Skin Care Tips when Flying and Travelling
Flying and travelling is fun, smiles and lots of selfies. That is until that dreaded pimple or two pop up. The last thing we want when on holidays is for our skin to start acting up! Unfortunately, the nightmare skin we well and truly dread can often become reality when we jet off on our holiday. Although, with proper preparation and a few key additions to your skincare, you can minimise the often troublesome effects that travelling can have on our skin. Here are our top skin care tips when flying.
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How to avoid pimples and skin problems when travelling
Let’s discuss why our skin typically acts up when we travel.
The effects of flying on our skin
Have you ever wondered why your skin can often feel extra dry during and after a flight?
Flying, especially long-haul flying, is a notorious trigger for breakouts. Low humidity and the constant air-conditioning on airplanes is known to dry out the skin. These conditions will often lead to barrier disruption, which then has the potential to cause skin irritation. Your oil glands will typically go into overdrive as a response to the loss of skin oil and dryness experienced during your flight. In some people, this can lead to dry itchy skin, or it can flare up conditions like acne, rosacea or eczema.
Flying can often be the major cause of bad skin or breakouts on holidays or when travelling around for work. That is why it is extremely important to pay extra attention to your skin before, during and after you fly. We will cover the easy ways in which you can do this in our top tips below.
5 Top tips for avoiding breakouts and dry, flakey skin when travelling
1. Prepare your skin before you jet off
They say that ‘prevention is better than a cure’, and when it comes to preventing breakouts when travelling, the answer is no different. Whatever tricks you use to hydrate your skin and stave off imperfections during and after flying, will work better on a clean canvas.
To help prevent breakouts in transit, the night before – or even better, in the weeks leading up to – your trip you should exfoliate gently to remove dead skin cells and unclog pores. You can use a gentle exfoliating scrub or, for a deeper clean, a chemical exfoliant, such as Glycolic Acid, to prevent any oil your skin produces from becoming trapped under dead skin on the surface of your skin.,
Be sure to condition your skin with a good, balancing moisturiser, and if possible, sleep with a humidifier by your bed to optimise your skin’s moisture balance.
Don’t have all these beauty products on hand? Perhaps treating yourself and more importantly, your skin, to a pre-holiday facial might be the answer. What better way to freshen up your pores and prepare your skin for travel than a pampering facial? And you can rest easy knowing your skin is in the hands of a professional.
Travelling soon? You can book in for a pampering facial with one of our experienced Dermal Clinicians. Call us to book on (03) 8849 1400
2. Go make-up free or wear non-clogging make-up when you fly
Whilst going make-up free may be a bit of a scary thought for some of us, your skin will thank you in the long run.
Not only will a full face of makeup typically end up smudged and sloppy after hours in on a plane, but a natural, fresh face will also help to keep your pores unblocked and imperfections at bay.
Understandably, being make-up free may not be an inviting option for us all. If wearing no make-up whilst you travel is simply not an option for you, swap heavy foundation for a BB cream or tinted moisturiser which will help to keep your skin hydrated while also offering some coverage.
3. In-flight facial
We’ve touched on the importance of ensuring your skin is prepared for travel, now for the skincare, you should always bring with you to use whilst you travel.
Here are the top skincare items we recommend to bring with you in your handbag:
- Hydrating facial spray or mist: A facial spray/mist can help to keep your skin hydrated whilst you travel, and can be applied over makeup without ruining it. Facial mists are quite popular these days and are often readily available in 100ml hand luggage-friendly sizes.
- A balancing moisturiser or serum: A moisturiser or oil that is suitable to your skin type is a must-have when travelling, especially in the air. Ensure that you have a travel-size moisturiser with you to apply as you fly in order to maintain hydration.
- A hydrating lip balm: Just as flying can cause dry, flakey skin, it can just as easily dry out your lips, which is not what we want when travelling for holidays or even work. Ensure you pack a hydrating lip balm – with added SPF if your destination is sunny!
- Facial cleansing wipes: These are handy to remove any smudged or creased makeup when travelling for long periods of time. If travelling makeup-free, cleansing your face with wipes can help to maintain fresh, clean skin and remove any bacteria or dirt that may accumulate as you travel.
4. Keep up your usual skincare regime
Whilst it may not always be possible to bring all of the skincare products you use at home with you when travelling, it is important to maintain a similar skincare regime where possible.
Maintaining the skincare regime that your skin is used to can be an important tool to avoid unwanted breakouts and skin troubles.
Ensure you bring the basics with you:
- Facial cleanser to use morning and night
- Moisturiser and/or a skin serum or oil such as Rosehip or Vitamin C
- Exfoliator (scrub or chemical exfoliant)
- Sunscreen or daily facial Moisturiser with SPF 30 or above
- Any prescripted skincare or treatments you use regularly
If spots or pimples are a worry for you when travelling, it may be a good idea to pack a spot treatment.
For emergencies, chemists or drugstores will often sell spot treatments with salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide which can be applied directly to pimples or blemishes. Ensure you ask a pharmacist for advice and read the directions carefully when using these products. Products with harsh ingredients or chemicals should be used with extreme care and will often dry out skin if applied to the entire face, rather than as a spot treatment.
5. De-stress and rest
This last tip may be an obvious one, but many of us can often forget the impact that stress can have on our hormones, and therefore our skin.
When we are stressed, or not getting a regular, reasonable amount of sleep, we can throw our hormones out of balance which can have – amongst other things – an extremely negative impact on our skin.
Often we wouldn’t associate a holiday with mega amounts of stress or sleep-loss, although this can sometimes be the case. Travelling, whether for work or fun, can often involve stresses of its own, especially if things don’t go as planned. Not to mention, sleeping whilst on an airplane can be near-impossible most of the time.
De-stressing and getting a good amount of sleep is key to balancing the levels of any hormone, therefore we shouldn’t underestimate what a good night’s sleep and a bit of relaxation can do to help our skin.
There you have it, our top 5 skincare tips when flying.
Read more about The Hidden Dangers of Flying After Facial Fillers & Injectables and Makeup: 5 Tips for Best Results
Travelling soon? You can book in for a pampering facial or skin consultation to determine an effective skincare regime whilst you travel with one of our experienced Dermal Clinicians.
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