Whether you’ve planned a week lying on the beach, an adventure-packed trip away, or you’re embarking on a staycation road trip, you need to think about your travel skincare.
Long-haul flights, long drives, and exposure to the sun can all take their toll on your skin, meaning you need to be extra careful when it comes to shaving and your grooming routine.
Discover our top travel skincare tips below.
How Does Travelling Impact Skin?
From the plane’s cabin pressure to pre-travel anxiety, there are many ways that travelling can affect your skin:
Dehydration – Due to a lack of humidity on the plane, skin is left feeling dry and dehydrated after a flight. With dry skin often comes a dry, flaky beard.
Exposure to pollution – Long car journeys aren’t much better for your skin. If you’re covering a lot of ground, your skin can be exposed to a high level of pollution along the way, potentially leading to a build-up of dirt and bacteria on your skin, which could leave you with a breakout of spots.
Reduced blood flow – A plane’s cabin pressure can restrict the blood flow to your skin, resulting in a dull, dreary complexion.
Puffiness – When travelling, you’re often stationary for an extended period of time. This can cause water retention and skin to appear puffy as a result.
Travel Skincare Top Tips
There are a number of ways to pay extra care and attention to your skin and beard if you’re going on holiday this summer.
Tip 1 – Drink Plenty of Water
Before we even think about travel skincare, it’s important to make sure you’re hydrated from within.
Be sure to always have a water bottle to hand, whether you’re flying or travelling by car. Our bodies need more water in particularly humid conditions to retain a healthy level of hydration.
Dehydration can lead to dry skin, so drink plenty of water to give skin the best fighting chance while travelling.
Tip 2 – Apply Moisturiser Liberally
Treat the skin pre and post flight with a topical moisturiser to keep skin feeling comfortable and to reduce dryness.
The Ultra Sensitive Moisturiser is the perfect travel skincare companion, as it helps to bind water in the upper layers of the skin with its blend of humectants, shea butter and Vitamin E. It helps to replenish skin moisture and to restore the skin's natural barrier, leaving skin feeling soft and nourished, without a greasy finish.
Tip 3 – Treat Your Beard
With skin at a higher risk of drying out while travelling, it can take its toll on beards and facial hair too.
To help avoid a dry, flaky beard on arrival at your destination, treat your facial hair with a nourishing beard oil or conditioning beard balm.
Our beard oil is formulated with extracts of avocado oil, grapeseed oil, sweet almond oil and argan oil, designed to soften coarse beard hair and reduce itchiness.
When it comes to our beard balm, think of it as a leave in conditioner for your facial hair. Not only is it great for keeping stray hairs at bay (humidity can increase the chance of fly aways!), but the nourishing formula is also blended with argan oil and cocoa butter to help soften wiry facial hair and the skin underneath.
Tip 4 – Regular Face and Beard Washing
There’s no better time to relax than when on holiday. However, it’s important to maintain your grooming routine, so make sure you pack skincare when you travel.
We recommend using the King C. Gillette Beard and Face Wash throughout your holiday to keep skin feeling fresh and cleansed. It works to remove dead skin cells and excess oil from the face and beard and helps to nourish the facial hair and skin underneath to reduce dryness.
Top up with the Ultra Sensitive Moisturiser, followed by your choice of either beard oil or beard balm for maximum softness and hydration.
Tip 5 – Protect Skin with SPF
UV rays can cause severe sun damage, unless you take precautions to protect your skin.
Wherever you’re travelling, it’s important to wear sunscreen every day – even if you’re somewhere cold. Protecting your skin from the sun will help to keep it looking younger for longer, whether you’re hiding part of it behind a beard or not.
Using SPF all over your face will also help you to avoid unfortunate tan lines if you do decide to go for a clean shave halfway through your holiday. It’s definitely a good idea to bear in mind before you reach for your razor!
Shaving While Travelling?
If you’re going away for a longer period of time, you might have thought about how to shave on holiday. Check out these tips and discover everything you need in your travel shaving kit.
How to Pack Your Travel Shaving Kit
Our All Purpose Styler: Beard Trimmer, Razor And Edger is a great gadget to pack in your travel shaving kit.
With one convenient tool, you can trim, shave, and edge your facial hair. By swapping in a different comb, you can also use it to trim your back hair and for any other manscaping you want to do on holiday to improve your comfort and confidence on the beach.
You can take electric razors in hand luggage, but you may have to take them out of your bag as it goes through the security scanner, depending on the airport’s regulations.
Disposable razors are also fine to pack into hand luggage, making the Gillette disposable razors great for shorter trips.
When it comes to shaving gel, there is a limit on how much liquid you can take on a flight. Check out our tips below on how to pack skincare for travel.
How to Pack Skincare for Travel
If travelling by plane, you can take up to 100ml of liquid in your hand luggage. This includes travel skincare, aerosols and shaving gel etc.
Packs of clear 10ml tubes can be used to decant your liquids into, creating travel sized skincare. This ensures you’re taking the correct amount with you. Label each bottle to avoid any confusion during your travels!
