my skin always throws a tantrum at this exact point in the year

Every single end of August my skin just... revolts. Not in a dramatic breakout way, more like it gets confused. Still a bit oily in the T-zone from summer, but then my cheeks start feeling tight and I'm like, what is happening, we haven't even had a cold day yet. I'm not a dermatologist but from what I've read and honestly from six years of obsessing over this stuff — the transition period is genuinely harder on your skin than full winter. Because in winter you've already adapted. Right now your skin is still in summer mode (producing more sebum, used to humidity) but the air is already starting to lose moisture and the temperature is dropping overnight. So you end up with this weird combo of congestion AND dehydration at the same time. Which sounds contradictory but it really isn't. What's helped me is basically slowing down the swap instead of doing it all at once. I don't ditch my lighter moisturiser the second September hits. I layer something slightly richer underneath it at night for a week or two and see how my skin responds. Also I've been more consistent with my collagen in the mornings — I know it's working internally not topically but I genuinely feel like my skin holds moisture better when I'm consistent with it, could be placebo but honestly I'll take it. The other thing I keep forgetting and then remembering too late — exfoliation needs to drop off a bit now. Summer skin can handle it more because of the humidity but strip your barrier going into autumn and you will suffer for weeks. I learned this the hard way about three years ago and my skin was a mess until November.