Cabin air, dehydration and the skin, hair and nails: the long haul routine that actually works after nine years, product by product

Nine years of long haul from Auckland, which means the longest sectors in the world, and the skin threads on here are good on the humidity problem. This is the full routine, product type by product type, because the question comes every week from new crew and the answers are scattered.

The problem

Cabin humidity on a long sector is around 10 to 20 percent, drier than any desert. Twelve hours of it, three times a week, and the skin loses water faster than you can drink it back. Add the recycled air, the sun through the window on the day flights, the uniform fabric, and the sleep disruption that shows on the face first.

Water

The base of everything. A litre before sign on, a glass every hour on duty, and the alcohol on the layover as the thing that undoes it all. The crew who look ten years younger than their seniority drink water and do not drink on layovers. There is no product that replaces this.

Face

A gentle cleanser, not a foaming one, twice a day. A hyaluronic serum before the moisturiser, on damp skin, because it holds water in the skin. A heavier moisturiser than you would use on the ground, and a reapplication mid sector in the galley on the long ones. A mineral sunscreen on the day flights, every time, because the window at 38,000 feet is closer to the sun than the beach. At night on the layover, an occlusive layer (the thick cream or the balm) over the moisturiser to stop the loss while you sleep in a hotel with its own dry air.

Lips and hands

A balm in the pocket, applied hourly. A hand cream in the galley, used after every hand wash, which on a service is every twenty minutes. The hands age first on crew and the hand cream is the cheapest fix in the routine.

Hair

The bun and the products and the dry air pull the hair out. A leave in conditioner on the layover, a silk or satin pillowcase in the crew bag (the hotel cotton one is sandpaper), the bun not too tight, and a break from heat styling on days off. The crew with good hair at year ten had a satin pillowcase at year one.

Nails

The uniform standard demands them and the cabin destroys them. A cuticle oil every night, gloves for the galley cleaning, and the manicure that the airline permits done properly rather than cheaply. Peeling nails are a cabin air problem, not a diet problem.

Body

The uniform tights and the seatbelt and the dry air. A body moisturiser after every shower. Compression socks on the long sectors for the ankles, which is also a health point.

What does not work

The expensive serum applied once. The facial spray that evaporates and takes the skin's water with it (use it only over a moisturiser). The idea that you can skip the routine on the domestic turns and catch up on days off. The skin keeps a running total.

The honest truth

Nine years in, the routine takes twelve minutes a day and I am often mistaken for younger than my colleagues who joined with me and did not do it. It is not vanity. It is the job's tax on the body, paid in small instalments instead of one large bill at 40.