The Beauty Routine Every Woman Needs This Summer and Why SPF Is Non-Negotiable!

Every summer, the same thing happens.

Women spend months building a skincare routine — the serums, the actives, the carefully chosen moisturiser — and then July arrives and all of it gets quietly abandoned in favour of a factor 15 tinted moisturiser and the general optimism that nothing bad will happen to their skin in the sunshine.

Something bad will happen to their skin in the sunshine.

We are not here to make you feel guilty about this. We are here to make it easy. Because a proper summer skincare routine does not have to be complicated, time-consuming, or expensive. It just has to include SPF — and not as an afterthought.

The sun is not your enemy. Vitamin D, warmth, the particular quality of light at 7pm in midsummer — these things are genuinely good for you. But UV radiation does not take a holiday just because you're in a good mood.

UVA rays — the ones responsible for ageing — penetrate glass, cloud cover, and the self-delusion that it's not really that sunny today. They break down collagen. They cause hyperpigmentation. They are present whether or not you can feel them on your skin.

UVB rays cause burning. They are the ones most directly linked to skin cancer.

Both are present every day, summer or winter, cloudy or clear. The only difference in summer is intensity — and exposure time, because we're spending more of it outside.

This is not a scare tactic. This is just what skin is dealing with, and what your routine needs to account for.

Morning

Step 1: Cleanser Lightweight gel or foam cleanser. Summer skin produces more oil, so a heavier cream cleanser can feel suffocating. If your skin is dry, a gentle milky formula still works — just don't skip this step. You are washing off sweat, oil, and whatever your pillowcase contributed overnight.

Step 2: Antioxidant serum (optional but worth it) Vitamin C in the morning is one of the most evidence-backed additions to a summer routine. It neutralises free radicals produced by UV exposure, brightens skin over time, and enhances the effectiveness of your SPF. Apply it before moisturiser, let it absorb for a minute, and move on.

If you don't already use Vitamin C and don't want to add a new step, don't stress. Your SPF is doing most of the heavy lifting.

Step 3: Moisturiser Lighter in summer than winter — a gel-cream or a fluid formula. If your skin is oily, a water-based gel moisturiser is your friend. If you're dry, your usual formula is fine. The key is not skipping it — even oily skin needs hydration, and dehydrated skin overproduces oil to compensate.

Step 4: SPF — this is not negotiable Minimum SPF 30. SPF 50 if you're spending time outdoors or live somewhere with high UV index. Reapply every two hours if you're outside.

This is the step most women rush. It is the most important step in the entire routine. More important than your serum. More important than your moisturiser. More important than anything else you put on your face.

The best SPF is the one you will actually use. Find a formula you like — tinted, untinted, dewy finish, matte finish, mineral, chemical — and commit to it.

Our current favourites:

• For everyday wear: A lightweight fluid SPF 50 that disappears into skin without white cast. La Roche-Posay Anthelios remains the gold standard for a reason.

  
  

• For dark skin tones: Black Girl Sunscreen SPF 30 — no white cast, moisturising, specifically formulated with melanin-rich skin in mind.

  
  

• For oily skin: ISDIN Eryfotona Actinica — mineral, lightweight, doubles as a finishing product.

  
  

• For a tinted option: Altruist Tinted SPF 50 —impressive formula at an accessible price point.

Evening

Step 1: Double cleanse If you wore SPF — which you did, because we just had this conversation — double cleanse in the evening. Start with an oil cleanser or micellar water to dissolve the SPF and any makeup, then follow with your regular cleanser. SPF that sits on skin overnight is not ideal. Get it off properly.

Step 2: Treatment (if using) Summer is not the time for heavy retinol use unless you're experienced with it and committed to SPF. If you use actives, keep them at night, go slowly, and know that some ingredients (AHAs, BHAs, certain forms of Vitamin C) increase photosensitivity — which makes your SPF the next morning even more non-negotiable.

For summer, a niacinamide serum is a brilliant choice — it regulates oil, minimises pores, and is stable in all conditions. No photosensitivity.

Step 3: Moisturiser You can go slightly richer in the evening since you're not layering SPF over it. If your skin is feeling dehydrated from sun exposure, add a hyaluronic acid serum underneath your moisturiser — apply it to slightly damp skin to maximise absorption.

Hyperpigmentation — dark spots, uneven tone, post-inflammatory marks — is more pronounced in melanin-rich skin and significantly worsened by UV exposure. If you deal with hyperpigmentation and you're skipping SPF, you are working against yourself.

SPF does not prevent pigment from forming overnight. But consistent daily use is one of the most evidence-backed ways to prevent existing spots from darkening and new ones from forming.

Vitamin C, niacinamide, and tranexamic acid are all ingredients worth considering if hyperpigmentation is a concern. None of them replace SPF — they work with it.

If you do nothing else after reading this — if you skip every step, simplify your routine down to the absolute minimum, and refuse to add a single new product to your bathroom shelf — do this one thing:

Put on SPF every morning.

Everything else is a bonus. SPF is the baseline.

Your future skin will not write you a thank you note. But it will show up differently in ten years, and you will understand then what you are protecting now.

Want more honest beauty advice? Visit The Beauty Reboot on Søstre Magazine — where we cover what actually works, without the impossible standards.