How Flying In An Airplane Affects Your Skin

Flying in a plane may be the fastest, most convenient way to travel, but it can be the worst experience for your skin! You always end up leaving the plane with tired eyes and skin drier than the Sahara. And while we may blame exhaustion, the real culprits are actually the high altitude and airplane environment. From the low humidity sucking moisture out of your skin to the stress breakouts that come with flying, here’s how flying impacts your skin and what to do about it.

1. Leaves Your Skin Extremely Dry

One of the first issues your skin encounters in the airplane is lack of humidity. Our skin requires at least 40 to 70 percent humidity and the humidity levels in aircraft cabins are less than 20 percent – not ideal. This causes your skin to dry out and become red or flaky.

Solution: To combat this dryness, make sure to keep your hydration levels up by drinking lots of water. And don’t forget to carry a small bottle of moisturiser in your purse!

2. Causes Breakouts

Not only does the low humidity make your skin dry, it makes your skin oilier as well. In extreme dry situations, your skin may try to overcompensate with increased sebum production. As if that wasn’t enough, airplanes also harbour countless germs! All these factors make your skin greasy, clog pores and give birth to post-flight breakouts.

Solution: To keep your skin from breaking out, bring packs of blotting papers with you. They can absorb excess oil and make the situation slightly better.

3. Leaves Your Skin Puffy

Ever wondered why your skin appears puffy and swollen after a long-haul flight? It’s not just exhaustion; it’s a result of fluid retention. Siting in an uncomfortable position for hours on end, along with the consumption of unhealthy airport snacks, can cause water retention. This causes a puffy face, and sometimes swollen feet.

Solution: To avoid the puffiness, keep yourself hydrated throughout the flight and try some exercise moves that you can easily do while sitting.

4. Dulls Your Skin

There are high chances you won’t leave the airport with a perfect post-flight glow. Blame the altitude and cabin pressure for this! Glowing skin is a result of extra blood flow to the skin and high altitude causes the blood flow to reduce. This steals your glow and leaves your skin dull and lifeless.

Solution: There’s nothing you can do about this problem during the flight – unless you want to apply a sheet mask inflight – but giving yourself a facial massage upon landing can help.

5. Increases Your Chances Of Getting Sun-Burned

You may wonder how the sun can affect you when you’re not even slightly exposed to it? Turns out, being closer to the sun impacts your skin the same way as being exposed to it. When you’re flying high in the air, you’re more at risk of getting sun-burned as the UV rays are much more intense at higher altitudes.

Solution: This is why sunscreen is a must-have when travelling! Not even a dark airplane excuses you from skipping out on it!

6. Can Aggravate An Existing Skin Problem

Apart from the above-mentioned problems, if you already suffer from a skin problem, flying can make it even worse. This happens due to a number of reasons but mainly because of stress. Be it the panic of security checks or the fear of being so high up in the air — flying can cause an increase in the stress hormones. And stress, as we know, can lead to breakouts, redness and inflammatory conditions.

Solution: All we can suggest is that you try to keep calm and enjoy your journey!