Should I Do Skincare Before or After Workout? Great Britain Athlete Answers

Should I do skincare before or after workout? I’m shy about sharing this with you today. I’ve kept it hush for the last 6 years… because to mention I’m a Great Britain athlete feels braggy. You’re here to learn how to get healthier, happier skin that makes you feel like the awesomesauce I know you are… for me to help you get here, you don’t need to know that as well as being a scientist specialised in skin health and an award-winning skincare formulator, I’m also a Great Britain athlete.

But today’s different. Today I’m answering this super important question I get asked time and time again – Should I do skincare before or after workout?

I’m an expert in the science of skincare and I’m also someone who regularly works out so hard that I look as sweaty as a melting ice cube but feel as scorchy as crispy fried bacon 😂

I know the proven science answer to pre and post-workout skincare and I also know it through sweat-earned experience.

Come find out if you should do skincare before or after a workout plus what skincare you should be using and when.

Should I Do Skincare Before or After Workout?

There are two questions you must answer before you can know if you should do skincare before or after a workout.

1. Are you working out first thing in the morning?
2. Are you working out inside or outside?

Let me give you an example… yesterday I had a four-hour training session with my Great Britain tag rugby team in London. We’re one week out from the British & Irish Cup and our coach is pushing us hard. Think military fitness, now imagine doing it on the moon 😂

[Bonus points if you can spot me]

Yesterday he starts our four-hour practice with a bleep test. We’re joyful 😉 It’s midday and the sun’s pounding down. No one wants to be first out. Everyone wants to be the last human standing. It’s gruelling, gritty, challenging, euphoric and… sweaty. So, so sweaty.

Should I do Skincare Before A Workout?

In this situation yes you should absolutely do skincare before a workout. Why? Because you do not want to be leaving your skin ‘bare’ for your entire morning – your skin absolutely must not be bare in the peak hours of summer sunshine.

Facts you must know;

1. You should never wash your face in the morning and then NOT use skincare – more about why soon
2. If you’re outdoors in peek sunshine hours (11am to 3pm) and it’s summertime you must be using sunscreen at a minimum
3. If you have an hour plus between your skincare routine and you doing sweaty exercise – your skincare should have absorbed well (i.e. it won’t be completely sweated out) and will be having great healthy, glowy skin benefits

The most important fact of the lot: you should never wash your face in the morning and then NOT use skincare because your skin hates water. Ever been in the bath too long and had your skin feel dry and crinkly?

Free water dehydrates your skin whereas ‘bound-water’ i.e. water that’s being magnetised by ingredients like hyaluronic acid – well this water hydrates our skin.

Washing your face in the morning and then not following up with skincare, dries your skin, it dehydrates your skin and it also messes up something called your skin’s acid barrier – psst – this can ultimately be making your skin prone to redness, sensitivity, ageing, breakouts and acne.

Take a peek at this science quote [don’t worry if it sounds gooky, I’m explaining everything after];

A single washing of the skin is known to lead to delipidation,… dehydration, a shift of the pH into the alkaline region, sometimes to inflammatory hyperaemia, and on more pronounced irritation, to further manifestations of inflammation of the skin.Contact Dermatitis. 1995 Apr;32(4):225-32

Pwoar eh, us scientists love us some fancy words. Don’t worry, this quote’s actually super simple – all it’s saying is – when you wash your face, even just one time, it strips oils (aka shielding lipids) from your skin, it causes dehydration of your skin, it makes your skin less acidic (a really bad thing) and it can cause redness and even inflammatory skin conditions like eczema or acne.

The fact is, you must always follow washing your skin with a health-boosting, glow-making skincare routine (I show you how to do this inside my online video course AgeLock).

Because a great skincare routine can;

• Add back oils to your skin – these form your skin barrier aka skin shield
• Boost your skin’s hydration levels by binding water into your skin with actives like hyaluronic acid (although psst – I’m actually not a fan of hyaluronic acid serums and I explain why inside AgeLock)
• Acidify your skin to help prevent acne and breakouts
• Soothe, calm and combat redness
• Load anti-ageing antioxidants into the surface layer of your skin
• Protect your skin against inflammation – especially inflammageing – and especially from UV light

Should I do skincare before or after workout? If you’re working out in the middle of your day, and you have an hour+ between doing your skincare routine and doing exercise then yes you should do skincare before a workout. Your skincare routine should also include sunscreen as a mandatory last skincare step if you’re working out between the hours of 11am to 3pm, outdoors in summertime.

Psst, be sure to join for my 7 days of Get Great Skin Started email lessons (you get one new Great Skin email lesson each day) so you can go from feeling like your skin’s bleugh to wow – I glow so much people keep wondering if I’m pregnant 😅. Join for free here.

Should You Do Skincare Before a Morning Workout?

Scenario two – should you do skincare before a morning workout? Representing Great Britain in Tag Rugby means I must keep fit. Last week I leave my partner Rich in bed as he’s sleepily, with mole eyes ;), telling me to be safe on my morning run. It’s not hard to spring out of bed – there’s a crisp blue sky, an opera of birds and the thought of meeting baby feathered cygnets on the lake I run past (plus beating Ireland ;)).

[I met them – aren’t they too cute]

For my morning workout run I answer these two questions;

1. Are you working out first thing in the morning? Yes.
2. Are you working out inside or outside? Outside.

And I do not do skincare before my workout. I don’t even put on sunscreen.

Why? Because;

1. I do not wash my face before my workout meaning I don’t need to ‘re-seal’ my skin
2. Because my skincare will only sweat out (making putting it on pointless)
3. Because skin needs to see UV light to make natural vitamin D and gentler light (aka low levels of UVB) in the morning means minimal to no risk of burning

Should I do skincare before or after workout? If you workout first thing in the morning, even if it’s outdoors, skip your skincare routine and instead, do skincare after your workout.

Should I Do Skincare Before or After Workout?

Here are your four most important skincare before or after workout scenarios;

#1. You workout first thing in the morning indoors

Answer: skip skincare before your workout, do skincare after your workout.

#2. You workout first thing in the morning outdoors

Answer: skip skincare before your workout, do skincare after your workout.

#3. You workout in the middle of your day/afternoon, indoors and you’ve been indoors for most of the day

Answer: do skincare in the morning but skip sunscreen especially if you have acne-prone skin. After you workout use a toner and cotton pad to refresh your skin, then follow with moisturiser – for an added boost. You can also use one of your treatment serums before moisturiser (I show you how to choose the best treatment serums for your skin inside AgeLock).

#4. You workout in the middle of your day/afternoon, outdoors

Answer: do skincare in the morning and if it’s summertime, sunscreen is your mandatory final skincare step. After you workout wash your face with a gentle cleanser, then follow with moisturiser. For an added boost you can also use one of your treatment serums before moisturiser.

It’s simple when you know how. Following these four scenarios ensures your skincare works to its fullest potential so you get healthy, glowy skin that has you feeling like the awesomesauce you are.

Your next steps;

1. Save and bookmark this blog to remember your pre and post-workout skincare scenarios
2. Use the green WhatsApp button below to share this blog with a friend who loves to exercise
3. Join here for my free Get Great Skin Started email lessons – 7 emails over 7 days with 7 extremely important science-proven ways to get younger, healthier, happier, glowy skin