Beat dry cabin air with these in-flight skincare recommendations
Keep your skin hydrated during long flights with these traveler-approved essentials.
Kyley Warren- The dry, low-humidity air in airplane cabins can dehydrate your skin during a flight.
- An in-flight skincare routine should focus on intense hydration to combat moisture loss.
- Key products include hydrating masks, facial mists, and occlusive creams to lock in moisture.
As an avid traveler—and someone who's suffered through one too many red eye flights—I've learned the hard way that it's not enough to have a pre-flight skincare routine; you also need an in-flight regimen that can help revive your skin before landing (and save you from looking like a zombie when you de-board).
One of the harsher side effects of long flights is the exposure to dry cabin air—the low humidity in airplane cabins can (quite literally) suck the moisture and color straight out of your face. For this reason, the best in-flight skincare essentials should deliver intense hydration, with key ingredients like hyaluronic acid and water, plus an assortment of occlusive products that can help lock in skin's moisture and prevent TEWL (transepidermal water loss).
Among my favorite travel beauty products for better in-flight skin are Medicube's Jelly Mask with Salmon DNA, Summer Fridays' Jet Lag Under Eye Masks, La Roche-Posay's cooling Thermal Spring Water and Weleda's Skin Food Cream to cap it all off.
Ahead of your next flight, shop more expert-recommended essentials that'll help you build out the best in-flight skincare routine and achieve touchdown-ready skin in no time:
Traveler-approved in-flight skincare products for summer
Skincare masks
Face masks, eye masks, you name it—if there was ever a product primed for in-flight use, it would undoubtedly be a skincare mask. These products make great in-flight skincare essentials because they offer tons of hydrating benefits, require minimal hands-to-face contact and don't run the risk of breaking any TSA liquids rules.
Facial mists and spritzes
Another hands-free recommendation for your in-flight skincare bag: facial sprays. Options from La Roche-Posay and Tower 28 Beauty provide an easy way to douse your face in hydration, sans the headache of liquid creams or needing to apply the product in the airplane bathroom.
Shop the travel-size Caudalie Beauty Elixir Face Mist.
Shop the travel-size Tower 28 SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray.
Occlusive skincare products
Now that you've doused your skin in tons of hydrating skincare products, it's time to lock in that moisture—with the help of occlusive skincare products from Weleda and CeraVe, which work to create a protective barrier over the skin for longer-lasting nourishment.
Shop the travel-size CeraVe Healing Ointment.
Color-infused beauty
If at the end of your airplane skincare routine you still need an extra color boost, consider these packable, plane-ready makeup essentials that go on easy and can help you build a healthier color tint—even from thousands of miles in the air.
What is an in-flight skincare routine?
Popularized by influencer culture, an in-flight skincare routine is exactly what it sounds like—a beauty regimen that you can do during a long-haul flight as a means to combat moisture loss and keep your skin looking fresh.
Do I need to have an in-flight skincare routine?
Expert opinions vary on this—some argue its hydrating benefits, while others claim that it's more aesthetic-related as opposed to providing anything effective. In my opinion, I think having skincare for long-haul flights (particularly red eyes) is critical, especially if you're traveling for work or want to hit the ground running from the moment you land in a destination.
Whether you need a robust, multi-step skincare routine for flights is up to you, but it can help to revive dull skin and inject some necessary hydration.
More tips for creating an in-flight skincare routine:
- Prioritize hydration - Nothing dulls your skin more than moisture loss, which is common during long-haul flights when air cabin pressure produces low humidity. Hydrating skincare products can help to remedy this loss of moisture during a flight.
- Forgo cleansing - No skincare routine is complete without a cleanse to start, right? Well in the case of in-flight skincare routines, it's actually recommended you skip the cleaning step; besides airplane bathrooms being tight, airplanes (in general) are germ-ridden, and the less you directly touch your face, the better!
- Opt for less handsy skincare - On the latter point, face masks, facial sprays and mists should be the backbone of your in-flight skincare regimen. These products can deliver the same hydrating boost, without the need to incessantly be touching your face.
- Occlusive products FTW - If you must touch your face or use a facial cream, make sure that it's with an occlusive product that can help trap in skin's existing hydration and form a protective moisture barrier. Thicker cold creams, shea butters and face oils often fall into this product category.
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