6 Skin Care Tips for Your Flight

Traveling by air this holiday season? Whether you know it or not, airplane travel can wreak havoc on your skin. This is due to the fact that airplane cabins have very low humidity, which cause skin to get extremely dehydrated. The dry air looks for moisture where it can get it and that means robbing it right from your skin! But not only will dry skin become drier, oily skin will get oilier. When the skin has no water, it attempts to compensate for the dehydration by producing more oil—which is the last thing that oily skin needs.

GET YOUR SKIN FLIGHT-READY

#1 Use a skin serum
Since the cabin of airplanes have low humidity, you must load your skin up with as much hydration and protection as possible. Apply a serum to deliver moisture deep within the layers of the skin while providing a seal to help the skin retain its moisture. We recommend our rejuvenating Green Tea Serum.

# 2 Make sure apply sunscreen over skin serum
Did you know that when you are in an airplane, you’re closer to the sun so UV damage is at its greatest? The windows on an airplane don’t filter out damaging UV rays, so even though you are not in direct sunlight, you are still exposed to the harmful rays. And we all know, UV rays = skin aging and wrinkles. Wear a minimum of SPF 25 on the face, neck and sides of the neck; foundation makeup containing SPF is not enough. The sunscreen must be built into your moisturizer, like our Day 25 Cream.

CARING FOR YOUR SKIN WHILE ON THE PLANE

Choose aisle over window seats when flying in an airplane (and shut the shade). Not only are you getting massive amounts of sun exposure since you’re closer to the sun, but when sitting in the window seat, you’re subjecting your skin to more UV rays. If you do have a window seat, shut the shade!

# 3 Do NOT mist your skin with a hydrating spray.
For years, skin care experts have suggested to mist your skin with a hydrating spray to keep it moist. This is not true. The worst thing you can do is spray those misters on the skin. Why? Since the air is so dry, it looks for water wherever it can get it and since water attracts water, when you spray the skin it takes all the water from the deep layers in the skin and gets evaporated into the dry air. The result is even drier skin!

# 4 Drink plenty of water.
It’s always beneficial to keep your body hydrated while flying, so drinking plenty of water is important. While it doesn’t benefit the skin as much as you would think, it’s still important for your body.

POST-FLIGHT CARE

# 5 Use a mild facial scrub.
When arriving at your destination (airport, hotel or home), cleanse your skin and use a mild facial scrub like our Exfoliating Cleanser to remove surface dry skin cells that accumulated while flying. Be sure to avoid facial scrubs containing natural grains such as apricot kernels, walnut husks and almonds as the sharp edges can scratch and irritate the skin. Instead, use scrubs containing polyethylene, jojoba beads or micro-beadlets.

#6 Treat your skin to a hydrating mask post-flight.
After exfoliating with a facial scrub, it’s important to add back essential hydration and brighten the skin from post-flight dullness. We recommend a mask because they have the highest water content. Our Blackberry Sage Masque is both calming and deeply hydrating to ensure your skin gets the moisture it needs. Leave on 15 minutes, rinse well and apply moisturizer. If you don’t have time for a mask, apply a dime size amount of Super Moist to the skin.

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