By Well+GoodNYC
Five yoga classes a week are making my muscles way more sinewy and my body super lean. But my skin is having a freak out.
Both my yoga mat and my skin are sticky. But my yoga teachers look radiant as ever. I don’t attribute this to just soap and water. Even the Schuyler Grants of the world need to exfoliate and moisturize. They’ve obviously figured out how to make sweating for a living work for them—and found skin-care products that lend a no-makeup-needed aura and a natural glow. I need to find mine.
Despite the inner calm I’m getting at yoga, there’s no solace at my studios for what ails my skin: extra oil, pore clogging, and extra redness. (There seems to be a moratorium on products that aren’t overtly wellness related.) So I’ve done some research and rigorously revamped my skin-care regimen to match my newly vigorous vinyasa practice.
My yoga bag is now stocked with staples targeted for my yoga-induced skin-care woes; my picks are listed below. It’s perfect timing for a week that kicks off with back-to-back outdoor yoga in Times Square today and Yoga at the Great Lawn in Central Park tomorrow.
Melisse Gelula’s product picks for yoga-afflicted skin
Cleanser
I never exit the yoga studio without washing away the sweat from my face (and décolleté and back of my neck). It’s a skin-care sin for which there is no absolution, since it’s just gluing down your dead skin cells and settling into your pores like cement. I like to use a cream cleanser for that dewy skin feeling, but lately I’m clinging to a clarifying one, like the liquid Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap with tea tree oil, an anti-bacterial.
Face mist
Skin-calming, anti-bacterial plant-based face mists help bring down the post-practice heat: I like Living Tree Botanicals Blue Chamomile Facial Tonic, Jurlique Citrus Purifying Mist, and a few made by Pangea Organics.
SukiSpa Purifying Serum keeps pores clear with salicylic acid from white willow bark
Clarifying treatments
Until my pores get used to the amount of sweating they’re doing, I’m using Susan Ciminelli’s Toning Formula, with essential oils, and SukiSpa Bio-Active Purifying Face Serum, a product that contains my new summertime friend salicylic acid, a proven pore penetrator. Both are pretty pricey, but the new Burt’s Bees Acne Solutions line is an affordable source of salicylic-acid products that work like preventative Drano.
