The other day, I found the most genius travel skin-care hack on TikTok. I was actually preparing for a flight to see my parents for Thanksgiving, stuffing a clean silk mask in my carry-on, when I happened upon Alexa Johnson's in-flight skin-care trick: wearing a sheet mask under her face mask to prevent chin chaffing and maskne.
That's so 2021, I thought. I wasn't alone. In just two days, Johnson's TikTok has been viewed more than 1.6 million times, with commenters and like-minded holiday travellers, including Hyram, the Gen Z skin-care authority, also calling the barrier-mask concept "genius."
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@glowopedia This saved me skin tbh ✈️#skincareroutine #skincaretips #glowopedia ♬ original sound - Alexa Johnson
Johnson says she found the $8 Masque Bar Shield at Target in the US (available on ASOS in Australia). She put it on — it's completely hidden under a face mask — and wore it for the middle 45 minutes of five and a half hour flight and it helped "rehydrate" her skin and prevented her face from feeling dry and chapped from cloth irritation.
Similar to the familiar full-face sheet mask, the Masque Bar Shield comes in a single-use packet. Inside, there's a thin bio-cellulose sheet soaked in soothing hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, and calendula. According to the label, the Masque Bar Shield should only be worn for 20 to 30 minutes, so don't fall asleep wearing it on an overseas flight. But for prolonged mask-wearing occasions, like modern air travel, it seems to make a lot of sense to throw one of these in your carry-on.