Summer Travel Skincare Tips with Dr. Janelle Vega
It’s summertime, which means summer travel is here! While it’s always fun to plan for that vacation, packing for your trip can be stressful, especially when it comes to keeping up with your skincare and body care routine.
During vacation, we’re typically in new environments and out of our usual routine, and these changes can have an effect on our health and skin wellness. Thankfully, there are some steps we can take and plan to mitigate or lessen any major changes whether that be packing properly, using the right products pre-travel, taking the right steps post-vacation, etc. Here are a couple of my tips and tricks I like to use when it comes to keeping my skincare intact during that summertime travel.
Travel Hydration + SPF!
While traveling or whenever our skin is in a new environment, it will tend to dysregulate. Airplanes can dry out our skin from the lack of humidity in the air and decreased water intake, so one can develop dehydrated, dry skin on an airplane and after a trip. I never get on a plane without having Vaseline Lip Therapy with me; my lips are almost guaranteed to dry out and this is a great first step to keep your skin (yes, your lips also have skin) balanced.
Additionally, apply sunscreen when you are on a flight. It is important to apply, and even reapply on a long flight as you are actually closer to the sun and more at risk for developing a burn or damaging sun exposure. If your skin dehydrates during flights, think about bringing a small water mister with you to hydrate or a moisturizer with hyaluronic acid to rehydrate.
Pack Appropriately!
Maintaining your skincare and body care routine when traveling can definitely be a challenge! To stay on track with my routine, I like to collect samples of my staple skincare and have a toiletry bag ready to go for trips. That way I am always ready with my arsenal of products my skin is used to. I would NOT recommend starting a new product on a trip. You never know how your skin will react, and you will have less access to help for any complications that may arise from irritation or allergies.
The other thing I never go on a summer vacation without is sunscreen – one for the face and then one for the body. This is so important because during the summer months even if we aren’t necessarily doing water activities, you will be spending time outside and you are more likely to get burned. I like to augment my sun protection with UPF hats and clothing as well. I also like to make sure I am keeping the skin on my body hydrated after spending time in warm weather. My choice is Vaseline Radiant X Even Tone Nourishing Body Lotion which also helps with any pigmentation because it also has niacinamide.
For patients with sensitive skin, dermatitis can occur from travel from using hotel products, which tend to have fragrances and other allergens. I usually recommend bringing your own products for bathing and moisturizing, especially if you suffer from sensitive, eczema prone skin so you don’t develop a new issue while on vacation.
Post Vacation Skin Rehab
Rehabbing the skin after a long summer vacation involves staying out of the sun for a little while until your skin recovers from the stress of being dehydrated and sun exposed. I usually recommend going easy on irritating products like AHA/BHA or retinoids and just focusing on peptides and hydration for about a week. Then slowly reintroduce these products into your regimen.
