6 tips to get you through summer feeling fresh and smelling good
The sun is high, temperatures are rising. Lovely, but it also brings challenges. Despite those high temperatures and the accompanying sweat, how do you stay fresh and smelling good? Here are our 6 tips.
Take a shower
A shower is a good start, if you do it the right way.
While a cold shower may be nice and refreshing in the moment, it does reduce blood flow, causing your body to lose less heat. As a result, you will start sweating more strongly as soon as you step out of that cold shower. Showering excessively hot is not a good idea either, as it will heat up your body even more. So a moderate water temperature is the best option.
Use a freshly scented, skin-friendly liquid or solid soap that will not dry out your skin. You can also wash your hair with a gentle, scented shampoo, and a solid shampoo is by far the most eco-friendly option in this regard. After showering, don't dry yourself by rubbing hard with a towel (that warms up your skin), but gently pat yourself dry.
Our tips:
- The moisturising, wonderfully scented soaps and solid shampoo soaps from Savonneries Bruxelloises
- Zador caring soaps, with healing Hévíz thermal spring water
Use deodorant
Wet armpits and a pungent sweat smell, we all know it. But sweat is actually odourless. It is our skin bacteria that cause sweat to develop a sweat odour.
To combat sweating, you can use an antiperspirant. These are deodorants that contain aluminium salts that block the sweat glands making you sweat less. Sweating is our body's way of controlling its temperature, so blocking sweat on hot days is actually not such a good idea. You may have less wet armpits, but your body may cool down less. Ordinary deodorants contain elements such as alcohol that target skin bacteria. They thus prevent sweat odour. And most deodorants also contain perfume, which in turn hides bad odours.
Our tips:
- The wonderfully scented deodorants by Nicolaï Parfumeur-Créateur
Keep your mouth fresh
Just as important for feeling fresh is oral hygiene. Brush your teeth at least twice a day with a good smelling toothpaste, and use a refreshing and antibacterial mouthwash afterwards to keep that fresh mouth feeling. Always have a mouth spray with you to give your mouth an extra fresh boost throughout the day.
Our tips:
- The sublime dental and oral care products by Selahatin each have a unique fragrance and ensure optimal oral and dental hygiene
Make your clothes smell fresh
In summer, you change your clothes more quickly to get back that fresh, clean feeling. So the smell of your clothes is an important factor in how you feel. Wash your clothes with a fresh-smelling laundry soap, which will give your clothes, bed linen and towels a subtle fragrance for days. And if you use the right detergent, you really don't need any (scented) fabric softener besides. To prolong the effect, you can put scent bags in your wardrobes or drawers, and spray some fragrance mist in your wardrobe or dressing.
Be careful where you apply perfume
Most perfumes contain alcohol, and this can cause nasty pigmentation (and sometimes even sunburn) with prolonged sun exposure. Also, some essential oils (such as bergamot or lavender) present in certain perfumes contain components that can cause allergic reactions in contact with sunlight. On sunny days, it is therefore best not to apply perfume to areas that are fully exposed to the sun. Opt for places that see less or no sun, such as the inside of your knees, behind your ears or at the back of your neck just below the hairline.
To make perfume last longer, it is advisable to apply a fragrance-free moisturiser beforehand. But in summer, it is especially important to protect your skin from the sun, and thus use a good sunscreen. If you opt for a fragrance-free sun cream, feel free to spray some perfume on after application, but only on areas with little or no sun exposure.
You can also brush some perfume through your hair. This can be done with any perfume, but there are also perfumes specifically intended for your hair, which contain substances that moisturise, soften and protect your hair. Finally, you can apply perfume to your clothing, such as a summer linen scarf. Do this only on natural materials (except silk) and use colourless perfumes to avoid staining. You can even spray perfume on your fan to waft you some fresh scent.
Keep in mind that sunlight and heat are your perfume's biggest enemies. Therefore, store your perfume bottles in a cool and dark place! Fresh perfumes (with citrus scents e.g.) are even best put in the fridge to extend their storage time.
Our tips:
- The hair perfumes by Nicolaï Parfumeur-Créateur not only make your hair smell good, they also add volume and moisturise it.
Give yourself a refreshing boost regularly
Perfume evaporates faster when it is warm, and so will not last as long. The lightest (and often freshest) notes evaporate first, leading you to the heavier base notes sooner. Because they also evaporate faster in warm weather, your perfume can smell more intense than in winter. In summer, it is best to choose perfumes with not too heavy base notes, to avoid giving yourself a headache. And because your perfume will not last as long, you should always have some perfume with you to spray throughout the day. Several brands offer handy travel sizes that you can easily take with you wherever you go.
The same goes for your mouth: keep a small mouth spray in your handbag and you can have fresh breath all day long.
A hand spray is also handy to have with you. Not only does it refresh your hands, it moisturises and disinfects them. So perfect to put on before you eat.
Our tips:
- These perfumes come in a handy travel-size:
- With the mouth sprays from Selahatin, you will have fresh breath all day long.
- Disinfect, clean and perfume your hands with these handy hand sprays from Kerzon.
