Tips to Prevent and Treat Mask Acne, Or “Maskne”
If your face has been unlucky with cloth face masks, chances are that you have already dealt with mask acne. Also known as “maskne”, mask acne is made up of the destined breakouts, bumps, or zits that pop up on your beautiful face after wearing a cloth face mask. If this problem has never occurred to you, well consider yourself blessed. If you are still reading, we feel you mija. Let us teach you the best way to treat it.
“The main cause of mask acne is mechanical friction, which we’d typically see in people who wear a lot of gear on their face—like hockey or lacrosse players,” says Joyce Imahiyerobo-Ip, MD, the owner of Vibrant Dermatology and Skin Bar MD in Boston. “Face masks also create a little bit of humidity, which can irritate your skin even more.” She suggests that all we need to do to treat and prevent mask acne or maskne from growing is to make sure we always wash our face at least twice a day. As simple as that!
Now to add on to the face washing, we think two times a day for 30 seconds is good enough but we want to include a quick rinse whenever necessary. If there are more times of our day when we sweat within the mask, make a note of it and take 10 seconds to do a light, quick rinse when the free time comes. Just know that washing your face too many times throughout the day can be damaging, but only if you forget to apply moisturizer. I personally use the Neutrogena Hydro Boost, but more about that later.
You may also even sweat without even knowing, so rinse anyway when you’re back home from the store or a long commute. If you create a pattern of doing this, you will definitely see the results with your mask acne disappearing, or never even appearing at all!
Another tip to treat mask acne is to moisturize your skin. All that washing will need a nice follow-up with a lightweight moisturizer. If you already use a deep moisturizer at night you can just use the light moisturizer once or twice during the day, depending on how often you wash. Not only will your skin look good, it will soothe any irritation.