How to keep your skin healthy during the Circuit Breaker

After the Circuit Breaker ends, the vast majority of us will have been working from home and indeed, staying home for eight whole weeks.

Venturing into the outside world for anything apart from that quick dash to Cold Storage for essentials will seem pretty darn strange, especially thanks to the fact that most of us rely on paying a professional to keep us looking, well, not like a yeti.

So, with that in mind, how do we get the best out of this style respite and make sure that we emerge the other end glowing and not growling?

Breakouts

Our faces might be getting a rest from make-up but that's all we are getting a rest from really, with the future unknown, stress levels aren't just showing in our blowouts with partners (or is that just us,) it can also show on our faces.

Leading UK dermatologist, Dr Susan Mayou says that "stress is a recognised trigger for inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and acne which make it all the more unsurprising that people are saying they are breaking out at the moment."

Her advice? Turn to things like mindfulness, meditation and exercise to try and relax and refocus.

Another reason your skin might be acting up is because your eating habits are.

With so much more time at home, there are even more chances to sneak into the fridge for some sweet treats, which, in turn, hurt your waistline and skin.

Simple hacks for getting around this include switching milk to dark chocolate and filling up on fruit and fizzy water.

Get your glow on

One of my favourite excuses has to be that I don't have time but sadly, in this period of global slow-down, I just can't say it anymore.

One of the things I used to excuse was never doing at-home facials, an easy and quick way to get glowing.

So, I'm following the advice of Lady Gaga's facialist, Adeela Crown, and I'm getting my glow on. She suggests a nightly routine of massaging your favourite oils into your skin for five minutes or even a home-prepared mask.

"Home facials aren't complicated; we can just reach into our fridge an introduce the clean simplicity of natural ingredients back into our skin. Things like Manuka honey, rose water, green tea, matcha, turmeric, natural yoghurt and berries are great ingredients for face masks," she says.

However, if the thought of brewing up your own masks is too much effort, highly moisturising and deeply calming masks will help combat stress and the effects of too much air-conditioning.

Get that Vitamin D

Too much sun is bad for you, but then again, so is too little sun. Hmm, so what to do? Well, leading dermatologist, Dr Mark Hudson-Peacock advises loading up on Vitamin D.

"Often called the 'sunshine vitamin', vitamin D plays an integral role in skin protection and rejuvenation. It is activated in the skin by ultraviolet B light and, in its activated form as calcitriol, vitamin D is involved with skin cell growth, repair, and metabolism. It also enhances the skin's immune system and helps to destroy those free radicals that can lead to premature sun ageing."

Cell, Cell, Cell

If there is one thing we have on our hands right now it's time which means you can get down to some really good exfoliating.

Essential for removing the build-up of dry skin, during this time when no-one is going to see you, switch to a heavier chemical exfoliator with active AHA/BHA to help the skin's cellular turnover.

Keep it clean

Sure we might not be going anywhere but that's no excuse to turn into skin slobs, just ask Jasmina Vico, celebrity skincare expert who explains: "We need to clean our skin twice per day to remove sweat, sebum production and any toxins that we may have produced."

Keeping up with our cleansing routine isn't just good for our skin, studies have found that keeping to routines also helps level out our mental states, making this a double win.

Screen it

Whether it's from frowning at your phone, digesting the world news or just from the hours in front of zoom calls, there is no denying that we are uber exposed to that nasty blue light right now.

Our phones and laptop's blue light emits a high energy visible light that sadly can lead to collagen damage, pigment changes and even, ageing.

So what can we do about it? Well, you can try adding an SPF into your skincare daily and even an antioxidant booster to your nightly routine to strengthen your skin's natural defence against the blue lights.

This article was first published in BLLNR.