Keeping your skin and body safe during a Pandemic

by Tiffany Shelton

The COVID-19 pandemic is far too real and too close to our homes. I’m personally writing this article while on a stay-at-home order myself. The news is filled with terror as the world waits for new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Needless to say, Spring Cleaning has taken on a whole new meaning. We’d like to help you stay clean and safe during this time. Here are our six tips that will help you keep your skin healthy while staying indoors.  

DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE

You’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times. Do not touch your face. There is no better time than now to practice this tried and true advice. When you touch your face too often you risk littering it with pimples, dirt, debris, and bacteria. Now more than ever we need to adhere to this rule. This is one of the main ways viruses can enter our bodies. Let’s keep our face acne- and COVID-free. 

Clean Your Makeup Brushes

This one may not be so obvious. If I’m the only one using my makeup brush, it should be fine...right? Not to make you worry, but if you forget to wash your face or reapply makeup throughout the day, the bacteria from your face travel onto your brushes. Usually, this can make us breakout. With a pandemic in our mists, making sure our brushes are clean would provide us with extra protection. We should be especially vigilant about our eyeliner wands, as they apply makeup so close to our eyeballs, where bacteria and viruses can enter our bodies.

Wash Your Hands AND Moisturize

We’ve all heard it by now. Wash, wash, wash your hands at every opportunity. I think today alone I’ve washed my hands...fifteen times? Before I eat, after I eat, if I go outside, if I even feel like I forgot to wash, etc. I’m like many people, just trying to be as safe as possible and minimize the spread. However, what I’ve been experiencing because of it has been causing me pain: hangnails. Overly washing your hands can cause the skin around the nails to dry out. Me (and my spouse!) have been experiencing a surge in our hangnails. Last week, every finger on my right hand had hangnails. Definitely a personal record. It was miserable to say the least. If hangnails become painful and red this usually means infection, bacteria have gotten in. My solution was to apply Honey Girl’s Cuticle & Nail Crème twice a day. My hangnails have decreased to none and I can still wash my hands to my heart’s content.

Use Skin Care Tools

When applying creams or lotions, use tools such as Q-tips, spatulas, or cotton balls to apply to your face. This will help reduce bacteria on your face from your fingers and prevent your creams from being exposed to bacteria. Bacteria can live off organic material, so practicing safe skincare is a must. This will also get you in the habit of not touching your face, as so many of us unconsciously do. 

Stay Hydrated, Sleep A Lot

Staying hydrated is great for the skin. The skin is an organ, and like every organ on the body, it needs water to function properly. Staying hydrated helps your entire body function, especially your immune system. The immune system is completely reliant on our blood (90% water). When we are properly hydrated, our immune system can work at its best. 

Everyone knows that to get the perfect skin we need our beauty rest. With most of us on stay-at-home orders, we definitely have the time to get our sleep in! Sleeping is one of the body’s ways to help clear up skin. Extra sleep also reduces the hormone cortisol, which causes inflammation and acne. In the age of this pandemic, preliminary studies have found that getting enough sleep greatly reduces your risk of contracting COVID-19 (Deshpande). Whether this is because of the production of T-Cells (blood cells that fight infection) during sleep or the increase in melatonin, scientists still aren’t sure. Even so, it seems getting a little extra sleep won’t hurt, #wakemeupwhentheplagueisover

De-Stress

We are all living in a very stressful time right now. Many uncertainties are ahead of us which only increases anxiety. Even hearing someone cough at the store these days can raise our stress levels. When we become overly stressed, our body releases the hormone cortisol which tells your skin to make more oil. This tends to result in aggravated skin issues such as psoriasis, eczema, and rosacea. Too much cortisol can also slow our immune response which fights off infection in the body. Three simple ways you can start de-stressing right now: 

1. Follow a routine: Studies illustrate that even doing one simple task each day can reduce anxiety by giving you control. There’s a lot that we can’t control now, so we should focus on what we can.
2. Exercise: Great for skin health, immune health, as a de-stresser, exercising even five minutes a day will empower our bodies and relax our minds. 
3. Meditation: Studies have shown that meditation is an effective way to decrease cortisol levels. A simple meditation such as taking a few deep breaths diminishes the fight-or-flight response we may be feeling much easier these days. Taking easy deep breaths can help us control our fears and our stress. 

Despite social distancing becoming the new norm, we still need to make sure we protect ourselves and our skin. We hope that these tips help you and your skin during this crisis. Please feel free to message us with questions or concerns you have during this time. With all of us coming together as a community, we will get through this. We wish you all the best. 

 

Honey Girl Tiffany Shelton