For those who love beauty and skincare, you’ll most likely be investing a lot of time, money, and energy into keeping your skin healthy and beautiful while you’re at home. And when you go on vacation and visit another country, especially one that is very different from your home country, it can really take a toll on your skin, and that’s why I’ve written a blog post on 8 Ways To Maintain Healthy Skin While Traveling. And when you head back home, you’ll have reached full circle and sometimes you need to do damage control even when you’ve taken care of your skin while abroad. And knowing what to do for jet-lagged skin with these post-vacation skin repair tips will be very important for you to know while settling in the comfort of your own home. Keep in mind that in order to repair your skin, this involves taking care of your body inside and out.
Exfoliate
1 – Exfoliate Your Skin, Including Your Body
One of the most important things when coming home and combatting jet-lagged skin is to get rid of all the dead skin cells and dirt you’ve accumulated while on vacation. This will immediately give your face a fresh canvas to work with as well as get rid of the dullness caused by dead skin. To do so, your first post-vacation skin repair tip is to exfoliate your skin.
Face Scrubs
For scrubs, I like to use Murad Vita-C Triple Exfoliating Facial, it’s as effective as a microdermabrasion facial in just one use. With this, your skin instantly feels softer after using and they have physical, chemical, and enzymatic exfoliants that are gentle for the skin. The Vitamin C in this scrub also has beneficial antioxidant effects and is also stabilized by gold. You can get $15 off your $50 Canadian purchases here and US purchases here.
Face Peels
For those who aren’t a fan of scrubs, a chemical exfoliation is a great option for those with more sensitive and easily irritable skin. They are more of a liquid texture than a scrub and are more powerful and also penetrates deeper into the skin. My favorite chemical exfoliator is the Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel. It smells so delicious, is very gentle on the skin and works within 10 minutes. Even if you have a blemish, that will instantly reduce in size once you wash the peel off.
Body Scrubs
Don’t forget to exfoliate your body as well! A body scrub has gritty texture and may not feel the most comfortable, but it effectively removes the dead skin cells on the top layer of your skin and instantly adds moisture to the skin. Sol De Janeiro Bum Bum Body Scrub is a great body scrub that allows you to continue your post-vacation joys with their iconic Cheirosa ’62 fragrance. This spa-worthy scrub is made with ultra-fine sugar crystals for post-vacation skin repair while bringing you that nostalgic feeling about your recent trip.
Detox
2 – Always Stay Hydrated With H2O
Before your flight, during your vacation, and when you come home, you’ll need to stay hydrated. This will help with jet-lagged skin throughout you trip and help with post-vacation skin repair for when you’re home. Staying hydrated will help you maintain healthy skin while traveling but it’s also a great way to detox your body from the inside out. It helps regulate your body temperature, aids digestion and nutrient absorption, and detoxifies your body by removing waste. Staying hydrated also brightens your skin’s complexion.
3 – Go Back To Your Regular Healthy Diet
It may be harder to eat healthy while you’re traveling as one of the best parts about exploring a new country is that you get to try out a new cuisine in the mother land. Also, depending on where you go, the type of food and quality of water you get may be very different from what you’re used to and your body will not always respond well. Hello stomach bugs! Once you’re home, one of the best post-vacation skin repair tips is to eat something that your body is familiar with and incorporate a good amount of healthy habits into it. You can stay away from or lessen the amount of fried foods, dairy, salt and sugar you intake which can clog your pores as well as dull your skin. Choose alkaline rich fruits and vegetables to help your body balance out its pH and strengthen the immune system.
4 – Hot Bath with Epsom Salt For Detoxing
If you love taking baths like I do, soaking in an Epsom salt bath is great for detoxifying the body as well as rejuvenate the mind and body. I like to choose an Epsom salt with a eucalyptus scent for more invigoration. Epsom salt baths help relieve stress and bring about better moods and it also works to soften dry skin and exfoliate dead skin cells. This is kind of a 2 for 1 where you get to detox your body and your mind. I know I always feel pampered when I have a nice soak in the tub!
5 – Vitamin C Serums To Boost Skin Detoxification Process
Vitamin C serums are great for detoxifying the skin as they are rich in antioxidants and rids the skin of free radicals and environmental aggressors. This not only detoxifies the skin, but it helps protect the skin during and after your vacation. Using a Vitamin C serum is 1 of the best ways to combat jet-lagged skin and I highly recommend using it every day. Here’s A Guide To Vitamin C Serums and everything you need to know about why you should add this to your daily skincare regimen.
Treat
6 – Replenish The Skin
Face
Aside from using a moisturizer, one of the best post-vacation skin repair tips is to use a hydrating mask. Especially arriving home after a long flight, you’ll need to treat your skin since it is so dehydrating on a plane. (Also, oftentimes the question Is An In-Flight Skincare Routine Really Necessary comes up and the answer may surprise.) Even other modes of transportation with their heat or air conditioning does no good for the skin. A hydrating mask helps restore the skin and provide the much needed hydration that was depleted from your skin through travel. It also helps lock in moisture and reduce any moisture loss. My favorite overnight hydrating mask that I’ve used to date is the Youth To The People Superberry Hydrate + Glow Dream Mask With Vitamin C. I woke up the next morning with a huge difference in how bright and radiant my skin was and I was very surprised – it really works! However, I find that YTTP is a bit of a more luxurious mask and I don’t want to waste any product. So when I find that I want to use a hydrating mask more often or if there’s a dry skin emergency that forces me to use a hydrating mask every day of the week, I like to reach for the Avène Soothing Radiance Mask.
Lips
Don’t forget your lips! One of the easiest place to dry out are your lips and you want to remember to hydrate your them with a nice lip mask. I can’t go without my La Neige Lip Sleeping Mask and it really helps hydrate my lips and heal the skin around it, even as a daily treatment.
Body
Don’t forget to moisturize the body to help jet-lagged skin overall. Your body post-vacation needs just as much hydration as it does your face. Most times, people forget or are too lazy to apply lotion to the body and you can really feel it when your skin starts itching. Especially in the winter, this step is extremely important. I like using Hempz as they use 100% hemp seed oil and helps deliver nourished and supple skin. It provides me enough hydration throughout the year and all their scents smell delicious and are not overpowering like the Bath and Body Works lotions I used to use. They are also paraben, gluten and cruelty-free as well as vegan and uses non-toxic plant-based ingredients.
7 – Add Hyaluronic Acid To Your Skincare Routine
If you don’t already use a hyaluronic acid as part of your daily routine and while you were on vacation, this (and Vitamin C) is one of the best treatments to add to your jet-lagged, post-vacation skin repair routine. Hyaluronic acid hydrates the skin and helps plump it up through locking in moisture as it holds up to 1,000 times its weight in water. It also helps prevent aging, which can definitely happen through traveling since there is stress on the body through external aggressors even though you may be relaxing and having the time of your life on your trip. So far, I’ve really liked The Inkey List Hyaluronic Acid and Wishful Thirst Trap Juice HA3 Peptide Serum so far.
8 – Never Skip A Good Eye Cream
Another post-vacation skin repair tip is to use a good eye cream. Going on vacation can also be tiresome, and if you don’t want to look like you’re exhausted from your trip, an eye cream will help a lot. Choose an eye cream that moisturizes, prevents and addresses signs of aging, as well as helps with dark circles and puffiness can make a huge difference in jet-lagged skin. The Ole Henriksen Banana Bright Eye Crème works great to address all of these issues and instantly brings brightness to the eyes. Tarte Cosmetics Maracuja C-Brighter Eye Treatment is also a great option.
9 – Back To A Good Sleeping Schedule
1 of the most important, if not the most important, post-vacation skin repair is to get enough sleep. Here are the Top 3 Ways How A Lack Of Sleep Affects Your Skin and why it’s important to get back to a good sleeping schedule when you arrive home. Getting enough sleep will rejuvenate your mind, repair your skin, and help your body recover from your travels. There’s a reason they call it beauty sleep!
10 – Use Minimal Makeup
To help your skin recover post-vacation, along with a good skincare routine to help you detox as well as treat your skin, it might help to use minimal makeup and allow your skin to breathe. I rarely go without makeup, but it does feel nice to allow my skin be free and let it recover with just skincare products or very minimal makeup when I go out. Traveling can be stressful on the skin and body so it’s good when you can give your skin a break from additional products.
11 – Wind Down And Lessen Stress
If possible, when you arrive home from your travels, wind down and relax. Although traveling for the most part is great for relaxing and relieving stress, it can actually be very tiring and stressful to a person overall. You have to get used to a new location, new foods, unknown territory, time change, and can even be constantly on the go. Lessening stress and taking the time to wind down is a great post-vacation skin repair tip as stress is one of the worst things a person can go through and not only does it affect the mind, it greatly affects the body without you even knowing it at times.