Travel Skincare for Acne-Prone Skin

You are all set to pack your bags, purchase your tickets, and start enjoying your vacation but suddenly your skin lets you know that there is something wrong. You must have experienced the situation that when you reach your destination, you are preparing to enjoy your vacation but instead you encounter a skin breakout problem.

Why does our skin behave like this when we travel? Traveling alters the surrounding environment, resets your biological clock as well as our face being exposed to dry cabin air, hard water and humidity fluctuations.

Hence, with the help of a certain strategy and a simplified vacation acne routine can impact your pores by maintaining your skin calm.

So in this blog, let’s explore the methods with which your skin can be prevented from traveling skincare acne without packing your entire bathroom vanity.

Why Does Traveling Make Your Acne Worse?

Your travel completely destroys you physically by messing up with your circadian rhythms. Whenever you step outside of your usual environment, your body reacts with some skin problems like acne due to environmental factors such as:

• Drying out of skin while flying because there are very low levels of humidity inside planes that is less than 20 percent.
• In response to the sudden drying of the skin surface, your skin tries to compensate by producing more sebum.
• Sebum production causes pore blockages in those people who have skin prone to acne. Sudden production of excessive sebum works together with dead skin cells to cause a blocked pore.

What Is the Impact of Climatic Conditions on the Acne Bacterial Activity?

Moving from a cool and arid climate to a warmer and humid one will have a great impact on your skin. This has also been explained in a clinical study that the seasonal exacerbation of acne in warm temperatures and increased humidity are statistically linked to higher sebum production and an increase in blemishes.The major impacts of climate change are:

1. Increased sebum: Warm temperature makes your skin produce more sebum and perspiration daily.
2. Microbial environment: The combination of perspiration and extra sebum results in creating a warm and moist environment on the skin.
3. Bacteria proliferation: Such a microbial environment creates favourable conditions for the development of bacteria that cause acne.

How Can You Carry Your Liquids, Get Around the Tsa Regulations, and Use Non-Comedogenic Products?

You might want to take a few toiletry items with you when traveling through airports but do not forget about your body’s needs as they should be taking care of you properly. But you must remember not to take any skincare products and ingredients with you while traveling without knowing what works best for your skin type, based upon previous experiences with these products as you must:

1. Simplify Your Routine

Buy a travel-size product that has strange ingredients instead of buying travel size items containing unknown substances; get some quality reusable silicone bottles and glass bottles for carrying your usual skincare routine such as cleansers or moisturizers etc. But please remember their labels.

2. Check Product’s Labels

While traveling, your skin is constantly exposed to many comedogenic elements such as sweat, heavy sunscreens, and dust. Therefore, you must ensure that all of the topical products that you are bringing have these specific labels.

• Non comedogenic: Formulated specifically for not clogging pores.
• Fragrance-free: This is going to help reduce chances for developing a contact dermatitis/irritation due to travel as this will affect our skin’s protective layer.
• Oil free: it will not allow for buildup on your existing oily/sweaty skin surface.

How Can You Prevent Your Skin from Damage While Having a Flight?

Things done on the plane will influence the behaviour of your skin in the next forty-eight hours. So, you must follow these steps while travelling through flight.

Step 1: Pre-Boarding Cleansing

In case you take the flight, which takes more than three hours, then it is better to avoid wearing heavy makeup. It is better to come to the airport with a hydrated and clean face. 

So, just in case you have to wear makeup before you arrive at the airport, it is necessary to wash your face with micellar water or with soap-free and non-stripping cleanser.

Step 2: Layering for Low Humidity

Don't apply oily or occlusive balm because they trap oils below your hair follicles causing them to become clogged up instead you should:

• Choose lighter-weight products that can remove the moisture from your skin.
• Apply a very thin layer of the product that includes hyaluronic acid or glycerin on your damp skin.
• And follow it up with gel moisturizer which has no oils but is rich in ceramides. This will help in increasing skin hydration levels by improving its barrier function.

Step 3: Keep Your Hands Off

All kinds of microorganisms, originating from the environment, are present on the arm rests, seat belts, and trays in the airplane. As soon as you touch those objects and put your hands up against your cheek or chin, all these microorganisms will be transferred to your face, causing more irritation. 

So in order to prevent this condition, you should have antibacterial wipes at hand while flying, and not touch your face.

What Kind of Daily Vacation Acne Routine Should You Establish?

When you have reached your destination, sticking to a simple and stable skincare routine will stop your skin from breaking out; during the day the emphasis is on controlling oil and providing defence, while at night the focus is on deep cleaning and repairing the skin.

The Morning (AM) Routine:

1. Gentle Cleansing: By cleansing your face with Alite Anti Acne Face Wash with lukewarm water, you can get rid of excess oil accumulated overnight without making your skin dry.
2. Targeted Active Layer: Apply serum on it. You can also use the Alite Anti Acne Gel which can be easily taken when you go for holidays which contains 5% Niacinamide and 2% Salicylic acid in it.
3. Use Non-comedogenic Sunscreen: Apply a light fluid formula with a minimum of SPF 30 on your skin to protect from darkening due to UV rays.

The Evening (PM) Routine:

1. Double Cleansing: Since it has been a sweaty day for you and you have applied waterproof sunscreen, then in evening you should follow up your skincare by facial cleanser such as micellar water on your face gently. You should use an oily shampoo for cleansing extra oil off your skin.
2. Spot Treatments: Rather than putting it all over your face, you should just apply the cream directly on the areas where there are acne spots. 

Applying a little bit of Alite Spot Reduction Cream in this way would be more useful for your skin and will help to soothe the active acne in a new environment.

3. Repair Barrier Moisturizer: For repairing your skin barrier, an overnight moisturizer containing aloe vera extracts or ceramide will work wonders for your skin.

What Changes Must You Make in Your Schedule for Various Climate Zones?

The table given below will help you show the various adjustments that you can make while choosing any product depending on the climate of your destination:

What Are Some of the Expert Hacks That Will Prevent You from Getting Unexpectedly Irritated?

1. The pillowcase hack: 

The hotel pillowcases have been washed using industrial detergents and fabric softeners leaving behind chemical traces. In case your skin reacts to such chemicals, it can lead to breakouts due to friction. 

So, you should take your own pillowcase which can breathe well made up of either silk or cotton and put it on top of the hotel pillow case.

2. Watch out for hard water: 

In certain cities, the presence of minerals in water makes the cleansing agents difficult to rinse off and results in the formation of a thin layer that irritates the skin and clogs the pores. When the tap water is thick or has a distinct smell of sulphur and chlorine then, you should opt for bottled water or micellar water.

3. Do not take the free samples provided at the hotels: 

The small soaps and lotions that are available in the vanity of the hotel room are tempting but are usually made with a high pH level, sulfates, and perfumes that can irritate your skin.

Final Verdict

In order to have an effective travel skincare acne routine, it is required to follow a regular and simplistic routine and protect the skin barrier. Traveling makes the body go into a period of change, as a consequence the skin responds to such changes.

It is thus required to avoid over-exfoliation of the skin, use light humectants in order to protect your face from severe dryness in the airplane cabin, and continue using only your non-comedogenic and dermatologist-tested products, this will allow you to minimize acne breakouts during your vacation. All that you have to do is focus on the pleasure of the journey, and let the routine do its work.