore, it is important to maintain healthy skin by getting enough sleep and eating a balanced diet in this hot weather.

It is widely known that ultraviolet rays in sunlight are beneficial and essential to our bodies, but excessive amounts are harmful. Ultraviolet rays have a sterilizing effect, but the sterilizing effect also affects normal tissues and can cause skin cancer. It also accelerates skin aging, causing loss of elasticity and wrinkles. It can also cause sun allergies and burns.

To minimize this damage, it is best to avoid direct sunlight between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when sunlight can have the strongest effect. Even on cloudy days, you should know that UV rays can penetrate the clouds and directly affect your skin, albeit weakly. UV rays are well reflected on sand and water, so you shouldn't assume you're protected even under a parasol at the beach. Even if you swim with your clothes on, UV rays will still pass through thin wet clothes.

Nowadays, people who enjoy going to the mountains or the ocean often use sunscreen. However, you should know that most sunscreens are only effective for 2 to 3 hours after one application, so you need to apply them frequently to get sufficient results. If you spend time outdoors or at the beach, you may not be able to sleep because of the burning pain. If your skin is damaged to the point of burning due to excessive sun exposure, you should cool it down immediately. It is effective to massage it with cold milk for 15 to 20 minutes, 3 to 4 times a day. It is also good to apply sliced ​​cucumber or massage it with cucumber juice.

In the summer, skin needs to be especially careful about humidity and cleanliness. Areas such as the armpits, groin, and between the toes are easily irritated and susceptible to fungal infections, so they should be washed clean and dried thoroughly. Body odor, particularly from the armpits, tends to worsen in summer. So be careful.

When bitten by mosquitoes or other bugs, the itching gets worse, and you scratch. Scratching can cause eczema or swelling. Children in particular suffer from heat rash. For itchy skin or athlete's foot, boil tomato leaves, stems, and roots, soak a cotton pad, and rub in a circular motion for 10 minutes every day. Chop mustards (겨자) and mustard leaves (갓의 잎), stems, and roots into small pieces, wash in boiling water, and apply. Boil lotus leaves and Duckweed (부평초, Fu Bing Cao, 浮萍草) together, or boil motherwort (익모초, Yi Mu Cao, 益母草), mugwort (쑥, 蓬), Duckweed, and mulberry leaves (뽕잎, Sang Ye, 桑) in water and wash or bathe in them to relieve itching and clear the skin.

Mix 40g of mung bean powder (녹두가루, 綠豆), 40g of talc powder (활석가루, 滑石), and 1g of dragon's brain (용뇌향, 龍腦香) and put it in a bottle. It is good to apply to prickly heat or itchy areas. It is also good to apply sulfur powder (유황가루, 硫磺) to the cut surface of a finely sliced cucumber. Apply it three times a day and take a bath at night to wash away the sulfur component. It treats prickly heat or boils and reduces body odor.

Photo by Ethan Robertson on Unsplash