Should You Really Be Doing Your Skin Care On An Airplane?

Social media has tried to convince me of one thing: I’ve been traveling incorrectly for a really long time. From lounge secrets to hotel hacks, there is no shortage of videos across Instagram and TikTok that tout all the best ways to get from point A to point B — and how to look good doing it.

Part of that, the girlies tell me, includes whipping out an entire line of skin care products at 30,000 feet and getting to work on depuffing and hydrating my face in-flight, all while tapping each bottle for the perfect ASMR-coded social video, of course.

Videos of in-flight skin care rack up serious views and comments, with everything from questions about which products work best to compliments gushing over the texture and shine of skin. But not everyone is convinced, myself included. After all, everything I’ve ever read about airplanes is how dirty they are.

With so many of us traveling during the summer season, should we also be stocking up on viral skin care products to stuff in our carry-on, or is this a trend that really needs to crash and burn?

First, let’s consider why this trend is so popular. Dr. Corey Hartman, a dermatologist in Birmingham, Alabama, tells Scary Mommy that it likely stems from the fact that air travel can wreak havoc on your skin.

He shares that due to the dryness and pressure changes in the cabin, long flights can have a negative impact on the skin, with humidity levels also playing a role.

“Pre- and post-flight, most people experience dehydrated skin, puffiness, and breakouts,” Hartman explains. “With a lack of moisture in the air, your body will produce more oil to compensate. Oil buildup, in turn, can cause your skin to become irritated and break out.”

Dryness, puffiness, and dullness (oh, my!) are the most common skin concerns that noticeably worsen during a flight. The science behind this is simple: Flying at high altitudes reduces blood flow to the skin, causing that dullness, and pressure changes can slow down the lymphatic drainage system, which causes skin to appear puffy, Hartman says.

“During long flights, lack of sleep and dehydration can negatively impact your skin as well,” he says.

It makes sense, then, that we’d all like to avoid this by doing our normal routines in the air and showing up with a glow — but planes don’t foster the same environment we get at home.

“People forget that when you’re doing your skin care at home, you’re typically washing your face so your hands are clean, you’re touching your bottles that are sitting on your counter all in your own environment,” explains nurse practitioner Ashley Carmen, who owns aesthetics practice Aiyana Atelier in Alexandria, Virginia.

Beyond that, Carmen says it’s important to think about what you did before you got on the plane.

“To get to the plane, you’re taking an Uber, going through TSA, checking bags, going on escalators, grabbing coffee somewhere, touching the countertop there, touching your phone, getting on the airplane, buckling your seat belt … touching all these things. Even if you’re a germaphobe like me and take a disinfectant wipe to clean your whole little area, if you read the packaging, it has to sit for (about) three to five minutes and fully dry for it to actually work,” she clarifies. “But now you have that on your hands — then you’re digging in your bag again, grabbing your skin care out, maybe setting up a station … you’re starting with dirty hands. Anything you do beyond that, you’re putting dirt on top of dirt.”

If it’s not resoundingly clear, both experts agree: Please skip the in-flight skin care routine.

“Flights are a breeding ground for bacteria, which is the main reason a full skin care routine on a plane is not ideal,” Hartman says. “Because there is a higher risk of transmitting bacteria to your skin, I would not consider it ‘sanitary’ to do a skin care routine.”

Moreover, both experts advise against touching your face altogether. “Just don’t touch your face. That’s actually a rule of thumb for life; your hands should stay off your face unless you’re actively cleaning it,” Carmen says.

Hartman agrees, especially when it comes to airplanes. “With limited accessibility to washing your hands, when you touch your face, it only increases the risk of irritation, thus causing breakouts,” he says.

So, if in-flight skin care is out of the question, what can we do to minimize the impact of air travel on our skin? Hydrate and prep.

“Water before and during your flight is key,” Carmen says, adding she recommends at least one glass per hour, plus an additional glass if you’re consuming alcohol.

Before leaving for the airport, she suggests starting with clean skin and vitamin C, which she calls “crucial,” followed by an antimicrobial spray, like Epictutis’ Hydrobiome Mist. “It’s a prebiotic, a probiotic, an antimicrobial, and a hydrator,” she says of the product. “So it’s a powerhouse mister that’s going to hydrate you, and it’s disinfecting as well.”

You should follow this with a heavy-duty moisturizer (“think like your grandma’s cold cream”) and, finally, sunscreen.

Yes, sunscreen.

“People forget about sunscreen. They’re like, ‘Oh, I’m inside.’ But the (UVA) rays are so much stronger in the clouds than they are on the ground. Pair that with the fact that an airplane typically operates at 10 to 20% humidity, so there’s little to no airflow, and it’s dry, and you’re recirculating dirty air in a dry climate. The longer the flight, the bigger the risk you’re going to have an irritation or a reaction.”

Beyond the unsanitary factor, Carmen says that social media videos of people doing their skin care on flights also normalize personal hygiene routines in a way that we wouldn’t usually find acceptable in public.

“I think we all agree that clipping your toenails on a plane would be kind of gross. This (is) not really much different,” she says. “What happened to reading?”