My Long Weekend Checklist

I’m sharing Secret in my life as part of a sponsored series for Socialstars™.

For many of us, Memorial Day is the first holiday that we celebrate outdoors after a long winter. Getting together with the family for some BBQ, games, and fun outdoor activities always feels like a nice change of pace. I know you guys might be tempted to embrace the beginning of the sunny part of the year, but this transition comes with its own set of challenges.

As some of you might know, I am originally from Russia where most of the country is still covered in snow this time of the year. That is why I will never take these warm late-spring days for granted. Every time I look outside and see the green grass, blooming flowers, and lush trees, it makes me so happy to live where I do now! I anxiously await for this turn of the seasons, so I can finally take out my favorite sleeveless tops, white jeans, and sundresses from the storage, where they hibernated all winter. But before I throw on a tank top and flip flops, I always make sure to follow a short checklist that I wanted to share with you.

1 // APPLY SUNSCREEN – Sunscreen is #1 on my list, and rightfully so, especially if you haven’t really exposed your skin to much sun during fall, winter, and early spring days. It is now more vulnerable than ever, and you would be wise to protect it with SPF30 or higher broad-spectrum sunscreen to prevent unwanted sunburns. During the cold months I usually apply sunscreen on my face, neck, and sometimes backs of hands only. That is why covering a wider area might feel like a chore, now that it’s warmer, since it kind of fell out of habit after I took a long break from doing it daily. Remember: spring sun is deceptively mild! It may not feel as hot as it does in the summer, but hours of unprotected exposure will still cause skin damage.

2 // WEAR SUNGLASSES – Speaking of things that have fallen out of habit, it’s really easy to forget your sunglasses in the car or even at home, considering that most of us only wear them in the summer. Sunglasses are an essential tool that helps protect the eyes and stave off the formation of fine lines and wrinkles as a side bonus. I bet at least one of those is important to you, and it’s a good idea to have a pair on hand so you aren’t stuck squinting outside. BTW, after I wrote this, I went ahead and put a pair of sunnies in my purse. 😉

3 // UPDATE SKINCARE ROUTINE – If you live in a geographical region that does not experience seasonal weather changes, this step is unnecessary. However, for most of us, myself included, a new season usually makes our skin behave differently. I have combination/dehydrated skin type, and it becomes a lot oilier during the warmer months. My dehydration also tends to worsen, since the water evaporates much quicker due to heat and sweating. In late spring/early summer I swap in lightweight serums with hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, glycerin, and other humectants, and swap out heavy occlusives in lieu of the lighter ones, like squalane. Let me know if you would like a separate post on that!

4 // DRINK MORE WATER – This seems obvious, but I am guilty of forgetting to add an extra glass of water to my daily intake for every hour spent outside in hot weather. Thank goodness for smartphone apps that basically work as alarms to remind me about drinking my daily H2O. Don’t forget to update yours!

5 // CARRY A STAIN REMOVER – Those white jeans are totally cute until you notice a few droplets of BBQ sauce. Been there, done that! Now every time I wear anything white, I make sure there’s a pocket-sized stain remover wand in my purse to help deal with any such surprises. You can find those at any local drugstore and mass retailer. Pro tip: generic store brand stain remover wands work as well as name brand ones, so you really don’t need to pay extra for these.

6 // EXFOLIATE – To be totally honest, I do not exfoliate my whole body as thoroughly during the winter as I do during the warmer months. The skin is not exposed anyway, so I feel like it’s almost a waste of a good scrub, if you know what I mean? Now that I’m wearing short sleeves and dresses more often, I make sure to use a generous helping of my favorite sugar scrub at least once a week to slough away any dead skin cells. It feels so nice afterward, too!

7 // BEAT THE SWEAT – If you’ve been a reader of this blog for a while, you know that I used natural deodorants in the past. However, this year I went through some hormonal changes and now they don’t work for me anymore. Like, literally none of them do and I have over a dozen different ones sitting on a shelf. So I switched back to a trusted antiperspirant that I used for years before my green craze, and honestly, it is serving me as well as it did back when I was in my late teens and early 20s. If you open my medicine cabinet, you will immediately spot Secret Clinical Strength Clear Gel and Secret Clinical Strength Invisible Solid. It’s nice to have options depending on which outfit I am planning to wear that day. I use Clear Gel when I wear sleeveless outfits and dark tops, and Invisible Solid with pretty much everything else.

There’s a Russian proverb that goes “An old friend is better than two new ones”, and Secret is an old friend indeed. It’s good to know that there’s a product I can always rely on to keep me from losing my cool, literally and figuratively. Secret Clinical Strength antiperspirants provide 2x the sweat protection vs. an ordinary antiperspirant, so I can make my fashion choices based on the colors and materials I like instead of worrying about pit stains.

What are your plans for the upcoming weekend? Do you have any other tips for the first days of sun? Let me know in the comments below!