Now that wearing a facemask has become a normal part of our everyday lives, our skin is faced with a new challenge. Whether it’s only for a 20 minute grocery shopping trip, or an 8 hour shift at work, there are steps you can take to avoid irritation and breakouts.

PROTECT YOUR SKIN

Start at the base: protect your skin. Skin irritation can be caused by a multitude of things, including environmental pollutants, harsh weather, and dirt and oils. Face masks can collect dirt and oils from sitting in your purse, car, or elsewhere and rub off on your skin, leading to breakouts and irritation.

You can create a barrier between your skin and these irritants using products that contain hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid promotes healthier, softer skin by protecting against ultraviolet radiation, environmental toxins and pollutants. It reduces the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, and can speed up the wound healing process. It also helps the skin to retain moisture by holding onto water molecules. It’s basically the saving grace of skin care.

If you are breaking out and experiencing irritation in your skin, use a natural blemish treatment as well as a natural face wash rather than a common drug store treatment and wash. Natural ingredients such as rosehip, argan oil create a barrier between your skin and the environment, and ingredients like tea tree oil and lemon target harmful bacteria and fight inflammation, irritation, and infections. 

MINIMIZE MAKEUP

Everyone loves getting glammed up every once and awhile, but when you know you’re going to be wearing a mask, especially if it's for an extended period of time, we recommend minimizing full coverage makeup as much as possible.

The makeup will come off on the mask, collect germs and then continue to rub against your skin, causing irritation. We recommend minimizing the makeup that will be worn under the mask and if you choose to still wear concealers and foundations, choose lighter coverage ones with natural ingredients that will still help to protect your skin from any dirt and oils living on your mask.

MASK MAINTENANCE

We can’t stress this enough: wash your mask! Walking around with a dirty face mask doesn’t help you or anyone around you. Germs and viruses can collect on the inside of your mask and stay there until you wash them. Just look at this experiment done by microbiologist Dr. Rich Davis, reported in an article by Insider:

Photo by: Richard Davis

It's all well and good that face masks protect against the spread of germs, but with all of those germs going straight into your mask, it's crucial that you wash it regularly.

As we all adjust to this new way of life, it’s important that our skin adjust with us. Protect your face against dirt, oils, germs, viruses, and all else by using natural products with ingredients, minimizing your makeup, taking care of your mask, and taking care of yourself. We hope everyone is staying safe and making the most of quarantine!