summer skin is a different beast tbh

Right so I've been noticing my skin gets weirdly confused in summer. Like in winter it's dry and predictable but summer? It's oily AND dehydrated at the same time and I'm not a dermatologist but I'm pretty sure that combination is just your skin panicking. I've basically stripped everything back to four things — a gentle low-pH cleanser, a watery hydrating toner (not an astringent one, that makes it worse), SPF obviously, and my collagen in the morning which I genuinely think helps with the plumpness from the inside when topical layers feel too heavy to stack. That's it. I stopped using my heavier serums around May and honestly my skin has been calmer since. The instinct is to throw more at it but sometimes less is just... less irritating. Mind you I still have moments where I reach for the retinol out of habit and then remind myself it's 28 degrees and I'm going outside. Baby steps.