"Stay at Home" Skin Care Tips for your Hands and Face: An essential routine we should not neglect

At the time I’m writing this blog post, I am at home instead of at work due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has changed everyone’s daily routine since most of us have nowhere to be. Most of us probably have stayed in our pajamas for most of the day if not all day.  We lose track of the days and hours and before we know it, we don’t remember when we took a shower last. Haha. Gross. But I think it might be true for some.

Well, during this time, hygiene and sanitation have become so prevalent and a common topic of discussion on social media and on the news. Wash your hands often for 20-30 seconds at a time. Do it often. Wipe down hard surfaces with disinfectant, wipe our hands with sanitizer after touching something if we can’t wash them. Oh yeah and DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE.

Some of us have started to develop dry cracked hands due to so much hand washing. Even with a gentle moisturizing hand wash, it is still possible to develop dry cracked and irritated skin due to so much hand washing. Most hand soaps are very alkaline on the acidic scale. It would take too long to list different soaps and their pH levels. Instead, I want to suggest using a hydrating hand cream after washing your hands. Keep it at your sink so it’s easy to remember to apply it after washing and drying your hands and at bedtime. You may even want to apply a hydrating oil such as Neroli Repair Oil which I frequently use in my facial treatments during the facial massage. You don’t want to develop irritated and cracked skin since that would give germs and bacteria or viruses and easy way into your body. This oil will not only hydrate your skin but it will also help to repair, heal, kill bacteria and also it can be used on the face as a night treatment. It’s great for acne and it can help regulate excess oil as well as a great pre cleanse for your face. Oh and it smells amazing.

Another thing we need to remember is to continue our morning and evening face care routines. We don’t want to give our facial skin the chance to revert to the dehydrated or oil clogged state it may have been in before you started using your home care products. Just because you are not going out anywhere doesn’t mean you shouldn’t wash your face. Our skin still needs love and unless you want to go back out into the world a hot mess, I suggest you continue your daily cleansing, serum and moisturizer applications. And for most skin types, exfoliating twice a week.  You may skip the sunscreen if you won’t even step outside. But if you plan on going to the grocery store, put on your sunscreen. Our skin is probably loving the break from daily makeup application. Even more so, we should take care of not skipping our daily routine so that our skin can benefit from all the healthy ingredients without the makeup layer on top. Oh and one final tip is that I suggest washing your face after returning home from a grocery or other essential trip, just in case you touched your face.

If you are running out of products, contact me right away so that I can mail you some. I am in the process of putting all my products online so it’s easy for you to order them from me. For now you are able to order some but not all online.

I invite you to join my Facebook group where I will be discussing different products I sell. I can also do an online virtual consultation with you to customize the products for your specific needs.

If we stick with our skincare routines, we will come out of this historic “stay at home” order with healthy glowing and softer looking skin.

by Stacy Allende, Licensed Esthetician

Owner, Glamourize Me