When a client of mine contracted Covid-19, she understandably worried about her overall health and wellbeing. She had to battle a long illness as well as caring for her young family. After spending many weeks battling the virus, she was shocked to find her skin appearance had also been severely affected. It looked as if she had aged almost ten years! Like so many people, it is time to Revive Your Skin After Lockdown.
She asked if I would help her restore her severely ‘battered’ complexion! So, I would like to share the step-by-step repair plan I put together to rejuvenate her skin and yours also if you have suffered from Coronavirus!
Revive Your Skin After Lockdown:
The Covid-19 symptoms affected her greatly, from being sick and breathless to muscle aches and severe pains in the lungs; it made getting any proper rest almost impossible. All of this resulted in her poor skin being neglected for three months with the consequences on her appearance dreadful, to say the least!
Let’s commence by noting some of the things that I have seen happening to her skin. We’ll start with the eyes, whether due to lack of sleep or having acute symptoms of Covid-19, she ended up with fierce dark, almost black circles surrounding them. The eyelids puffy and bulging, with moisture-less, dried skin drifting towards her eyebrows.
Her facial skin lacked hydration, and it would literally ‘flake’ when she rubbed her hands over it! Fine lines on her forehead were almost becoming furrows, skin looking dull, lifeless, and lacking colour from illness, and three months of very little sunlight.
If ever an example was needed of what can happen to a complexion if it’s overlooked and untreated for an amount of time, this is it!
The challenge is to get a healthy appearance once more, a natural glow back into her skin, and a smile on her face ready to face the world again.
A Clean Start With Ambition!
Deep Cleansing understandably hit ‘pause’ when she was unwell, so significant cleansing was required to rid the face of grime and dead skin cells.
I suggested she use Clinique’s 7 Day Scrub – Cream Rinse-Off Formula. This fragrance-free scrub has a creamy texture with coconut oil, making it more suitable for people with normal, dry skin.
This formula has environmentally-friendly silica as the scrub. The silica grains are microfine and gentle, as you apply and work into your skin, you do not feel any harshness on your face, which is pleasing news, especially if you have sensitive skin.
Along with the emollient ingredients, it contains mild cleansing agents.
It washes off easily, leaving the skin feeling softer and conditioned and helps minimize the appearance of fine, dry lines. Although this says, seven-day scrub, it is more than gentle enough on the skin to be used daily.
Skin Perfecting AHA Gel Exfoliant:
To ‘snap’ cells into functioning correctly again, I propose using a lightweight exfoliating tonic straight after cleansing. I recommend Paula’s Choice Perfecting 8% AHA Gel Exfoliant. This ultra-light gel exfoliant gently loosens and clears residue grime from pores, dissolves built-up dead skin revealing a smoother, brighter, more radiant complexion. Formulated with 8% AHA (glycolic acid), it helps to fade signs of sun damage. It corrects uneven skin tone while improving the appearance of wrinkles.
Pucker The Skin With Serums!
Next, we need to apply Anti-Aging Serums. These give noticeable firmness for face, neck, and décolletage! These anti-aging creams contain antioxidants to regenerate the skin’s appearance giving younger-looking skin.
I recommended a serum by La Roche-Posay – Hyalu B5 Hyaluronic Acid Serum. An intensely hydrating serum clinically proven to re-plump skin, stimulate and accelerate skin repair.
It is formulated for dehydrated skin showing signs of aging, loss of volume, and skin elasticity with fine lines or wrinkles.
Once applied, skin immediately recovers bounce, suppleness, and a fresh complexion. Users have found elasticity & firmness improved by 24%, and skin is 70% more hydrated. After a month of use, 87% of users say they had more elastic, even skin surface, and 71% agreed that their wrinkles looked reduced.
Follow up with Dermalogica Skin Hydrating Booster. After you apply, the skin feels supersaturated and hydrated, even for the driest of skin conditions. Dermalogica Skin Hydrating Booster will hydrate, smooth, and minimise fine lines, restoring your skin’s moisture balance. Dermalogica Skin Hydrating Booster is a fragrance-free fluid making it perfect for dry skin conditions and areas of dehydration.
After a couple of weeks using these two products, she said her skin did not feel tight or uncomfortable anymore. She also thinks that her skin stays hydrated the whole day through.
Bright Eyes Burning Like Fire!
To start the morning, I suggest applying something around the eyes that contain caffeine. Caffeine is an antioxidant; this means it can help reduce reactive oxygen species that damage the skin. Caffeine can help decrease dark circles and reduce puffy, swollen eyes when used around these areas.
I suggest she massages The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG in the morning as soon as she awakens. It is a lightweight serum that rapidly absorbs into the delicate eye contour, helping to reduce the appearance of discolouration.
Another suggestion for eye care is after cleansing the skin in the morning to apply an eye serum. One option is Murad Vita-C Eyes Dark Circle Corrector. It is a vitamin-C eye serum that fights the looks of dark circles in as little as two weeks. The thin, translucent skin around the eyes is more inclined to show discolouration and signs of ageing. Vitamin C is especially crucial for the delicate area because it delivers enhanced antioxidant defense for brighter, healthier-looking skin.
Seal It With Moisturiser!
Let’s move on to the ‘unassuming’ moisturiser. It can sometimes get lost amongst the more ‘modern’ serum’s, retinol’s, and acids. Still, it is the ‘guardian-angel’ in everyday skincare management.
Applying your moisturiser on top of all the other previous creams and lotions embraces them, allowing them to contrive their magic while providing a protective moisture barrier.
Also, you have to factor in that your makeup won’t sit smooth and consistently unless you manage those dry patches first.
To help replenish the complexion, I suggested Clinique Dramatically Different Hydrating Jelly.
It’s a lightweight, quick-absorbing formula that helps to maintain and support the skin’s moisture barrier.
Blended with Hyaluronic Acid and innovative Clean Shield Technology™ the water-jelly composition penetrates deeply to bring 24-hour hydration. Oil-free and non-sticky, it improves suppleness and radiance, while protecting against the damaging effects of pollution.
The consistency of the cream is excellent and helps lock in the moisture. The skin feels refreshed without making it appear or feel greasy! It absorbs well into the skin, and it has a mattifying effect without drying skin out. Skin feels smooth and moisturised with a beautiful, healthy glow.
Facial Skin Defense – SPF 50:
Next, it is vital to keep the skin protected against the sun’s harmful UV rays. Skin Ceuticals Ultra Facial Defense SPF 50 forms a barrier that protects your complexion from harmful sun damage. From a world-renowned leader in advanced science-based skincare, SkinCeuticals is a high UVA/UVB broad-spectrum SPF 50 face moisturizer.
It is formulated with the latest state-of-the-art UV filters. This lightweight sunscreen is easily absorbed, hydrating, and helps prevent UV-induced collagen breakdown, UV induced hyperpigmentation, UV-induced dark spots, and signs of premature aging brought on by the sun’s harsh rays.
Jojoba Evenings!
In the evenings, after cleansing, I recommend using Pure Jojoba Oil – Fushi Jojoba Golden Organic as it closely mimics the skin’s sebum, making it an effective natural conditioner. Since Jojoba Oil seals in moisture, it should be used as your final skincare step.
Jojoba Oil is almost identical to our natural oil called sebum. Jojoba penetrates the skin and absorbs very well, making it an effective natural conditioner, which is excellent news for anyone with a dry or irritated complexion. It has a naturally silky texture to it the same as well-hydrated skin does except it won’t clog the pores like oily skin is prone to doing.
It is a true panacea that helps to soothe, heal, condition, and moisturise the skin.
Pure Organic Jojoba Oil is full of nutrients, antioxidants, and minerals that keep the skin nourished, heals your skin, and repairs wounds.
Fibroblasts are a component of our connective tissue that plays a crucial role in wound healing. Organic Jojoba Oil helps by binding the structure of the fibroblast.
Revive Your Skin After Lockdown – Covid-19 Conclusion:
The nature of this disease means that some people can feel better for a number of days, even weeks, and then the ‘flare-up’ returns. The hope people ‘cling’ to is that the intensity, duration, and frequency of these flare-ups decreases with time.
For anyone still managing the symptoms like my client, I’d advise that rest is a priority, along with proper nutrition, some sunlight, and family support to help you Revive Your Skin After Lockdown.
Do not just ‘soldier’ on – this virus seems to take hold of the ‘strong’ personality types and fights back! Remember, exercise is a stress on the body – usually positive stress for most as we adapt and strengthen. Still, our body resources can be so weakened due to the virus we need to reduce all stress as far as possible. For many letting the virus just ‘run’ its course is sufficient, as you long for the return to the ‘normal’ you!
Have you had to deal with the consequences of Covid-19 over the last few months? How has your health and skin suffered? Is your skin in need of some serious TLC following a long period of lockdown?
I hope you find some of the advice offered here to be of some use and helpful in getting your skin looking lively again! Please leave any comments or questions below, and I will be happy to discuss them with you.
Hi my skin seems good after three months of very little makeup in lockdown. I do have dry sensitive skin and after reading your post I quite like sound of the Organic Jojoba Oil as it doesn’t clog the pores as I can be prone break.
Hi, I have always found moisturiser either sticky or heavy. But like the sound of Cliniqe dramatically different hydrating jelly to help hydrate and leave a healthy glow.
I have been using Cliniqe Hydrating jelly for few months and found it absorbs into the skin easily without leaving the skin sticky, giving a nice fresh feeling, will continue using this through this lockdown and hopefully will keep my skin youthful..
Hi, my skin has become very dry during this lockdown from both the heating and stress. I will have to start pampering my skin with some of these serums on my skin and particularly the eye area as there’s definitely dark circles that need some attention and hopefully fading!
What a great article about everyday skin care in general! My skin has become very dry with a lacklustre appearance! I’m particularly interested in the Dermalogica skin Hydrating booster, as my skin is super dry and this sounds just the thing it’s crying out for right now! I will try it and let you know how I get on.
I’m hoping the jojoba oil helps with my dry, tired and over sensitive skin , as its looking so dull at moment.