How to treat puffiness
Calming puffy skin is easy when you know what to do. After all, you're now heading out to see friends and family after being stuck inside for months, so you want to get your skin ready for the silly season. Puffy eyes and red, inflamed skin are hallmarks of a long winter but they don’t have to stick around. Here are our top tips on calming puffy skin so you not only feel excited to rejoin the world of social interaction, but you look great too.
What causes puffy skin on your face?
Waking up with a puffy face is usually just a build up of fluid caused by lying horizontal all night. It’s made worse if you:
- Ate a lot of salty food for dinner the night before
- Cried the day or night before
- Sleep on your tummy
- Are dealing with hayfever or sinus allergies
- Are dehydrated
- Lack of sleep
Sometimes you may notice your skin is puffier in the mornings if you’re going through a hormonal swing such as PMS, pregnancy or peri-menopause. But! Luckily there are a few things you can do to help deflate the puffiness.
How to ease a puffy face:
1. Use a crystal face roller or eye pod and store it in the fridge between uses
Crystal rollers and eye pods are gentle, efficient ways to stimulate blood flow, rejuvenating skin and easing puffiness. They work by gently pushing the fluid in your face towards lymphatic drainage points; areas in the face which collect fluid and process it. They’re like the recycling centres of the body! Roll from the centre of your face towards your ears. For example, from the centre of your chin, up the line of your jaw.
Top Tip: Store your crystal roller in the fridge to ease inflammation. The coolness will feel beautiful on your face, and it works a treat to reduce puffiness.
2. Keep your beauty serums in the fridge
If you had a swollen ankle you’d put ice on it right? A puffy face is the same: By putting cooled products directly onto your skin, you decrease any built up inflammation that’s sitting stagnant in your skin. The change in temperature also helps encourage blood flow to brighten your complexion and help you look fresh.
3. Use eye serums with Hyaluronic acid
Dermatologists recommend eye serums with hyaluronic acid as a great solution for puffy eyes because it prevents trans-dermal water loss. To be more scientific: Hyaluronic acid attracts water and improves skin elasticity, the two vital elements to ease puffy eyes.
Top Tip: Just like your facial serum, keep your eye serum in the fridge. It helps to enhance the serums’ efficacy and calm any redness and puffiness around your eyes.
4. Gently massage your face when you cleanse
You know that fresh feeling you have after a facial? It’s mostly thanks to the massage! Following the same theory as the crystal roller, facial massage boosts lymphatic drainage and promotes blood flow. This removes any blood that’s been sitting stagnant overnight, and allows fresh, oxygenated blood to flow into your face.
Use a cleanser that’s easy to use and spreads easily. Don’t forget, cleanse for at least 60 seconds to let the powerful ingredients of your cleanser work their magic. Plus, massage takes time to work, so 60 seconds is the minimum you’ll want to spend to get results.
5. Drink more water
Sounds simple, but drinking more water is a really easy way to decrease morning puffiness. When you’re dehydrated, your skin retains water and can look irritated, inflamed and swollen. By drinking more water, your body is more able to clear stagnant fluid. If you’ve had a few wines the night before, dehydration will be worse, so increase your water intake the next morning as much as you can.
Deflate that puffy face with the strategies above and you’ll be amazed how much brighter your skin looks.
