Wearing face masks and slathering on hand sanitisers are here for a long haul. It’s not only the new way of life but the law now.

As the United Kingdom will be making it a law to wear face masks in public places, so knowing what face masks to buy and hand sanitisers to use is very important in this situation.

When the pandemic hit the world, many fashion and beauty brands started manufacturing face masks and hand gels of all types. What we should know is that not all of these products were made equally. We need to be careful of the alcohol in the hand santisers and the type of fabrics used for the face masks, some hand gels can notoriouly dry out your skin and the face masks can cause maskne.

So when opting for hand sanitisers, ensure to choose the ones that contain moisturising ingredients like hyaluronic acid, squalane, aloe vera and important essential oils. Your hand santisers should contain atleast 60% alcohol, avoid the ones made with methanol. You can opt for the the unscented versions if your skin is sensitive, and there are many fresh scented ones if your preference is scents – from citrus, jasmine tea to Lavender.

When opting for face masks, always go for the silk (it’s delicate and often not machine washable, i’ll advice wash with your hands during shower) or the silk-like smooth breatheable cotton ones. This is adviced because some face masks cause friction on the skin that leads to maskne. This is due to skin suffocation, blocked pores, dirty reuseable masks and fabric type. Maskne are different from acne, maskne are the tiny shallow whiteheads around the nose and mouth while the deep and painful bumps are Acne that are caused by hormones.

It’s adviceable that when using your face masks after you’ve choosen the right fabrics, to always wash them everyday, always prep the skin before wearing your masks using a skincare balm moisturiser around the nose and mouth that’s most likely to get friction from wearing masks. Aquaphor is recommended, which is available at Superdrug and Ulta beauty.

If you’ve suffered from maskne since the pandemic outbreak, we suggest using gentle salicylic acid, which can help pimples clear more quickly and comes with anti-inflammatory benefits, or a sulfur-based face wash, which can kill acne bacteria without exacerbating irritation or stripping your skin. Finaly, washing your face and moisturing, moisturising – is the key to fighting maskne. When most people breakout, they tend to steer off using moisturisers when moisturising is actually the solution, opting for skin care with jojoba, squalene, or ceramides to help repair the barrier and adding hyaluronic acid serums or creams to replenish the lost hydration is adviceable.

Here are some of our favourite hand santisers and face masks to shop :