Its festival season and a time to let your hair down and immerse yourself in the festival spirit.
While festival fever is great for the mind, your skin might not be quite so enthralled by the idea of several days without its usual cleaning and care routines.
Dermatologist Dr Eva Melegh gives her tips on some quick fixes to avoid common festival skin fails and make sure your festival experience is fail free.
Festival Face
Lack of regular and sufficient cleansing of grease, dirt, make-up and suncreams plus food truck festival food can mean that festival acne and break outs are a sure bet for skin prone to congestion and acne.
Three quick fixes can help deter the inevitable - keeping sebum pure, using an overnight anti-inflammatory treatment on any emerging zits and swiping skin with a toner to clean off dirt in the absence of water.
Clarol Sebopure contains an ingredient that helps keep sebum pure and uncontaminated as it pushes out through the skin pore. This can help prevent sebum pooling in the skin pore and going rancid as it oxidises with air and external bacteria, which will hugely help reduce the risk of a spot forming. Use it as a stand-alone cream or under make up and sun cream to keep sebum production pure throughout the day.
Clarol ZnO Clear is a pure zinc oxide overnight spot treatment that will help reduce inflammation and neutralise emerging pimples by morning. A tiny blob just needs to be rubbed into the emerging spot before sleeping. Its almost zero hassle that you’ll be very grateful you bothered with the next morning.
Clarol Pore-Minimising Toner is a bioactive skin toner that contains two Nordic plant extracts, Nordic Birch Sap and Wild Red Clover, which dissolve grease as well as help minimise open pores in oily acne-prone skin. It is used without so it’s easy to do in a tent. Swipe skin with a squirt of toner onto a cotton pad both AM and PM.
Festival Crouch
Showers are more or less out of the question when it comes to a festival stay so intimate areas can become breeding grounds for bacteria overgrowth and yeast infections causing itching and discomfort not to mention a bit of a whiff.
Vaginal wipes may be conveient but are a very bad idea for intimate areas as they often cause reactions leaving you stinging and itching.
In2mate Moisturiser and In2mate Daily Lubricant are natural and perfume-free and both contain prebiotics designed for intimate skin with a neutralising pH effect that keeps the area teaming with good bacteria and at a healthy pH level.
If possible, in the mornings wipe intimate skin with a cotton pad with a bit of water on it to clean off any urine residue or discharge. Then apply a small blob of the In2mate Lubricant internally and then a small blob of In2mate Moisturiser on the labia and you are good to go for the day. Repeat in the evening before sleeping.
Festival Lips
Sun and lack of sleep are the two most likely triggers for a cold sore outbreak if you are one of the 50% of the population who suffer from them.
And even if you don’t then any amorous festival activities or sharing drinks or cigarettes might put you at risk of catching them.
Lip Q Liquorice Balm is a 100% natural lip balm made from concentrated liquorice root extract that had been proven by the Herpes Virus Association to help reduce the duration and frequency of cold sore outbreaks.
Use the lip balm several times throughout the day always apply before kissing anyone new. Do not share lip balms or glosses with anyone else as these can harbour the cold sore virus and pass it to someone else.
Lip Q Liquorice Balm is also an excellent anti-inflammatory treatment for bug bites and quickly removes the itch and irritation, so it can double up as a handy bug bite remedy.
Festival Burn
Sunburn can be a complete nightmare at a festival as it prevents restful sleep and is painful and sore.
Any suncream is better than no suncream, however I always prefer mineral sun blocks as opposed to chemical filters as they stay on the skin for longer and do not become reactive when exposed to long period of UV light so the risk of skin reactions is kept to a minimum.
Zinc mineral SPF’s are even better because they also help prevent spots and reduce redness. Many people fear wearing a sun cream if they are prone to acne as they worry that it will make their skin even greasier and cause more spots but this is not always the case as not all sun creams are born equal.
Kalme Day Defence SPF25 contains a pure micronized zinc oxide SPF that offers a physical sun block whole also helping to prevent spots forming. It also contains an anti-redness ingredient to control flushing and skin flares.
Festival Itch
Old sweat left on the skin for days is the surest way to trigger a flare of eczema or dermatitis. Even if your skin is not prone to either, not washing for a few days can make even the most stable of skin’s itchy and rashy, especially in the skin crevices.
Similarly sweaty scalps that are not washed can cause itchy scalp which products such as dry shampoos can make even worse.
Hydrosil Turmeric Butter & Hypoallergenic Milk Salve applied to itchy skin or dry skin patches anywhere on the face or body will help relieve the problem immediately as it also contains a natural plant steroid to immediately soothe the itch from atopic flares. Try to wipe down itchy patches of skin with a cotton pad with plain water first then apply the salve to slightly damp skin.
A quick spritz of Hydrosil Scalp Shield Tonic onto the roots and scalp of dry or damp hair before sleeping will help reduce itching and irritation from scalp sweat build up during the day.
