Working out is good for you. Taking care of your skin is also good for you. How can you make sure you get to do one without compromising the other? Here’s a list of some must know beauty tips for those who workout.

Remove All Makeup

This one is a no brainer but I can’t not mention it. For me, as someone who wears absolutely no makeup for most of the week, I don’t have to worry too much about this. But if you’ve worn makeup at some point during the day (or even the night before), be sure to remove all of your makeup. Otherwise it will mix with your sweat and clog your pores. Let’s try to avoid a break out at all costs, shall we?

Keep Gyms Towels Away From Your Face

You may be thinking, but am I not supposed to wipe the sweat on my face with the gym towels? Isn’t that the whole reason why they offer them? Let me explain. For one, I’m sure you could have guessed this but gyms are dirty. There are tons of germs everywhere and with people sharing machines, weights, mats and more, who knows what we come in contact with. The same applies to towels. I’d like to think that most gyms take the proper precautions to clean the towels they provide customers, but I will just never know. Even if they do take the proper precautions, bleach is just too harsh of an ingredient for me to put on my face via a towel. I’ve noticed that most times, when I do use a towel to wipe my face, my skin gets irritated. Mind you I don’t even have sensitive skin! So instead, I opt for using tissues to wipe any sweat on my face.

Pro tip: Wear a baseball cap, headband, or visor to collect any sweat from your head so that there is less of it dripping on to your face! 

Hold Travel Size Cleanser and Toner or Face Mist

Wether or not you’re a shower at the gym or wait until you get home type of person, the sooner you can rid your face of sweat and dirt accumulated during your workout, the better. That’s why I suggest throwing a travel size facial cleanser and mist in your gym bag so you can clean your face as soon as you’re done. The facial mist is more so for hydrating purposes so you can give your skin a quick hit of hydration after you leave the gym.

Reapply SPF

Now, if you’re washing your face before you leave the gym, best believe you should be re applying SPF. Even if you’re not washing your face, your sweat probably got rid of any SPF you might have had on when you got to the gym. Reapplying SPF is especially important if you’re leaving the gym during the day and if you have a relatively long trek home. Don’t play games with those UV rays.

Drink Even More Water

There are tons of ways your skin benefits when you drink more water. I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle to meet those water drinking goals I set for myself. I like to use the gym as an opportunity to catch up on my water consumption for the day. After my workout, I’ll force myself (that sounds hard but you get the point) to finish any water left in my bottle. Then, I’ll refill my water bottle before I leave the gym and set a goal of finishing the water on my journey home. Obviously the attainability of this goal depends on the size of the water bottle, but you might as well take advantage of the fact that you’re thirsty after a workout.

Get a Workout Wig

Say what now? Yes I said it. As a black woman, probably the biggest barrier to working out consistently is the dilemma of what to do with my hair. How can I workout consistently without putting too much strain on my more expensive units, but also looking comfortable enough for me to workout without being self conscious about my hair? Unless you have a protective style like braids or twists in, I suggest getting a very inexpensive (think beauty supply cheap) wig you can just throw on to go to the gym. If you’re someone who is comfortable going out in a headscarf, of course, you can feel free to do that as well. Don’t let your hair keep you from working out!

WHAT ARE SOME BEAUTY TIPS YOU HAVE FOR WORKING OUT?

“No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.” Hebrews 12:11