Skin Before the Sun — The Pre-Summer Reset

There is a version of this article for September — what to do after a summer of sun. This is the other half of the year: the window before the sun gets serious, which in Miami runs roughly February to April.

The logic is simple. Any treatment that resurfaces skin leaves it more sensitive to UV for a while afterwards. That makes late winter and spring the right time for the work, and high summer the wrong one.

What resurfacing means, and what it costs

A chemical peel, from $100. An acid solution lifts the dead outer layer so the skin underneath comes through smoother and more even in tone. Depth varies enormously — the peels on our menu are the kind you can have on a Tuesday and go to dinner on Wednesday, not the kind that involve a week indoors — and the right depth is a consultation decision, not a menu one.

Microdermabrasion, $110 a session. Mechanical rather than chemical: a controlled exfoliation that does something similar with no acid, which suits skin that reacts to peels. It is also the one that rewards repetition — a series of five is $500 and a series of ten is $900, and as a $60 express add-on it can ride along with any facial.

A HydraFacial, from $185. Cleanse, exfoliate, extract and hydrate in one pass, with no downtime at all. The Clarifying at $235 is the version for congested or breakout-prone skin, which is what humidity does to a lot of faces here by May.

Every one of those is a starting point. What your skin actually needs on the day is what the free consultation is for — see our facials menu for everything.

The two things to do at home

Neither costs anything at the salon and both matter more than any treatment.

Wear sunscreen daily, now, not from June. The UV index in Miami is high enough in March that "it's not summer yet" is not a real category. Resurfaced skin especially.

Stop over-exfoliating. Peels and microdermabrasion do the exfoliating; layering a scrub and an acid on top at home in the same two weeks is how skin gets red and stays red. Your esthetician will tell you what to pause and for how long.

Who should book what

Sun damage, uneven tone, fine lines: peel or microdermabrasion, now, so the skin has recovered well before the summer. Congestion and breakouts: the Clarifying HydraFacial. Dry, dull, "just tired": the Signature HydraFacial, which needs no season at all.

If you are not sure, that is the honest default — book the consultation, which is free, and let someone read your skin rather than the calendar. Text (305) 604-0550. Seven days a week at 1301 Alton Road, with free parking.