The Guardian Weekend - UK (2021-02-27)

The Guardian Weekend | 27 February 2021 45

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If you or your loved ones work in PPE, one possible

answer – if not the magic bullet – lies in protecting the

compromised skin barrier and keeping it clean and balanced.

Ceramides – the fatty glues holding skin together – help

protect it from environmental stresses , which is why I’d

suggest moisturising twice daily with the very gentle Facial

Moisturising Lotion (£13, 52ml), from CeraVe , an entire

brand centred on them. Soothing

n iacinamide , too, is ideal, since

it helps to strengthen the barrier

and repair damage. Try layering

Superdrug’s Me+ Niacinamide &

Zinc Booster (£5.99, 30ml) under

the moisturiser, immediately

after cleansing.

While hot cloth cleansing is

ordinarily best practice, if you work

in PPE or your skin is sensitised ,

I’d advise you to step away from

the fl annel. The less friction, the

better, which is why a rinsable

formula is a good solution.

CeraVe’s Hydrating Cleanser ( 3 ;

£9.50, 236ml) washes away without

aggravation, as does Av ène’s airy,

whipped Face Essentials Cleansing

Foam (£13.50, 150ml), which

needs the lightest of touches to

work. My other favourite is Paula’s

Choice Defense Cleanser ( 2 ; £20,

198ml), which is especially good if your underlying skin

issue is dryness.

A refreshing mid-shift spritz helps, but one that won’t upset

your skin’s pH is vital. What The Light Salon Boost Cleanse

Recovery Spray ( 1 ; £18, 100ml) lacks in sex appeal (the smell

reminded me of municipal swimming baths), it delivers in

performance. It’s a gentle but enlivening, pH balancing and

skin-sanitising fi x that can be applied whenever you’re able

to take a moment. If you are a user of skincare actives, such as

retinol, take your foot fully off the gas for now. Your skin needs

calm while life is anything but 

Beauty Sali Hughes

My charity Beauty Banks has spent much of this past year

redistributing skincare products to frontline NHS workers,

and everyone we’ve talked to has told us that PPE is painful.

The heavy kit , which high-dependency unit, cardiac and

C ovid team workers (nurses, porters, doctors, cleaners

and more) must keep tightly on for hours at a time , really,

really hurts. At best, those huge visors chafe, leaving

skin red, sore and itchy. At worst – and frequently – they cause pressure

sores on the nose, jaw and temples that can break, bleed and weep. One

Covid team leader said he winces every time he reaches for his face gear

after  a loo break.

The dark ages If medi-

eval “wine windows”

were the mood of 2020,

then Celine’s chainmail

collars and teen knight s

are 2021’s response.

Hands-free shoes Nike

launches a slip-on shoe

to rival the Birkenstock

clog, the Croc, and

even the Marni mule.

Fung i-fashion

Whether you’re

growing them ( North

S pore ’s kits are selling

out) or wearing them

(see Alexa Chung’s

new jumper ), it’s the

new gardening fi x.

Snoods Back! Not the

19th-century hairpiece,

or the thing that

Gianluigi Buff on wore

on the pitch, but the

Nike neck warmer.

Dewy Dudes Boys in

sheet masks chatting

skincare routines and

lip balm on a podcast –

what is not to love?

The Measure

Going up Going down

Calm in a crisis

Wearing PPE all day? Try these

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Instagram’s tucking-

hair-behind-ear thing

Spectacularly irritating.

Could be the straw that

breaks a very grumpy

camel’s back. You have

been warned.

Berlin hipsters

Kreuzberg’s cool cats

are nicely skewered

in Lauren Oyler ’s new

book, Fake Accounts.

Neighbour-shaming

TikTok’s trend

for shaming loud

neighbours and crying

babies. Where’s the

camaraderie, Gen Z?

Howard s End Instead,

try The End Of Eddy ,

Édouard Louis ’ coming-

out memoir, adapted

by James Ivory (of

Howard s fame).

Ultra-recipes The latest

anti-boredom pastime?

Grossout cooking

videos on ChefClub.

Lettuce stuff ed with

burger meat, anyone?

The Gu

aree nicely skew

in LLauren Oyler

boook, Fake Acco

Neighbour-shaNei

TikTok’s trend

for shaming lou