The Rainy Season Skin Audit: What to Drop and What to Add Now That It's Monsoon Season
If your skin has been acting up lately and you can't figure out why, look outside. It’s been raining almost nonstop for a week now! The rainy season does a number on our skin that's completely different from what summer does, and most of us are still running our March routines in August.
Here's the thing about the Filipino rainy season: it's not one climate, it's three. There's the swampy humidity outdoors, the arctic AC in offices and malls, and the actual rain that hits your face during commutes. Your skin cycles through all three several times a day, and it's confused. Humidity tells your oil glands to keep pumping, AC strips moisture from the surface, and rain water (which, let's be real, is not exactly pristine by the time it reaches you through city air) leaves residue that can irritate.
The result is that weird combination so many of you have been messaging me about: oily but tight, hydrated-looking but flaky at the corners, and breakouts in places you don't usually get them. So today we're doing an audit!
What to drop (or bench until summer)
Your heavy-duty mattifying products. I know this sounds backwards because your face feels oilier. But clay masks three times a week, mattifying toners, AND oil-control moisturizer stacked together is how you get that stripped-but-shiny skin. When you remove too much oil in this weather, your skin panics and produces more. Keep one oil-control step, not four.
Foaming cleansers that squeak. If your skin feels tight for more than a minute after washing, that cleanser is doing too much. Tightness is not cleanliness, it's your barrier giving up on life. This matters double now because the AC is already drying you out from the outside.
Thick occlusive creams, if you're oily. That rich moisturizer that saved you in an airconditioned office all summer might be too much now that humidity is doing half the hydrating for you. If you're waking up with clogged pores along your cheeks, your night cream is a suspect.
Daily exfoliating acids. A compromised barrier plus daily AHA is a recipe for stinging, red, angry skin. Cut back to two or three times a week and see how much calmer things get.
What to add
A gentle, low-pH cleanser. This is the single highest-impact swap of the season. The CeraVe Foaming Cleanser (P495/88ml, P895/236ml at Watsons) is my go-to recommendation because it cleans properly without the squeak, and the ceramides support your barrier instead of stripping it. The Cetaphil Gentle Foaming Cleanser (P604/236ml) is another solid option if CeraVe is out of stock, which it often is.
A hydrating toner or first essence. Hydration and oil are two different things, and rainy season skin is often oily AND dehydrated. A few pats of the Hada Labo Hydrating Lotion (P705/170ml) after cleansing replenishes water without adding grease. This is the step that fixes the tight-but-shiny problem, promise.
A gel moisturizer. This is the texture of the season. The Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel (around P850/50ml) locks in that toner hydration and disappears into skin, so it plays nice under makeup and doesn't melt at 2PM. Try the Momouri Moist Barrier Cream (P895) if you want something a bit more hydrating but still with that ultra light feel. It smells wonderful too, like fresh peaches!
A gel or fluid sunscreen. Yes, still. Cloud cover blocks maybe 20 percent of UVA, and UVA is the aging one. You need sunscreen in August just as much as you did in April, you just don't need the heavy water-resistant formula made for the beach. Local brands have this covered: the Hello Glow 3-in-1 Lightweight Sun Care Gel SPF50 PA+++ (P288) and the Luxe Organix Aqua Daily Sunscreen (P349) are both light enough to reapply over a midday-oily face without pilling.
The 5-minute audit
Tonight, do this with me. Take out everything you're currently using and ask three questions of each product. One: does my skin feel tight after using this? Bench it. Two: is this a heavy cream or a daily acid? Downgrade it to occasional. Three: am I missing any of these four slots: gentle cleanser, hydrating layer, gel moisturizer, light sunscreen? Fill the gap, and fill it with just one product.
Notice that the final routine is short. That’s just steps in the morning and three at night. The rainy season is not the time to experiment with a ten-step routine, it's the time to give your barrier fewer variables and more support. Your skin (and your budget) will thank you by October, just in time for the ber-months rush.
What's been breaking you out this rainy season? Tell me in the comments and let's troubleshoot together.
