My Post-Flight Routine: Long-Haul Travel Skincare Essentials
I hear you say “But those are half-empty!”; yes, they are. I use them a lot!
I’ve spent this week getting over jetlag, and most of my travel skincare essentials have almost run out. Recovering from an eight-hour redeye in your 30s comes with the added gift of having to recover not just sleep, but a disrupted skincare routine.
Airplanes suck for skincare. The recycled air; the dry, blasting tiny fans; the dehydration and airplane with food ; the lack of sleep… It all adds up to my skin feeling and looking lacklustre. When I travel, skincare takes a backseat, but I’m looking to fix that now. So here’s what I’m using to repair my skina and avoid blemishes:
When I get off the plane, this is the first thing I reach for. It’s small enough to fit in a carry-on cosmetics case, but effective enough to warrant its place. Hypochlorous acid spray is what parents use changing diapers to disinfect baby’s bums. It kills germs that might have landed on your skin, without drying out pores. I use it to lower my chances of breakouts and blemishes post-trip!
I won’t lie, when I first got this I did not understand the hype. La Roche Posay is a well-known French skincare brand, and I’d had success with them before. This product, however, felt like thick sunscreen, and I was worried about clogged pores. When you put it on, be prepared for white streaks; I really had to work it into the skin for it to absorb, and even then I still went to bed with a sticky face. But I woke up glowing, and after a couple of nights, I felt like my skin was really nourished and hydrated.
I’ve tried maybe 100 lip balms in my life; my lips run dry in winter and summer, and growing up in Ottawa meant that you got chapped lips if you weren’t careful. Last year I went to Paris and got a custom-engraved lip balm in a leather case, embossed with my initials. Do I use it? No. Because nothing compares with the OG: Vaseline lip balm. As far as travel skincare goes, this fits perfectly in any small bag or toiletries case. My fave is the vanilla scent; the advertising says it’s limited-edition but I’ve seen it two summers in a row, so hopefully they keep bringing it back. Put it on at night, thank me in the morning!
Earlier this week I posted about my struggles with jetlag, and how a morning routine helps let my body know that it’s time to get up—and skincare is definitely part of this. I heard that vitamin C is best applied in the morning, and so last year I tried this Boots-label one and I’ve hit pan on it 5 or 6 times, and even bought a second one for travelling. Vitamin C helps my skin glow, and the hyaluronic acid hydrates and plumps like no-ones business – not to mention, the tangerine-citrus smell definitely wakes me up!
I use this in the morning as well; I’ve heard that hyaluronic acid absorbs better if you use it in tandem with a moisturiser, and this one from Clinique compliments the Vitamin C serum nicely. It’s lightweight, easy to use, fragrance-free, and has a “Clean Shield” promise that its formula will help rebuff pollutants (is this possible or probable? I have no way of knowing. But I like how it feels!).
This is marketed as an exfoliator, and I can’t really speak to that (I have other exfoliation rituals; I’m not saying it doesn’t work, I’m just saying I’m unsure). Maybe I imagine it, but after a long flight of fluctuating temperatures, running to catch my flight, and cold sweats under the air conditioning fan, I feel sticky and sweaty, and, well, smelly. What I love this stick for is an ultra-deoderant; it kills all underarm smells when applied. Before I got this stick, I’d put a little liquid glycolic acid on a cotton pad and dab it under my arms right before a shower, but sometimes it was a bit strong (it can sting) but this stick is a really great balance of skincare and germ-killing, it makes me feel a lot cleaner.
If you have any skincare you swear by for skin repair post-flight, let me know in the comments below. Happy travels!
[…] Heat = sweat, and sweat can lead to more germs and breakouts for me. So I use a cleaning spray that’s meant for babies—antibacterial without a lot of harsh chemicals. I might not be able to stop sweating, but I can make sure that sweating doesn’t cause me problems later! […]
Leave a Reply