With no signs of COVID-19 dying down, it’s important to keep your skin healthy underneath those life-saving masks! Unfortunately, wearing masks can compromise the skin barrier via contact irritation and trapped sweat, which causes acne in those with acne-prone skin. Here are my tips and recommendations for dealing with “maskne” and irritated skin.
- Choose the Right Mask.
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Cotton and silk masks are a lot more forgiving than those with polyester. They are more absorbent, and therefore reduce the amount of sweat trapped directly in contact with your skin. Additionally, choose a soft fabric, as rough ones can be abrasive and irritate your skin barrier.
- Practice Mask Maintenance.
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If you have reusable masks, wash them after a day’s use. Reusing masks without washing them can expose your skin to bacteria that has built up over hours of use. This is especially important to avoid, as masks can already irritate and weaken the skin barrier. Adding extra bacteria to the mix is a recipe for acne flares. Additionally, you want to make sure you’re washing masks with hot water and fragrance-free detergent to eliminate bacteria and reduce potential irritants.
- Skip the Makeup (that includes lipstick!).
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Trapping makeup and sweat together beneath a mask is a sure-fire way to clog your pores and break you out. This one’s pretty self-explanatory!
- Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize.
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One big skin concern with wearing masks is that they constantly rub against your skin and can impair your skin barrier. Moisturizing twice a day with fragrance-free products can help combat this and aid in recovery. I like the Soon Jung 2x Barrier Intensive Cream because it has plenty of helpful ingredients like shea butter, panthenol, and glycerin that absorb and trap moisture into the skin. The Cetaphil Redness Relieving Night Moisturizer is another simple but great product that’s especially useful for those who suffer from redness. It contains moisturizing ingredients like glycerin and allantoin, but also niacinamide, a very popular ingredient that’s known for reducing the appearance of redness and blemishes.
- Gently Exfoliate.
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Strong actives like AHAs and retinols should probably take a backseat, as they can increase irritation alongside masks. Azelaic acid is a better option that still targets acne and redness, but minimizes side effects. The Paula’s Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster is a good place to start.
Maintaining glowy skin isn’t a sufficient reason to skip wearing a mask, so hopefully incorporating these five tips means you don’t have to compromise. Keeping your skin healthy during quarantine is possible and just taking a few minutes out of your morning and evening can do wonders at keeping the quarantine insanity at bay.