(Trick or) Treat Your Skin To After Halloween Skin Care

Excess sugar, caked-on makeup, and a late night out are guaranteed to take a toll on your complexion this Halloween. Even after all the celebrations are over, your skin will most likely be looking a little gruesome but no longer as part of your spook-ified Halloween costume. With these helpful post-Halloween skin-care tips, your skin will be detoxified and looking and feeling as good as new in no-time!

Tip #1: Your skin is one-of-a-kind; treat it as such!

Halloween is the most bittersweet of holidays: it’s the one day of fun and freedom that can unfortunately take a real toll on your skin as caked-on inexpensive makeup and those excess sugar intakes magnify the worst of skin damages. Rashes, wrinkles, and acne are not our friends, so here’s how to avoid them even after all those Halloween festivities come to an end.

• If you’re wearing costume makeup products that you wouldn’t normally use on an everyday basis (products that may be inexpensive and lacking in terms of skin-friendly ingredients), then be sure to wash your makeup off completely and thoroughly before bed. Of course, Halloween get-togethers will most likely be leaving you exhausted once the day is done, but if you forget to wash off your makeup before hitting the pillow, it can lead to immediate breakouts and your skin will start looking dull and damaged days later.
• Use skin moisturizer: applying your go-to moisturizer even before you put on costume makeup is encouraged. If you forget to do so, however, then be sure to apply a generous amount of moisturizer to your face after all that makeup gets washed off. Moisturizer will help to re-hydrate your skin and guarantee that you don’t wake up with a rubbery, zombie-looking face!
• Prevent dreadful blemishes: Once your makeup is removed, be sure to use a face mask to deep-clean pores and remove any makeup remnants. Clarifying masks are really helpful at reducing common breakouts as well as absorbing and eliminating pore-clogging dirt and oil that could easily build up from all that costume makeup.

Tip #2: Don’t forget to treat your scalp right, too!

Of course, Halloween is the one day during the year when it’s completely acceptable to “let your hair down” and use all kinds of hair dyes and color hair shadow products, but be sure not to let your healthy hair be completely at risk!

• After the party’s over, give your hair a thorough shampoo and conditioning to rinse out all of the artificial coloring inside of it. Be sure to take extra care of your scalp with an olive or coconut oil head massage to keep your hair soft, smooth, and prevent it from drying out. If an entire head massage seems like too much work, do a quick treatment by rubbing a dime-sized amount of olive or coconut oil between your hands while gently smoothing it over your hair to get rid of any frizz or fly-aways.

Tip #3: Keep your tummy satisfied without overindulging!

Although there are endless sweets to be devoured on Halloween, here’s how to make sure you treat yourself right and limit your sugar intake even after the trick-or-treating comes to a close.

• Eat the right candy (and not a lot of it!): Of course, it is expected that you’ll be eating candy on Halloween. After all, that’s the main premise behind this holiday, right? But don’t forget that your diet completely affects your skin’s health, and the processed and refined sugars in most of the Halloween candy that you pick up are not only bad for your complexion, they’re also bad for your overall health. Eating too much candy can cause acne breakouts, dull skin complexions, and can even speed up the signs of skin-aging, so keep the sugar intake moderated. If you do happen to indulge in a piece of candy or two, avoid milk chocolate and sugar candies like lollipops or hard candies. Instead, go for the dark chocolate (those that are dairy-free would be best), which has a lot less sugar without risking its delicious taste. If you’re not allergic, feel free to choose dark chocolate that contains nuts, which will give you some protein.
• Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate: Keeping hydrated after the sugar fest is a must, especially because it will successfully prevent dry skin, breakouts, and even allergic reactions.
• Focus on festive food alternatives: Instead of feasting your eyes on the abundant leftover Halloween candy that’s always lying around just hours after the party’s over, go for some healthy (and festive!) food alternatives, such as pumpkin seeds or sliced apples with honey or any other seasonal fruit that is not only good for you, but for your complexion, too!