BODY CARE ON THE *GLO*

The Travel Body-Care Routine That Actually Fits in Your Suitcase

I am very good at remembering skincare when I travel. Cleanser, moisturizer, SPF, whatever serum I'm currently committed to—they all make it into the bag.

Body care is another story.

Somehow, it's always the thing we assume the hotel will handle. Then you take your first shower after a six-hour flight, reach for the tiny bottle of body lotion next to the sink and immediately remember why you usually bring your own.

Travel is surprisingly hard on skin. Airplane cabins are dry. You're moving between climates. There is hotel air-conditioning, swimming, sun, salt water and more showers than usual. And because you're traveling, the last thing you want is an elaborate routine involving six bottles that could have stayed at home.

So here's the body-care routine I've learned to travel with: keep it very simple, but don't skip it altogether.

Why Does Skin Get So Dry When You Travel?

The flight is usually the beginning.

Airplane cabins have very low humidity compared with what most of us are used to on the ground. Spend several hours in that environment and skin can start to feel noticeably drier.

Then you land.

Maybe you've gone from a cool climate to somewhere hot and humid. Or Los Angeles to New York in February. Add hotel heating or air-conditioning, a long shower, chlorine from the pool, salt water from the ocean and a day outside, and your skin is dealing with quite a lot in a very short period of time.

This is why I don't wait until my skin feels dry to start taking care of it on a trip.

The Best Travel Body-Care Routine Is a Short One

I love beauty products. I do not love carrying twelve of them through an airport.

For body care, you really need three things:

A good SPF. Non-negotiable, especially somewhere warm.

Something to cleanse with. Hotel body wash is perfectly fine if your skin likes it; bring your own if it doesn't.

A body oil or moisturizer you actually enjoy using.

That's it.

The third one is important because a product can be technically excellent, but if it's sticky in humidity, takes ten minutes to absorb or makes getting into a silk dress an act of courage, you're probably not going to use it.

Travel beauty needs to work in real life.

Why I Prefer Body Oil When I Travel

Body oil solves several problems at once.

Applied to slightly damp skin after a shower, it helps seal in moisture and soften dry skin. You don't need very much, which matters when you're packing. And a well-formulated oil can work beyond your arms and legs: dry hands, cuticles, elbows and even the ends of your hair.

For me, there's also something about using oil after a day at the beach that just makes sense.

You come back to the hotel, shower off the SPF and salt, put oil on while your skin is still damp and get ready for dinner. It's one of my favorite parts of a beach trip.

And unlike the elaborate skincare routine I optimistically packed, it's something I will actually do every day.

The Trick: Apply Body Oil Before Your Skin Is Completely Dry

This is probably the most useful body-oil advice I can give you.

After your shower, don't completely towel dry. Pat off the excess water, but leave your skin slightly damp before applying oil.

Oil doesn't add water to skin. What it does particularly well is help keep moisture from escaping. Applying it while there's still some water on the surface gives you both.

It's also faster.

The oil glides over damp skin more easily, so you use less product and can cover arms and legs in about a minute. Give it another minute to settle while you brush your teeth or do your hair, and you're done.

No standing around a hotel bathroom waiting to dry.

After the Beach: Rinse, Oil, Repeat

Beach days are where a good body oil really earns the suitcase space.

Salt water can leave skin feeling tight. So can chlorine. Sun exposure and repeated applications of sunscreen mean you're probably showering more thoroughly than usual at the end of the day.

I like to rinse everything off, then apply Tahitian Oil immediately afterward while my skin is still damp.

This isn't a substitute for sunscreen, and body oil isn't a treatment for sunburn. If your skin is actually burned, treat it accordingly.

But for skin that simply feels dry after a day outside, oil feels wonderful.

Pay particular attention to shoulders, décolletage, legs and feet—the places that have spent most of the day exposed.

The bonus is that bare legs look much better at dinner.

One Product, Several Jobs

This is where Tahitian Oil originally came from, in part: I wanted something beautiful enough to feel special but practical enough to take with me.

The formula combines Monoï de Tahiti, macadamia, kukui and passion fruit oils. It's nourishing, but the blend was deliberately made to spread easily and absorb without leaving skin feeling heavily coated.

On a trip, I use it as a body oil first, obviously. But whatever is left on my hands goes through the ends of my hair. I'll work a little into dry cuticles before a flight. It works on hands and feet before bed. And a small amount over shoulders and collarbones gives skin a nice sheen before going out.

One bottle doing several jobs is the kind of travel math I appreciate.

What I Keep in My Carry-On

For a long flight, I keep the routine even simpler.

Lip balm. Hand cream or balm. SPF if I'm landing during the day. And a travel-size oil if I'm checking my main bag.

I don't attempt an in-flight spa routine. I have never been the woman doing a sheet mask in seat 14A, and I don't think I'm going to become her.

Mostly, I leave my face alone, drink water and deal with everything properly when I get to the hotel.

Once I'm there, a shower and body oil do considerably more for making me feel human again than applying skincare at 35,000 feet ever has.

Hot Weather Changes the Rules

If you're going somewhere tropical, don't assume you need to abandon moisturizer because it's humid.

Humidity can make skin feel less dry, but you're probably also swimming, showering and spending more time outdoors.

The answer isn't necessarily more product. It's less of the right product.

Use a lighter layer of body oil on damp skin and give it a minute to absorb before dressing. You want your skin soft—not your linen trousers permanently attached to your legs.

In colder climates, I do the opposite. Use a little more oil, concentrate on the driest areas and apply it every time you shower.

Same bottle. Different amount.

The Body-Care Products Worth Packing

I have become fairly ruthless about what gets space in my suitcase.

If I can buy it easily when I arrive, it probably stays home. If I don't use it regularly at home, I'm unlikely to suddenly develop the discipline on vacation. And if one product can genuinely replace two or three others, it has a very good chance of coming with me.

Tahitian Oil passes that test.

But the larger point isn't that everyone needs to travel with the same product. It's that body care deserves a place in the packing list at all.

We remember the facial SPF. We remember the sunglasses. We remember the dress for the reservation we made three months ago.

Remember your legs, too.

They are, after all, coming on vacation with you.