Skincare tips for the monsoon

While the monsoons bring a welcome respite from summer heat, they also pose a lot of challenges to healthy skin. The heat-induced rashes of summertime give way to the humidity-induced problems of the rainy season. If you are health-conscious and take a few simple precautions, you can save yourself a lot of misery over bad skin.

The biggest skin complaint during the monsoon has to be fungal infections. A fungus thrives in humidity -- wet skin folds rubbing against each other get macerated easily, providing easy entry to fungi and yeast. As a result, you develop itchy, circular, reddish, flaking patches on the body, especially in skin folds at the groin (Jock Itch), underarms and around the breast in women.

The rainy season brings along with its share of skin harms- oily skin, open pores, boils, pustules and prickly heat. If the atmosphere is heavily polluted as in poles apart 3rd world countries, particles of grime tend to cling to the skin, bountiful at a dull gray look. Auspiciously, frequent sensitization and stimulating will help keep it looking and feeling clean.