Skin Soothing Tips for Allergies, Colds, & the Flu

Allergy, flu, and cold season seems like its year round in San Antonio. With our unpredictable weather here, one day you’re fine, then the next day you wake up with a sore throat, sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and sniffles. I bet some of you have your medicine cabinets filled with lots of antihistamines, nasal sprays, decongestants, eye drops, and lots of boxes of Kleenex. Feeling that awful sinus pressure and having headaches throughout your day is the pits. What’s worse is your skin is deeply affected by what we put it through when dealing with allergies. It is not fun to be walking around with puffy eyes, a bright pink nose, and sore, tender skin. I’m not a doctor, I can’t cure your allergies, but I can give you some tips to help comfort your skin while your allergies are bugging you.

The Peepers: Puffiness, tenderness, and dark circles around the eyes? Try cooling eye gels and cooling masks for the eyes, for an even cooler effect try putting in the fridge to chill for a bit. The gels/masks can cool down your eyes and help take some of the itch and sting away, while reducing puffiness. Cortisone creams can help reduce the puffiness, use sparingly and don’t get in your eyes.

The Puckers: Keep them covered in lip balm, preferably something with a SPF. Try to stay away from balms with mint or eucalyptus in them, if your lips are feeling a bit tender, the tingly sensation may not feel too good. Balms with vitamin e are usually very soothing.

The T Zone: Your nose & cheeks are probably what bother you the most. That area is usually itchy, raw, flaky, & burns from the constant blowing of your nose.  Try using a richer moisturizer, preferable something with aloe vera to soothe the area & vitamin e to help your skin heal faster. A really good product to soothe your skin is Nuskin’s Enhancer Skin Conditioning Gel, its calming and soothing, and also hydrates the skin nicely. Try to not to use the cheapest brand of tissues, use the Kleenex tissues containing lotion, they are very gentle & can be soothing to your skin. Also be sure to stay away from paper towels or napkins, using these will only irritate the skin even more.

Makeup Tips: If you have any red blotchiness on your skin, you can conceal it by using a yellow base concealer. The yellow will help offset the red color of your skin, and then you can apply your makeup as you normally would. Also avoid using blush when you are suffering from allergies, because your face will tend to be reddish as it is, you definitely do not want to enhance that. Stick to natural, earthy tones & avoid pinks & reds. You don’t want those watery eyes to create that raccoon look for you…so stick to waterproof eyeliner & mascara.

If you suffer from allergies, have a cold or the flu, get a checkup from your doctor & get to feeling better!