Former beauty editors' skincare lessons from Thailand and Malaysia.
Written by Kate Milliken
It’s that time of the year... While a lot of us are lapping up the Kiwi summer sun (or rain), I have a slightly different yearly summer ritual. I choose a destination with a minimum flight time of 12 hours and board the plane as soon as I finish work for the year. This year, my Christmas break took me through over three weeks of long-haul flights, intense tropical humidity, hotel bathrooms and rotational air-conditioned rooms as I blazed across Malaysia and Thailand.
Despite the fact that I consider myself to be very well-travelled, it never fails to amaze me how much these externalities can wreak havoc on your skin, no matter how well-intentioned and well-organised you may be. While of course, there are multiple nuances, I have managed to reduce the secret to keeping your skin happy and healthy while travelling into two key points:
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Have a plan; prep, plan, and have a recovery ritual in mind.
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Know that if you have the right appointments booked before and after the trip, you can avoid, or at least mitigate, most of the damage.
Like most things in life, preparation is key when it comes to both travelling itself, and looking after your skin while doing it. And you don’t have to be in South East Asia for these principles to apply either, whether your summer escapades take you to the muddy mosh pits of Gisborne’s Rhythm and Vines, or the snowy mountainside of the Swiss Alps, planning and prepping are essential to making sure you get through it with your glow intact.
Prep your skin before you leave
To put it in the simplest of terms, travel will amplify whatever is already going on with your skin. If your barrier is compromised, or you have started a new active, chances are your skin is going to remind you as soon as you land, and continue to send you constant reminders throughout the entirety of your trip.
The best way to prevent this from happening is to make sure that you are putting in the work before you even board the plane. If you are working on repairing your skin barrier, make sure that you have been loading up your skin with niacinamide and have weekly or bi-weekly LED Light Therapy sessions booked to prep your skin adequately for what it's about to go through. Travelling, especially long-haul, is known to have a damaging effect on the skin barrier, so if it's already compromised, this could impact you long-term if you fail to plan.
Flight skincare is essential
If you travel frequently enough, your skincare routine will become equally, if not more important than your plane outfit or boarding ritual. After all, the dehydrating air circulating the plane cabin, combined with a good, healthy dose of jetlag, can do a number on even the clearest of skin types.
For me, I find that a long flight will usually result in two things: one huge pimple around my jawline, and a bit of textbook travel dryness. Everyone takes care of their skin differently on a plane, of course, but personally, I am someone who has absolutely no shame in applying a full skincare regimen and a few face masks before we even reach cruising altitude.
I have a few skincare non-negotiables on the plane, and they involve:
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Removing my makeup (I don’t cleanse because I don’t trust the water on the plane), so I usually pack makeup wipes that I have already spritzed heavily with Murad Hydrating Toner, which is kind of extra, I know, but I’m yet to find a makeup wipe that does exactly what I want it to do, so here I am.
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Applying a hydrating serum and moisturiser. This varies depending on how my skin is feeling, but two of my staples are the Skinsmiths Ultimate Renewal Serum and the Retinol Youth Renewal Night Cream (which also conveniently comes in a travel size).
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Then I round it all out with a face mask. The Skinsmiths Hydration Booster Facial Mask is quite literally the perfect in-flight mask. It smooths, soothes and gives you an instant boost of hydration, perfect for the drying plane air.
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About thirty minutes before I land, I give myself the final pick-me-up with a Murad Retinol Youth Renewal Eye Mask. You will land looking so fresh!
Pack sunscreen
This might not be classified as a ‘tip’ per se, but when I was a beauty editor for many moons, the one question I was constantly asked was ‘what is my desert island product’. I don’t really understand the question. In all honesty, why is the island a desert island? Do they mean ‘deserted island’? Is it tropical? Anyway, no matter whether the island is desert or tropical, you will still need to be packing sunscreen, and plenty of it.
The beauty I find in being on holiday is that I actually don’t really care what I look like that much. So I can apply as much sunscreen and reapply it to my heart's content while I’m on the go without having to worry about it ruining my makeup (which isn’t the case anyway, btw, with the right formula). Every now and then, by which we mean every single article we have ever written and published, we like to give our one true love, SPF, a little extra love. Because honestly, where would we be without it!
I’ve become slightly distracted by my confusion about desert islands and my enamour for sunscreen, but this travel tip is the simplest. Make sure you pack a really good SPF (50+ minimum) and bonus tips for having a travel-sized companion that you can keep in your handbag for reapplication. Don’t forget your ears and the back of the neck! These are actually some of the highest-risk areas when it comes to sun damage. On my recent travels, I was equipped with the new Murad Superactive Moisturiser SPF50: Wrinkle Fighting, and I found it perfect. Great lightweight formula and great packaging for travel.
I cleanse properly every night, no excuses
This one is crucial when you're travelling, because whether you are surfing or skiing, your skin will evidently accumulate a lot of layers throughout the day. It might be SPF, sweat, snow, saltwater or even just makeup, and this builds up fast. But even if I haven’t worn any makeup that day, I still always double cleanse. When I’m traveling the criteria I am looking for is simple: something that will gently exfoliate my skin as it cleanses, travels well, and includes a dose of a hard-working active. I have narrowed this down into two must-have products: the Murad Travel Size AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser and the Skinsmiths Gentle Cream Cleanser. These two complement each other perfectly and will keep your skin spick and span while you are on your travels.
Adjust textures rather than the whole routine
You would actually be shocked at how you can get away with having 6-8 really fantastic products on rotation in your bathroom cabinet that you can sub in and out throughout the year to have a full season-proof skincare routine. The same applies to travelling. You don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater and curate an entirely new regime; a few smart switch outs will work just as well.
In humid climates like Thailand, I switched to lighter layers but kept the same steps. When I got home at the end of the night to my air-conditioned environment, I leaned into richer creams like the Murad Intense Recovery Cream, which is probably my favourite product of all time, on a side note.
Prioritise hydration, especially after sun exposure
After long days in the Southeast Asian sun, hydration became the deciding factor between a healthy glow and looking visibly stressed and tired. Post-sun care is all about calming, soothing, and replenishing moisture that you may have lost during your exploits. So this is not the time for your lightweight gels, but more the creamy and comforting products in your arsenal.
While the face is often the focal point when it comes to skincare, you should never neglect the skin on your body either, especially while travelling. I knew that my body was reacting to the change of environment because my spray tan started to resemble tiger loaf only a few days after landing. I knew I had to do something about this because, well, while I love tiger loaf and everything, it wasn’t the look I was going with. The Murad ReSculpt Body Treatment is here to the rescue. This will smooth out wrinkles, as well as improving overall suppleness.
Stay hydrated
Obviously, no matter where you are in the world, you need to remain hydrated as you traverse the desert or search the crowds for your favourite acts. If you are someone who struggles to keep up with your daily water goals, you may find that travelling sends you to either extremes of the spectrum, meaning either you will be honing 20 plastic water bottles a day (sorry, Earth) or you will shapeshift into a crustacean from complete lack of liquid.
If you need a little extra motivation, why not try to invest in a chic chalice to sip from? Something travel-friendly, of course, but perhaps if you spend a bit of money on the apparatus, it may remind you to stay more consistent?
Take a face mist
Sipping from your chosen chalice is not the only way to stay hydrated, either, and a face mist always becomes essential while I am travelling. This is an easy way to deliver a little bit of direct hydration to the skin, give yourself some extra cooling, and perhaps even prevent you from fainting somewhere where you don’t know anybody.
Keep your routine simple and consistent
The biggest travel lesson is that consistency beats complexity every time. While everything is unpredictable when you are travelling, sticking to a few trusted essentials will keep your skin calm through all of it. Cleanse. Hydrate. Protect. Everything else is optional.
Have a plan when you get back
Despite all this hard work, I still came back feeling my skin wasn’t quite in the same place it was when I left. So, I pretty much went directly from the airport to Caci Epsom, where I had already booked in for an LED Light Therapy session (ok, it was two days after I got back, but creative license). This honestly whipped my skin back into shape so quickly, and I was so glad I knew I had it already booked and ready to go.
Now, go forth and glow, my fellow travellers!
Here I am looking unbothered in Bangkok with my potato twist because my skin was prepped and primed!
