5 Skin Care Tips From a Flight Attendant
Key takeaways:
Ricardo Louzada is a flight attendant who carries skin care essentials when he travels.
He is adamant about his skin care routine, which includes keeping his skin clean and hydrated.
He also says under-eye rollers with caffeine serum are the secret to perking up tired eyes.
Ricardo Louzada always wanted to be a flight attendant, but life goes its own way sometimes. Instead, he worked for families with children who had special needs and then ended up in healthcare.
But last year, the 39-year-old had what he called a “reality check” and asked himself: “What am I doing? Am I happy? Is this what I want to do?”
He decided to make some changes. He liked his healthcare job, but there were few happy moments, and that drained him. He wanted different energy. He wasn’t looking to get rich or live a life of luxury.
“I want to be memorable,” he says.
Ricardo, a native of Brazil, had a heart-to-heart conversation with his supervisor, who suggested he think about aviation. She knew Ricardo loved to travel and meet new people. He could bring his personality and hospitality to the job. He applied that night. Not long after, he took a job as a flight attendant.
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He says the job is about more than serving drinks and walking up and down the aisles. Flight attendants are first responders in the air, he says. In less than a year on the job, he has experienced two medical emergencies and a smoking lithium battery, which forced the pilot to make an emergency landing. But not every flight is so dramatic.
Tips for how to arrive with a fresh face
Most days, Ricardo doesn’t think about being 35,000 feet in the air while walking the length of a flying metal tube. He’s simply interacting with people, making sure they’re safe on his flights from Hartford, Connecticut, where he’s based, to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Fort Myers, Vero Beach, and Phoenix.
He loves to interact with his fellow flight attendants, too, offering travel tips and swapping stories. They often share their best skin care routines, so they arrive with fresh faces. Ricardo always has skin care goodies in his toiletry bag that he’s willing to hand out.
Ricardo’s skin care routine is simple, he says, but he’s faithful to it. He washes his face every day and uses a face scrub once a week. He sprays his face and neck with toner and puts on moisturizer. And he applies hyaluronic acid on his forehead and under his eyes. He always wears sunscreen.
Here are his best skin care tips for travelers who want to look their best when they arrive at the gate.
1. Use facial wipes, especially ones with vitamin C or micellar water
Ricardo doesn’t wash his face while he’s on the plane, but he carries two types of facial wipes. One has vitamin C. The other has micellar water, which is made with purified water, moisturizers, and mild surfactants. Micellar water doesn’t contain harsh chemicals or alcohol.
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Ricardo alternates between the two. He folds the wipes, makes a little puff, and blots gently around his eyes so he doesn’t remove all of the moisturizer and sunscreen he applied that morning.
He wears a full beard and often finds that if he uses the wipes to clean his beard, he feels refreshed right away. It makes such a big difference, he says.
“If I’m very tired, I’ll use the vitamin C, because that thing immediately brings back your glow,” he says.
2. Stay hydrated and moisturize
Cabin air can cause your throat, eyes, and skin to feel dry. That’s why Ricardo only drinks water while he’s in the air — never carbonated beverages. And he keeps his galley bag stocked with electrolyte drink mixes. He switches up the flavors so he doesn’t get bored.
He also uses moisturizer every day, so his skin doesn’t get dry while working. And sometimes, when he needs an extra boost, he’ll use a spritz of toner that contains witch hazel, like Thayer’s, so his skin feels nourished.
3. Apply sunscreen before you arrive at your vacation spot
When the sun comes through the airplane window, it’s strong, Ricardo says. Wearing sunscreen protects your skin before you even get to the beach. He uses a dry touch sunscreen, so it doesn’t make his face too oily. Dry touch sunscreen has a lightweight, non-greasy feel upon application.
Ricardo’s moisturizer has sunscreen in it, but he likes to apply extra. He isn’t very light skinned, so he uses 30 SPF, he says. But he recommends a higher SPF for people with lighter skin tones.
“I always wear sunscreen,” he explains. “I think sunscreen should be mandatory for every flight attendant if you care about your skin because it helps you a lot.”
4. Wash your travel pillow
Ricardo recommends that travelers who like to use a neck pillow carry it in a sack and wash it after every trip.
For his own vacations, he uses one that is a bag and pillow in one. The outside is the case. Once it’s opened, the pillow is on the other side. Since it’s in a case, when it goes through the X-ray machine at security, the part that touches his face isn’t on the same conveyor belt as dirty tennis shoes and food crumbs.
“You keep everything protected, enclosed, and clean,” Ricardo says. “You can always unzip it and wash the whole thing, too.” Washing it after every trip will get rid of any bacteria.
5. Apply an under-eye roller with caffeine to target puffiness
Ricardo has a secret for business travelers worried about having tired eyes for that morning meeting after a red-eye. He uses an under-eye roller with caffeine serum (like these from Garnier) when he needs a pick-me-up after long flights.
It’s about the size of a lipstick case. But it has a little metal ball on the top that he rolls gently around his eyes to apply a revitalizing eye serum.
They work so well, he has more than one. “That [thing] is a miracle,” he says.
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