Pandemic skincare on the go

The Body Shop’s range of carry-on products keeps dryness at bay

Since COVID-19 has called on us to make changes some to our routine, our skin is facing the effects of excessive, but necessary, hand washing, extra showers and wearing of face masks. While these measures are key steps in preventing the spread of the virus, effective skincare can help alleviate the dryness, itchiness, and that awful sensation of skin peeling on our hands.

Hand care

Lots of hand washing can strip your hands of their natural oils, resulting in skin drying and even causing rashes. So, while you’re ensuring the health and safety of your community, make sure to take care of your skin health as well.

While you may have already established a moisturizing routine before you head for work or right before bed, make it a point now to apply some moisturizer after every time you sanitize/wash your hands. Keep a travel-sized tube handy for convenience. The Body Shop has a collection of sweet-smelling hand creams to keep your sanitizer good company. Protect and soothe dry hands by choosing from the Honey Mania Hand Cream, Frosted Cranberry Hand Cream, and Almond Milk & Honey Hand Creams; all essentials for sensitive skin on the go.

Also, don’t slack on that lathering just because your skin looks better. Even if your hands don’t feel itchy or chapped, keep moisturizing them regularly. Early skin protection is always better than having to fix an existing break-out.

Body care

Just because you’re focusing on your hand care, don’t neglect your regular skincare regime for the rest of your body. In fact, with the current dry climate, it helps to combine moisturizers. Lightweight creams serve to add moisture to the skin’s outer layer, and to lock that moisture in, follow with a heavier moisturizer that prevents water loss. The Body Shop’s Strawberry Puree Body Lotion is a lightweight and easily absorbed body lotion that hydrates dry skin and leaves it feeling soft and smooth. The Wild-Argan Oil Body Butter for dry skin is far richer with its buttery texture, and allows all the moisture to stay in. For an all-in moisturiser to last the entire day, slap on some British Rose Body Yoghurt and off you go.

Face care

As life-saving as they are during the pandemic, face masks can have some deteriorating effects on the skin of your face. Aside from the obvious chafing in areas of direct contact with the mask, people can also develop itchiness and rashes. Additionally, damp conditions under the mask can lead to increased breakouts and other skin complications. Here are a few things to keep in mind while masking regularly.

Cleanse and moisturize your face before and after using a mask. It might be an idea to keep handy a face spritz in the car, or carry a toner with you in your handbag for your trips to the ladies’ room. The Body Shop’s Vitamin E Hydrating Toner is the perfect refresher to remove traces of cleanser, dirt and make-up without drying the skin, leaving it feeling supple and soft.

You can also try placing a transparent bandage between the mask-to-skin contact points to ease the formation of blisters.

While at home use a daily face wash and weekly face scrub specific to your current skin condition. While you may have had oily skin before the pandemic, your skin may now be drier (or vice versa). The ever-popular daily-use Tea Tree Facial Wash for blemished skin removes excess oil without over-drying skin, resulting in clearer-looking skin when used as part of a regular regime. Alternatively, the Seaweed Pore-Cleansing Facial Exfoliator for all skin types, when used on a weekly basis, helps to cleanse pores and rebalance oil on the face.

Lip Care

While the pressing need for lipstick and gloss has most certainly experienced a downturn, we still need to ensure that our lips stay crack-free. Fortunately lip balms often come in the handiest of sizes, easy pocketable for that sneaky touch-up when there’s no one within that 6-foot mark. The Body Shop’s delicious Born Lippy range of lip balms packs in that moisture, keeping those chapped lips at bay.

Foot care

After having spent months under lockdown with enough time to pamper our feet, getting back out into the world has us neglecting them again. The Body Shop’s Peppermint Cooling Foot Spray is a fab cubby carry-on for that quick spritz in between stops (or underneath the work desk) to refresh, revive, and keep moisturized your hot, tired feet. For a more serious intervention of forgotten feet, the Peppermint Intensive Foot Rescue overnight moisture-booster works on hard skin and dry heels.

Shop all pandemic skin savers and more from The Body Shop outlets in Colombo (flagship store on Bagatale Road, Colombo City Centre, and at Odel Alexandria Place) and Kandy (Kandy City Centre). Contact 0115765656 for delivery to Colombo & suburbs, and 0774476170 for Kandy & suburbs.