Facemasks (not the leave on treatment kind), protect you from catching and emitting infectious diseases and have now become the new norm. While necessary, when it comes to skincare and wearing facemasks daily and for prolonged periods of time, this can potentially take a negative toll on your skin.
Here, we give some skincare tips to help avoid and manage skincare issues that come from prolonged mask wearing.
1. Keep it clean
Treat your mask the same way you would makeup sponges, brushes and your hands with regular cleaning. Your mask is exposed to the same things you are on a daily basis and need a thorough cleaning as much as you would.
Wearing a mask that carries over the previous day’s wear can lead to clogged pores and deep-seated dirt that can cause irritation, breakouts and other kinds of skin inflammation.
A good idea, especially for people who wear masks daily and for prolonged periods is to rotate between 2 or more pairs. This allows users to wash masks and have another one at the ready.
2. Don’t skip the SPF
Facemasks cover most of our face but that doesn’t mean it totally stops UVA and UVB rays from going through. This is why daily SPF is still necessary and important to keep skin protected, even when covered underneath a mask.
Wearing SPF daily protects our skin, slows down aging, and prevents various skin issues related to sun damage such as dullness, wrinkles, dryness, and redness.
3. Check the label and keep makeup minimal
If you haven’t already, now is a good time to opt exclusively for non-comedogenic skincare. Choosing non-comedogenic products help keep your pores from getting clogged and give you skin issues from the very skincare that you’re using to keep it looking its best.
Where prolonged mask usage is concerned with comedogenic skin care, this can be double trouble for your skin as increased sweat, oil and dirt can buildup on your skin. Sweat and oil are our skin’s natural ways to keep germs away, but sealing it in with a facemask can cause various skin inflammation issues such as acne.
Since sweat and oil are unavoidable, keep your skin’s pores as clear as possible by choosing non-comedogenic makeup and going minimal with your makeup products in order to allow your skin to ‘breath’ as much as possible by layering on only what’s necessary.
4. De-Puff Your Skin
Wearing a facemask traps a lot of heat under your skin which can cause puffiness and redness. You can minimize these effects by giving your skin some de-puffing and cooling treatments to help bring down redness and puffiness such as:
- Facial massage: Facial massages increase circulation and drain any stagnant fluids that cause facial swelling such as slow-moving blood and water along your face. Facial massages also have the added benefit of helping your skincare products penetrate your skin more efficiently all while being relaxing.
You can opt to use your hands, a roller, or a gua sha. Any of these tools can help your skincare products absorb better into your skin, increase circulation and reduce puffiness. If you decide to go with a roller or gua sha, you can put them in the fridge of the freezer to really help bring down redness and puffiness in your skin thanks to the cold temperature.
If you haven’t tried facial massages yet, give them a try as they’re especially beneficial after prolonged mask usage. Simply massage in gentle strokes, moving upwards and outwards from the center of your face.
- Apply a cooling mask
Facial masks, the treatment type this time, can help soothe and restore tired skin that has been under a mask all day. Where trapped heat and puffiness are concerned, cooling masks that contain ingredients such as cucumber, peppermint, aloe vera are great for inflamed skin.
5. Avoid skin injury
Wearing a mask can leave your skin injured due to the constant pressure on points where your mask rests such as the bridge of your nose, your cheekbones, and around your mouth depending on the type of mask you wear and the shape of your face. Constant pressure can leave your face feeling tender, raw, or even bruised.
If your mask is rubbing your skin in a way that’s making your skin sore, you can add a layer of any emollient balm throughout the day to prevent your skin from wearing down. If your skin feels tender or even bruised, you may want to consider getting a better fitting mask with softer material or more padding to make daily wear both comfortable and functional.
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