Thursday, September 5, 2013

What I Haven't Been Doing to Protect Myself on a Flight

I've been traveling.  I'm aware that plane environments suck.  The cabin air just zaps all the moisture out of your skin.  So I've been pretty smug about my relatively new habit of smearing on layers of hydrating lotion and lip balm.  I was even considering bringing a spray bottle and misting myself during the flight.  Isn't that what celebrities do? Except with Evian water.

The voice in my head: "Oh, look! My skin is so happy! And I'm so good at drinking water. Pat on MY back."  Then I read some horrifying article about how you are subjected to more intense UV radiation in planes as you are in high altitudes where a thinner ozone layer is present.  The standard plate glass doesn't entirely filter out the UV rays.  So you should be wearing at least SPF 30 while you fly. 

That's GREAT to know.  Since my face is usually right HERE throughout the flight.  Pressed up against that no-good window.  With NO SPF protection whatsoever.

source

I've been saving my SPF-loaded moisturizers for being outside, not for when I was in what I thought was the protected womb of an airplane!  Silly me.  Also, it's psychological, but I would feel more "dirty" when I wore lotion with SPF on long flights.  So I just...wouldn't. Armed with this fear-inducing information, I am changing my ways.  SPF, all the way for me!  And just to be on the safe side, I'll be closing those shades.  A peek now and then will suffice!


What about you?  Have you been a lot smarter than me in protecting your skin on flights? 
I hope so!

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