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There’s nothing i love more than travel but I don’t love the effects it has on my skin. Travel can lead to dry, dehydrated skin, breakouts, and premature aging (AHHH). Unfortunately all the things you love on vacations from laying out in the sun, staying out all night, decadent food, and free flowing drinks, can wreck havoc on your skin.
Once I’m back home after my travels, I can see and feel how different my skin is. But instead of avoiding these things during my trips, I came up with a post vacation skin care routine to reset my skin after travel!
The first step in improving the overall condition of your skin, is to get back to your healthy habits. This includes collecting enough Zzzs at night, eating whole foods and vegetables, exercising again and of course, drinking more water and less alcohol. Once you’ve started to hydrate and detox your body from the inside out, i cant stress enough the importance of using the right products for your current skin situation. This has helped me so much, so here is my post trip routine for resetting my skin after travel!
Table of Contents
Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!
To begin this post vacation skin care routine, we must first focus on hydrating and detoxing our bodies from the inside out. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but drinking water is vital to healthy skin. While on vacation, most people are dehydrated which can make your skin look dry and dull. Because of this it is important to drink plenty of water after vacation. Many doctors say it is best to drink half of your weight in ounces of water and it won’t hurt to drink a little more than that after vacay. Your body will thank you!
A great option is to add some fresh squeezed lemon into your water. The vitamin C that is provided by the lemon has been proven to reduce skin wrinkling, improve dry skin as well as skin damage from the sun! Dry skin is prone to wrinkles, which makes lemon water perfect for resetting the skin. It even helps with the occasionally bloating and indigestion that comes with traveling. I also love adding this vegan collagen to my water! Not only does it make me glow but it actually tastes good and makes me want to drink more!
Get Some Sleep
Due to the different time zones while traveling, late night events, and nights out on the town most people don’t get enough sleep on their travels. A few things happen to our skin when we don’t get enough sleep. During the first three hours of sleep, our body produces the growth hormone somatotropin. This hormone helps in keeping the skin youthful and healthy. It also helps repair the skin and when our body doesn’t produce enough somatotropin, our skin begins to age even faster than normal.
During the next two hours of sleep, our bodies increase the production of melatonin. Melatonin supports a better sleep but it also doubles as an antioxidant. It protects our skin from free radicals that can damage our skin as well as cause illness.
Lastly, during the last stage of REM sleep, our body begins to cool down and decrease levels of cortisol which is known as the stress hormone. As the temperature of our skin decreases, our muscles relax and increases the production of collagen. Many people know collagen because it is famous for promoting healthy skin, hair and nails! It smoothes out the skin and gives it a nice healthy glow. Be sure to catch up on sleep as much as you can!
Exercise
Once you are well rested, it is super important to get your body moving. Exercise benefits your whole body and is key to healthy skin. When you get your body moving, the body begins to increase healthy blood flow. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to cells all throughout the body including the skin. This helps your body get rid of toxins and free radicals to prevent further damage.
Similar to getting enough sleep, exercise helps produce more collagen. The oxygen, nutrients and collagen will help reduce wrinkles and your skin will produce healthy cells to replace the ones that are damaged. After a good sweaty workout, make sure to wash your face to get rid the excess sweat and prevent clogged pores.
Eat Healthy
We’ve all heard the saying, you are what you eat. That said, the foods we eat can affect the way our skin looks. If you don’t know where to start when it comes to eating healthy, start with whole foods!
Fruits, like berries are full of antioxidants and will help get rid of the toxins in our body. It will help flush our system which in turn rejuvenates our skin. Salmon, avocados and nuts have healthy oils which will hydrate your skin. Broccoli contains both vitamin A and vitamin C. As mentioned above, Vitamin C reduces wrinkles and improves dryness and damage to the skin. Vitamin A stimulates production of new skin cells. When thinking about what to eat, make sure your meals looks like the rainbow! A colorful plate means you are eating whole foods full of vitamins that will benefit your skin as well as your overall health.
Drink Less Alcohol
While enjoying ourselves during vacation, we tend to grab a drink or two, or maybe a few and hey no judgement here! Unfortunately though, alcohol is a big no no for your skin. Alcohol not only dehydrates you but it can also cause inflammation in your body. The inflammation on the skin on your face can create redness that will be hard to get rid of over time. Thankfully, drinks from one vacation won’t cause permanent damage to the skin. It’ll be easy for your skin to bounce back as long as you drink less alcohol and drink more water once you get home!
Exfoliate
Now let’s talk about face products because they are vital to resetting your skin. While on vacation, we tend to use more sunscreen, we sweat more and we are exposed to the sun more than usual. This can cause a build-up of dead skin cells. An exfoliator will help get rid of those dead skin cells to reveal healthy radiant skin. Since your skin might be sensitive after vacation, be sure to use a gentle exfoliator so that you won’t damage your skin even more. My favorite is the Berry Refined Scrub because it doubles as a mask and a scrub! It combines both manual and physical exfoliation but is still really gentle and great for sensitive skin!
Steamer
Steaming your face can bring so many benefits that it just has to be mentioned. You can steam your face at home by boiling a hot pot of water, draping a towel over your head and pot, and bringing your face within 6 inches of the pot. You can also simply buy a facial steamer, like this one, online or at a drugstore.
Steaming your face will open up your pores and loosen up any buildup. It promotes circulation, releases acne-causing bacteria, hydrates and soothes the skin, increases collagen production, and even helps with the absorption of the products you’ll be using later in your post vacation skin care routine! The benefits of steaming your face are endless and it is definitely a must after the stress of travel. Check out this article from Dr. Dennis Gross on how to use a facial steamer at home!
Pamper Your Skin with Masks
Face masks are your best friend while resetting your skin after travel. There are masks for all sorts of different issues which makes it easy to customize and add masks into your skincare routine. There are sheet masks, cream masks, clay masks, mud masks and peel masks. No matter which type of mask you decide to use, they will all bring benefits to your skin based on the ingredients that they have. Be sure to grab a couple of masks that are great for hydration, unclogging pores, repairing the outer skin barrier and soothing the skin. These will be perfect for post-vacation skin care routine and will help accelerate the process of resetting your skin.
Some of my favorite masks include:
- Summer Friday’s Overtime Mask
- Monat’s Be Purified Cold Charcoal Mask
- Summer Friday’s Jet Lag Mask
- The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Masque
- Summer Friday’s R+R Mask
- Herbivore’s Blue Tansy BHA And Enzyme Pore Refining Mask
At-Home Peeling Treatment
At-home face peels can sound quite scary but they’re actually pretty simple and are very beneficial! Peeling treatments have AHAs and BHAs which are exfoliating acids that help with a couple of skin issues. AHAs bring benefits not only to the outer layer of skin but the deep layer as well. It gently sheds dead skin cells that are on the surface and helps stimulate collagen production.
On the other hand, BHAs work on the surface as well as deep within the pores. It is a gentle acid that treats dry skin so it’s perfect for a post-vacation skin care routine. It fights bacteria on the skin which can lead to acne. Be cautious to not use at-home peeling treatments too often because they could damage your skin if not used in moderation.
My favorite at home peeling treatments include The Ordinary Peeling Solution, and Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Alpha Beta Extra Strength Peel
Skip the Makeup
Just like you shouldn’t wear makeup after a facial, now that you’ve stepped up your post vacation skin care routine and reset your skin you don’t want to put makeup on and reverse all your progress. I know this one isn’t always possible, but if you’re able to, skip the makeup for a few days post vacay especially if you’ve been wearing it every day during your trip!
I love a full face of makeup for a night out as much as the next girl but makeup can actually cause a lot of harm to your skin. It can clog pores, cause irritation, dryness, and breakouts and even accelerate aging. Since these are all things we are trying to avoid and decrease after a vacation, it is best to give your skin a break and steer clear from makeup for at least a couple days.
Moisturize!
Instead of applying makeup, reach for the face lotion and moisturize! Even a tinted moisturizer is great! Using a moisturizer will instantly hydrate your skin and give you a beautiful glow. After exfoliating, there is nothing better for your skin than a relaxing and nourishing oil or cream. Your skin will thank you and you will definitely notice the difference when you moisturize regularly!
My favorite moisturizers are Monat’s Be Gentle Moisturizer for day, the Night Haven Face Cream for an over night treatment, and my must have multi use oil, Rejuvenique Oil!
And there you have it! Thats my post vacation skincare routine! Start integrating these tips into your post vacation skin care routine in order to reset your skin after traveling and watch your skin glow!I hope this helped and if you have any other tips and tricks let me know in the comments!
Want more travel beauty and vacation skin care tips? Check out my 10 In-flight Essentials for Your Travel Beauty Routine here!
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