OK, if you follow me on my social media, you’ll probably know that I work in retail that is essential during this pandemic. I am definitely wearing a mask at work several times a week, which in turn gives me the dreaded maskne. Ahhhh, I do hate it, how it leaves my skin irritated, dehydrated and feeling tight and uncomfortable. But, if that’s the side effect of wearing a mask, I’ll gladly put one on considering the alternative. But in the meantime, what am I supposed to do?
Well number 1, you and I cannot do anything about it. It’s gonna happen and the sooner you accept that, the easier it will be to get through this. Because of the friction between the mask and your skin, eventually it will cause damage to it such as irritation, redness of the skin, dehydration (remember you’re breathing and where does all that air go??) And breakouts. And by the end of the day when you finally take off that mask, your skin is not happy. I know mine isn’t.
Since I’ve personally gone through this and I’ve been experimenting on what is the best way to help my skin through this, I’ve narrowed it down to just a few things on what most people should do.
- Hydrate
- Exfoliate
- Moisturize
- Spot it
- Minimal too no makeup
These four steps can go with most skin types if not all. I have combination/oily skin and in the winter, it tends too need a light moisturizer or hydrating serum with and exfoliating cream containing glycolic acid and this is what keeps my skin in check. I will go through each step so you know what you can do to help keep your skin looking its best as possible.
Hydrate
Well isn’t hydrate and moisturizing the same thing? Not in this case. What I mean by this is a type of product that you can spritz on during the day to keep your skin looking dewy (if you like that look) and keeping it hydrated. Because by the end of the day, my skin feels tight and uncomfortable which for my combination skin means it’s dehydrated. Every skin type, including all you oily skin beauties need hydration. Drier skin types may want to spray some thermal spray water or a hydrating mist of some sort throughout the day while oily skin types may want to just wait till the end of the day to do something like this which I do because if I spray my thermal water during the day, I look really shiny. But it’s totally up to you, whatever your comfortable with is up to you. But keeping your skin hydrated will definitely go a long way.
Exfoliate
How ever you exfoliate, I think the best the way to help combat breakouts from wearing a mask, a chemical exfoliate would be your best bet on getting clear skin. And because there are many ways of exfoliating, even drier skin types can benefit from a chemical exfoliate. Poly hydroxy acids are great for drier and more sensitive skin types while glycolic acid is better for combination to oily skin types. You can also use retinol or vitamin a that also helps with acne. Plus, the added bonus is you benefit from anti-aging from all these ingredients, so win win! But how ever you want to exfoliate, do what best for your skin and for your skin type.
Moisturize
On top of maskne and choosing to use a chemical exfoliate, your skin is going to need definite moisture. For me, the best way for me to exfoliate my skin and keep it from getting dehydrated is too apply a serum first and then apply my moisturizer that has 8% glycolic acid in it afterwards. And this works for my combination skin. For oily skin types you may not even need a moisturizer of any sort and just directly apply the acid or retinol treatment which I used to do and I was fine with it. But for drier skin types, usually you would apply the exfoliating treatment first and then a good and possibly heavy moisturizer to keep the skin from getting dry and flaky. But for all skin types, if your skin is feeling dry, tight, dehydrated, irritated or flaky then I suggest just taking some time off from the active product until your skin is healed or use it a few times a week so it doesn get to that point.
Spot it
I’ve noticed that people of all skin types are breaking out and the ones who don’t normally break out think they need to overhaul their routine. My suggestion, start with a spot treatment. One that has salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide, between 2% and 5% of this ingredient should be OK for people who are breaking out only because of wearing the mask. By slowly incorporating products in to your routine, you’ll know which ones are working or not.
Minimal or no makeup: that is the question
Do you know how hard it is to go from a medium to full coverage foundation to a tinted moisturizer? I’ve had enough time now to see if it actually made a difference when I switched to tinted moisturizer and setting powder. In my case, it did make a difference. With a tinted moisturizer, I get a boost of moisture plus with a light, breathable coverage, it really helped my skin. I’m also getting used to wearing a tinted moisturizer because it feels really light and gives me a bit of a dewy glow. Plus my skin doesn’t feel too dehydrated by the end of the workday.
If you’re experiencing maskne, I hope this article helps you. But I also hope you know that the reality of it, is you will be breaking out for as long as you keep wearing your mask. So keep wearing your mask to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. Having some breakouts are temporary and will go away soon but getting sick sucks and who wants to get sick especially when you can prevent it? Stay safe and healthy and have a good day my beauties!