Team Costhetics loves jet-hopping to cover the hottest trends, news, and information about aesthetic enhancement, and anti-ageing advancements.
You can understand why we are thrilled aeroplane travel is back in Australia. We are significantly less enthusiastic about the tsunami of skin problems that flying triggers in travellers. If you’re dreaming of flying off to exotic places, or just up the coast, Costhetics wants you to be sure you pack the right skincare products to use before, after, and during your travels.
Fasten your seat belts and let’s fly…
Air Travel Dehydrates Skin
Air cabin humidity is approximately 20%, which is less than half of what your skin requires. To compensate, upper skin layers raid deeper layers for hydration, causing skin to deflate.
- Solution: Amp up your moisturising routine before, after, and during your travels. This includes a little skincare in the onboard loo. Serums and oils are especially effective.
Air Travel Causes Water to Pool in Skin
Flying both dehydrates your skin and causes it to retain water, though not in balance. When you don’t move and are sedentary, circulation slows down and water begins to pool. You may notice it in your legs, but it also pools in facial skin, making it puffy.
- Solution: Stretch your legs. Getting up every 20 minutes or so (if permitted) will go a long way towards helping your skin. It can help your heart too.
Alcohol Robs You of Oxygen
Low cabin air pressure and alcohol don’t mix. The low pressure makes it difficult for your blood to stay oxygenated. In Here’s Why Drinking on a Plane Makes You Feel Like Garbage, Chrissy Teigen is quoted as saying she didn’t drink on a recent flight and arrived home, “feeling like a normal, healthy being.” Now you know why, Chrissy.
- Solution: If you drink because flying makes you anxious, work on other calming techniques including breathing and meditation. If you simply like to drink, squeeze lemon in plain water and pretend.
Increased Sun Exposure
Window seats have their merits, but they get a big de-merit for exposing your skin to harmful UV rays. Adding insult to sunburn injury, flying puts you closer to those UV rays than you are on Planet Earth.
- Solution: If you end up with a window seat, simply pull down the shade. Easy peasy.
Oil Production in Overdrive
Forget about snakes on a plane, Samuel Jackson has them covered. It’s zits on a plane you need to fight. The dry air in cabins dehydrates the top layer of your skin, simultaneously triggering an increase in sebum to create a protective oil barrier and reduce moisture loss. Unfortunately, this leads to post-travel acne.
- Solution: Prior to boarding, use a gentle exfoliation with a detergent-free cleanser pad to slough off dead skin cells that would otherwise trap oil.
How to Prevent Air Travel Skin Problems
You may have been bitten by the air travel bug, but your skin would really rather you stay put. From your skin’s point of view, flights are a carnival of horrors, and the rigours of flying can lead to a variety of skin problems. Some consequences of flying can literally pop up before you land. Others wait to serve as unwelcome reminders of your travels after you touch down back home.
Costhetics knows the best way to look your best in the air or on the ground is with the help of a skilled skin professional. Let us help you find a doctor in your postcode to help you achieve your goals.