Travel skin care essentials - Dr. Brandith Irwin's picks on Skintour skincare blog

Travel skin care essentials – what you should bring when you’re on the go

Dr. Irwin
August 29, 2017
I love your blog and have learned so much from you. What a dream resource you are! If you were traveling for more than two weeks and wanted to take the minimum number of products, what would you take? I use many of your recommended products including SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic, Skin Medica Hyaluronic Acid, Moisturizer, Skin Medica .25% Retinol, etc., but certainly do not want to take all of this on a trip. Thank you again. Ruth

Such a great question! Some people like to travel with only a carry on. I have friends that do this, butI can never seem to pack that efficiently for a 2 week or more trip. Whether you pack light or heavy, here’s your travel skin care essentials to bring on your next trip.  Here are some thoughts.

Note: Most american security checkpoints allow 4oz creams/liquids in carry ons.  Most european airports only allow 3 oz. Remember you can go on Amazon, or Target or go to the hardware store and buy small plastic containers in a small sizes to transfer your products into.   Just label them with a Sharpie so you don’t forget which ones they are.   I have done this and then forgotten which one was which. 🙂  You can’t always tell by their scent if they are unscented.

If you have acne, take your medications!

Travel skin care essentials – Here’s what you need:

Here’s what you don’t need:

  • Your retinol or Renova/tretinoin: Assuming you’ll be outdoors a lot. Just resume when you get back.
  • Alpha or beta hydroxy acids including glycolics.
  • TNS, peptides, niacinamide, etc products: not critical for 2-4 weeks
  • Anything complicated: Travelling always seems to me like a time to unplug and make life a little simpler!

Here’s what you might consider:

  • A small wash cloth –  acts as an inexpensive scrub to help get all that sunscreen off at night.
  • A self tanning product with some exam gloves to apply  it (get these at the drugstore).
  • Extras of the stuff you really need! 🙂

Hope this helps,  Dr. I

Dr. Brandith Irwin, MD

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Hi, I’m Dr. Irwin. I believe that consumers deserve a medically trained and unbiased skin care advocate.

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