Skin in the Gym

What good is working out if it means you’re going to be breaking out?

Here’s what to know and here’s what to do if your complexion spins out of control.

Are you plagued by Post-Pilates pimples? Après -Zumba zits?  Festering hot yoga face?  If so, you’re not alone.  For those who are prone to it, an all too common downside of intense, heat-generating workouts is stubborn and persistent acne.  Here’s why:

• Oil glands in overdrive – Heat and exertion can amp up oil production.
• Bacteria in the house – Nasty p. acnes responsible for red, inflammatory acne just loves the humid hothouse atmosphere at the gym. All that dripping sweat translates into more bacteria floating in the air and on the floor just waiting to lodge itself in your poor defenseless pores, feed on the oil it finds there and proliferate.
• Rubbing irritation – Equipment or straps that repeatedly rub or chafe can cause an actinic rash called acne mechanica.

Now, if you don’t experience workout breakouts – and some people don’t – no reason to keep reading. But if you’re unlucky or sensitive-skinned enough that you do, extra diligence is in order: AVA, CHRISTINE and KARRI-ANN, CHECK HERE AND MAKE SURE I’VE GOT EVERYTHING HERE. FILL IN THE BLANKS.

• Always bring your own clean towels and yoga mats to the gym or studio that you have laundered yourself.
• Before you work out, wash your face (and neck, chest and back if necessary) with WHAT KIND of cleanser. And don’t even think about wearing makeup during exertion.
• Before you work out, quickly wipe down surfaces (as in handlebars or your spin bike, your mat or whatever) with WHAT KIND of wipe.
• During your workout, try not to touch your face.
• During your workout at the halfway mark, towel off your face etc. with a WHAT KIND of wipe to get rid of sweat.
• Immediately after your workout (that is, while you’re still in there and before you pack up to leave) get the sweat off your face with another WHAT KIND of wipe.
• After your workout in the shower, wash your face with WHAT KIND of cleanser.
• After your workout if you’re dressing, grooming yourself and applying makeup in the gym, spread out a WHAT KIND of towelette on the counter surface and put your products on that. Do not place them directly onto any surface.
• Always remember it is easier to keep skin clear than to get skin clear.

TRIPLE CLEAR – Want to have your Sun Salutation and heat it too? SKINxFIVE offers a special package we call our Acne Trio that includes The Refresher, The Infuser and The Spotless in a single appointment, all of which work synergistically on different acne factors.  Acne is a stubborn foe, however, so for best results you may want to schedule a money-saving Acne Trio five series; that’s one Trio every two weeks for ten weeks.  BOOK NOW   

 

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