Skin Tips for Your Work Out

I have been getting quite a few questions from my clients recently about how to best care for the skin while working out, so I thought this would be a great topic for a blog post! While working out is great for the body, it can aggravate, dehydrate or provoke breakouts in the skin if you don’t care for it properly during your workouts. So if you want a beautiful body and complexion, follow these tips:

Pre-Workout

Before going to the gym, wash your face with a gentle, ph-balanced cleanser (like our foaming or creamy cleanser) and follow with an alcohol-free toner and lightweight moisturizer. When you exercise, you lose so much water (by evaporation) out of the skin, the skin gets very dehydrated. Dehydrated skin increases surface lines and causes skin cells to die prematurely, leading to premature aging; as well as dead skin cell build up causing the pores to clog. By using a lightweight moisturizer, it will help retain the water in the skin. We recommend our Day 25, Hydro Gel or Super Moist.

It is important that the skin is free of face makeup prior to working out, as it’s best to let the skin breathe. If you really feel the need to wear face makeup, opt for a mineral based powder foundation (like Bare Essentials) rather than a cream foundation.

During Workout

The machines at the gym can breed bacteria, so whatever you do, do not touch your face during your workout. Touching your face will introduce and spread bacteria to the skin, which can result in breakouts.

For similar reasons I don’t recommend wearing headbands or bandanas around your forehead while working out. This can cause a backup of oil and perspiration in the pores, resulting in little clogged bumps or breakouts. If you wear a headband, keep it further back in your hairline, but not directly across the forehead (especially if you’re prone to having problematic skin).

Since you lose so much water from perspiration, it’s crucial that you replace it by drinking plenty of fluids before, during and after workouts. The electrolyte-replacing drinks are especially helpful for re-hydrating the body (I personally like to drink coconut water, which also has great skin benefits).

Post Workout

After your workout, wash your face again with a gentle cleanser. This will help to thoroughly remove oil, toxins and sweat. Follow with an alcohol-free spray on toner to kill any lingering bacteria and seal in moisture. If you have a lot of redness in your skin after your workout, I recommend using our ALA cream, which helps reduce pore size and redness.

Please share this post with your gym-savvy friends!