In-flight skincare routine

Flight is probably the most stressful environment for your skin. It’s extremely dehydrating and promotes bacteria growth. If you always breakout after a long-haul flight, you’re not alone. In this post, I’ll share with you my in-flight skincare routine. I do this on a long or short trip and it has been keeping my skin happy and healthy that I no longer break out from flights.

Unlike in our bathrooms at home, the space and amount of products we can take with us are very limited on a flight, especially if travelling internationally and is subject to liquid limitations. Therefore, this routine uses only a few essential items to ensure our skin is hydrated and protected.

1. Remove Makeup

Clean skin is the basis of all skincare routines. I try not to wear makeup before I fly. If for some reason, I had to wear makeup before going to the airport, I like to remove it with an oil-based makeup remover before getting on the plane and follow with a cream to briefly protect it. Airport bathrooms are much more spacious and convenient to do this compared with the small and often disgusting toilets on the plane. I don’t like using makeup wipes, because they usually can’t cleanse into the pores and I really want to start off the trip with skin as clean as possible. I wear a mask (mouth cover) after removing the makeup so I don’t expose my clean face and bare-skin too much.

2. Cleanse

After settled into the seat and the plane has taken off, I can start my skincare routine. If the flight contains meals, I will delay this until after the first meal, because I’ll be doing a sheet mask which is not too convenient for eating.

The first step is to cleanse the skin again to prepare for the sheet mask. I love using the Son & Park Beauty Water for this step. Simply soak a cotton pad with the Beauty Water and sweep it across the entire face. You’ll see some dust and impurities being cleansed off the skin.

I’ve always been a fan of Son & Park Beauty Water and have seen great results using it in the 7-skin method, but the reason that it’s so perfect for the in-flight skincare routine is its multi-tasking ability. It cleanses, lightly exfoliates and deeply hydrates. My skin always feels so soothed, refreshed and moist after using it. Not to mention the super-convenient 60ml travel size that’s perfect for carry-ons and I always take it with me on all trips.

3. Eye Cream

Before going in and apply the sheet mask, I always protect the eye area with an eye cream since most sheet masks do not cover the eye area. It’s often easy to get a fine line and could take ages to diminish one, so never neglect it.

For this step, I normally use any eye cream that I’m using, but preferably in a tube packaging that’s not too bulky to take around, or I’ll decant some in a contact lens case.

The eye cream that I’m using now is the Benton Fermentation Eye Cream. It’s a very smooth lubricating cream that’s also protective. I simply apply the eye cream all over the lid, around and underneath the eyes, and in between the lashes.

4. Deep hydrate

Now it’s time for our main course, which is sheet masking. In an environment that’s so dry, a moisturiser is not going to give you the needed hydration and sheet masking is absolutely necessary. You may think it may look weird to apply a sheet mask on the plane, but the truth is no one is actually looking.

For this step, I like to choose a mask that’s highly hydrating (although most of them are). I prefer cotton sheets than hydrogels in this case, because they’re wetter and last longer. You want the ones that contain a lot of essence. A few sheet masks that I love using on flights include Mediheal NMF Aquaring Ampoule Mask, Mediheal x LINE Friends Series, SNP Birds Nest Ampoule Mask and Too Cool For School Egg Cream Mask. Apply the sheet mask for around 20 minutes and take it off, then massage in the remaining essence. Make sure you don’t leave the sheet on until it dries, because it’ll start to draw moisture out of your skin when it starts to dry. The skin feels extremely moist, cool and plump after this step.

5. Seal-off

The last step of this skincare routine is to seal everything in and reduce the amount of moisture that it loses to the environment over time. For this step, I normally use a moisturiser or a sleeping mask. Sleeping masks (more about them) are ideal for this task because their textures allow them to really seal in the moisture and keep them in the skin rather than losing to the environment.

For my recent trip, I used the moisturiser that I’ve been using recently, which is the Natural Pacific Fresh Herb Origin Serum. It’s a lightweight oil that adds a lot of moisture and oiliness which will reduce the sebum production and the moisture loss to the envrionment. On top of this, it’s a complete mixture of antioxidants which strengthens the skin barrier and helps it to fight the free radicals in this stressful environment.

6. Wear a mask (mouth cover)

I like to wear a mask (mouth cover) for the entire journey (apart from when I need to eat), to keep my skin moist and to hide my face. Wearing a mask for my flights has made a lot of difference in keeping the moisture of my skin, mouth and nose. I have a fabric one that I wash and re-use everytime I go away but you can find the single-use ones in Daiso.

Wearing a mask means you’re covering your face physically and the air you breathe in and out is much more moist than the cabin air. This will isolate your skin from the extremely dehydrated environment and help maintain your skin’s moisture level for longer.

This is the end of my in-flight skincare routine. If your flight is longer than 10 hours, I recommend doing this routine twice as the effects will wear off after a few hours.

This routine is quite simple and doesn’t require a basin or a mirror so you can do it at your seat. All the products can be comfortably fit in your carry-on quota. If you need some ideas on how to pack skincare for travel, read my previous post where I shared tips to pack the entire skincare routine within the liquid limitation of a carry-on.

So next time you travel, you’ll have one more thing to do that can kill a bit of time and bring a lot of comforts.

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