Getting to travel multiple times a month sounds glamorous, until you consider that everything we love about travel—those bites of a mouthwatering local dessert, cocktails at a bar three time zones away, staying up way too late talking to people you just met—can also be exactly what makes acne-prone skin freak out.
Not to mention, just being on a plane can exacerbate skin. One dermatologist described the combination of dry cabin air with the stress of routine disruptions as a "perfect storm" for breakouts. The recycled air inside your plane can dehydrate your skin and prompt it to produce more oil, just as you're exposed to a new climate with new bacteria. And as another dermatologist mentioned, sleeping upright on a plane can mean more hand-to-face contact as you hold yourself in a sleeping position, or let your neck pillow smush against your face while you have makeup on. And when you finally land, you may experience more face-to-face contact if you're in countries where people greet each other with a cheek peck.
For years, my difficult skin made travel feel like a race against the clock to see how much fun I could have before my cystic acne reared its ugly head and ruined my perfect vacation photo ops. Sometimes, the pain and embarrassment were so debilitating that I'd take ibuprofen and hide away in my hotel room.
But acne is incredibly common in adults, and there's now a whole range of evidence-backed topical and oral treatments to manage it. Over the years, while working with professionals like New York City's "acne whisperer" Sofie Pavitt and dermatologist Dr. Josh Zeichner, I've dialed in the routine that has made my acne livable, even as a professional traveler.
Ahead are the carefully chosen skincare routines and products I rely on to keep my skin happy when I'm on the go.
I know I sound like your mother and all of your Stanley-flaunting coworkers who make you feel you're not drinking enough. But if you have acne-prone skin, hydration is ground zero. Your skin needs water to function properly, and staying hydrated helps keep your body and skin from getting dehydrated in the first place, which activates stress pathways that over time lead to inflammation.
I love the BrüMate Resa Flip 35-ounce tumbler because it has a grippy base and a handle for carrying it around, plus a leakproof, covered straw that is protected from outside germs when not in use but makes it ridiculously easy to drink fast. I go through at least two 35-ounce bottles a day. People tell me I could apparently still be drinking more. I'll get there one day, Stanley-heads. I promise.
For especially long travel days, I also like putting electrolytes in my water. Gnarly Nutrition's Hydrate powder comes in single-serve packets that are easy to throw into a carry-on or backpack, and they contain electrolytes, B vitamins, vitamin C and minerals. I find this especially useful when I'm flying, sweating, walking all day or otherwise asking my body to adapt to travel.
And lately I've also been experimenting with TruBond powders, which have ingredients in them that support brain functioning and help make a chaotic travel day feel slightly less so. Clear Rise is for the mornings. It has baobab, lion's mane, Rhodiola, L-theanine, Panax ginseng and a small amount of caffeine from guayusa. I mix it into my water on mornings when I have an early flight, a packed itinerary or a full day of trying to function in a city after very little sleep. I don't suddenly become a productivity machine, but I do feel less stressed, more alert and mentally switched "on" without the jittery, over-caffeinated feeling I can get from a cup of coffee.
For afternoons and evenings, Lighten Up is caffeine-free and contains baobab, lion's mane, ashwagandha, reishi and L-theanine. I find myself reaching for this one more when I want to take the edge off my lingering travel stress without making myself sleepy.
Both come in individual stick packs and take up virtually no room in a carry-on, which makes them easy to add into your routine.
The biggest difference in my skin has come from consistency. I keep a fairly strict daily routine at home and take the same basic system with me when I travel.
No matter what, I wash, tone, treat and moisturize my face, both at night in the morning.
I have been using Sofie Pavitt products for years. I wash my face with Clean Clean Cleanser, then apply three pumps of Mandelic Clearing Serum across my face, avoiding my eye area. The serum contains 8% mandelic acid, an alpha hydroxy acid that exfoliates the skin gently and over time—not like those old-school St. Ives apricot scrubs that haunt millennials for the way they stripped our skin of its top layer.
CLEANSE. TREAT. HYDRATE. The three-step system designed for clearer, brighter, smoother skin.
During the day, I apply a topical antibiotic gel, clindamycin, prescribed by my dermatologist. (I've also had good luck with Aczone, or dapsone.) I finish with Screentime Non-Comedogenic Hydrating Sunscreen and Omega Rich Moisturizer, which contains squalane, linoleic acid and linolenic acid to hydrate my skin.
At night time, I skip sunscreen and swap the Omega Rich Moisturizer for Sofie Pavitt's Skin Jelly Oil-Free Gel Moisturizer, which I use in companionship with a topical retnoid adapalene gel like Differin.
Finally, Face Reality GlowTone Corrective Serum is the product I used for discoloration and post-acne marks. It targets dark spots and uneven skin tone. It's sadly only available through a Face Reality Certified Skincare Professional, so you'll need to purchase it from a certified esthetician who sells Face Reality products.
Like clockwork, my skin gets the same basic routine even when everything else in my life is different.
A major perk of being a travel writer is being able to test new products, and I recently tried a new skincare system that I believe has earned a new spot in my routine. I'm still loyal to Sofie Pavitt products, but I've started adding Skin At Peace into the fold.
Four formulas—Clean, Tone, Day, and Night—work as a single system to nourish, protect, and restore barrier function. Made fresh weekly without preservatives, each batch is intentionally designed to be used within 60 days.
Skin At Peace uses a four-product system: Clean, Tone, Day and Night. The cleanser is an oil-based formula, so hydration starts instantly with washing your face. The gentle oil cleanser makes it super easy to remove eye makeup and lipstick. The microbiologist who designed the formulas intended for the oil molecules to be the appropriate size for saturating the skin with hydration, but not clog pores in the process.
Everything is delivered in a set of 30-mL bottles, so they're automatically travel-sized and easy to pack right in your suitcase, with no need to transfer to smaller bottles.
Immediately, I noticed Skin At Peace made my skin stay visibly moisturized (as in glowing) for a full 24 hours after using it. The products were designed for rosacea-prone skin, so I trust they are sensitive enough for acne-prone skin as well.
I'm seriously considering adding a Skin At Peace subscription to my routine. Plans ship every 30, 45 or 60 days, depending on what you choose. It's $99 for the first order, then $125 per shipment on the recommended 30-day schedule. The only thing I don't absolutely love about Skin At Peace is that the bottles' shape still leaves product trapped inside. The tiny, narrow opening makes it difficult to use every last drop.
I tested Skin At Peace it against the Sherak system, which also uses an oil cleanser. With Sherak, I noticed less lasting hydration, though my skin did seem bright and balanced.
I'm not ready to officially break up with my Sofie Pavitt products yet. But having a complete routine automatically delivered every month, in bottles I can throw straight into my toiletry bag, while my skin glows this brightly? Say less.
I take oral spironolactone for my acne. This is a prescription medication, so it requires doctor supervision. Some doctors require regular lab tests while on spironolactone to monitor potassium levels. Anyone considering it should talk with their dermatologist or another qualified medical professional about whether it makes sense for them.
Choosing the right makeup became part of my acne routine, too. Once I started paying attention to the products going on my skin every day, I started choosing makeup with acne-prone skin in mind.
NARS Light Reflecting Foundation is my everyday foundation. It has medium coverage, a natural finish and a noncomedogenic formula. NARS describes it as a makeup-skincare hybrid designed to improve skin clarity over time.
I use Serenity + Scott Concealer for targeted coverage when I don't want to put foundation everywhere. The medium-coverage formula hides my blemishes with a natural finish.
I finish off with Ciele Cosmetics Flush & Protect SPF 45+ Powder Blush, a blush with SPF protection and a radiant, blurring finish. The formula is safe for acne-prone skin and also has UVA, UVB, blue-light and infrared protection.
I find many of my makeup products by researching brands' formulas and using the Sofie Pavitt Face pore-clogging ingredients checker to make sure they are non-comedogenic. You can paste a product's ingredient list into the checker and see which ingredients it flags for potential pore clogging.
Using this tool, I developed the rule that if I'm putting something on my face every day, I want to know what's in it. And when my skin started improving, having to wear less makeup became a nice side effect of choosing the right makeup products to begin with.
For a single angry breakout, a targeted treatment can help stop a blemish in its tracks, or at least prevent it from swelling to the size of a face volcano.
Face Reality has several acne treatments in its professional line. Its invisiClear Hydrocolloid Spot Patches start at $10 for a pack of 24.
For something a little zappier, the Sulfur Spot Treatment uses a 6% sulfur acne treatment to reduce inflamed pimples and minimize the appearance of redness.
I also keep a bottle of Sofie Pavitt Face's Reset 5% Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Treatment on hand to treat my budding pimples at home. It contains benzoyl peroxide, plus kaolin clay to stick the treatment to your skin in the form of a mini, localized mask. You can apply it to the active acne spot, leave it on for up to five minutes, then rinse.
Remember that neck pillow we talked about? Wash it between trips. Your face spends hours pressed against it, so give it the same cleaning attention you give your pillowcase at home.
I also wash my makeup brushes regularly using EcoTools Makeup Brush Shampoo, change my home pillowcase and sleeping mask frequently, and wipe down anything that spends a lot of time touching my face—phone, headphones, etc.
It's not glamorous, but when you're traveling with acne-prone skin, the boring stuff counts a lot.
Sometimes acne gets painful, swollen and angry enough that my topical skincare regime needs backup. That's when I turn to doctors.
Sometimes, I find a medical clinic that can help me. (I did this once in Mexico.)
To prevent things from getting so bad I need an emergency clinic, I try to keep a stash of the prescription treatment my dermatologist has approved for me. It's prescription doxycycline, an oral antibiotic. Anyone who struggles with cystic acne knows that doxy and other antibiotics can be a lifesaver when painful blemishes start to bubble below the surface.
However, oral antibiotics can contribute to antibiotic resistance, so I avoid using them unless they are a last straw. This part of my routine happens under my dermatologist's supervision, as should anyone's.
I wish I could say life and my skin are perfect these days, but then I would not be truly living! With my lifestyle, I still get blemishes from time to time, but I know how to manage them when they show up. Having a routine I can take with me has made travel much easier, even with bad sleep, long flights, unfamiliar food and changing climates.
These days, I spend less time worrying about my skin and more time enjoying the trip—and that's the biggest benefit of all.