While you’re up in the air, your skincare regimen should be anything but.

Technology has made it easy to barrel through the clouds without feeling the pressure of high altitudes, but it’s done little to protect your skin from the dry, poorly conditioned air that exists at such heights. There’s barely any moisture circulating through the airplane cabin, leaving your skin thirsty for love and attention—even on short routes. That leaves you with the responsibility to keep your skin hydrated and nourished throughout the flight. Here are five tips that will help you do exactly that, and to prevent over-dryness and post-flight breakouts. (The worst kind of jet lag, if you ask us—and horrible for all those travel selfies.)

1. Clean Your Skin Before You Fly

Toner is a fascinating product. It balances the pH levels of your skin, in that it prevents oily skin from getting too greasy, and helps dry skin retain moisture—to prevent further drying. Similarly, the fascinating thing about flying is that it does one of two things: It either turns you into a shiny light reflector or parches your skin like a drought. To stay right down the middle with evenly-balanced moisture levels (or shall we say, preserved and never-too-excessive moisture levels), wash your face like Men’s Youth Shop’s Daily Cleanser, just before heading to the airport.

2. Unpack Your Eye Bags

The skin around the eyes is significantly thinner and thus more delicate than the rest of your face. Because of this, the eyes will be first to show strain mid flight. When you are tired, dehydrated, or stressed (among a dozen other ailments), the skin tissue near the eyes fills with fluid and becomes puffy and discolored. (The thinness of the skin here is a big reason this discoloration so prominently appears.) To minimize this strain, pat a tiny dollop of vitamin-infused, caffeinated eye cream—like Men’s Youth Shop’s Under Eye Creme—below each eye. It will hydrate, nourish, and energize the skin, thus minimizing these outward signs of jetlag.

3. Refresh Mid-Flight

Airplanes are—bear with us here—the perfect place to refresh. They give you a sense of newness, of transition, of landing in a new place with a new perspective. This can also manifest itself as a single-step mid-flight skincare regimen: Just before the captain turns that seatbelt light on one final time, sneak into that tiny bathroom with a face wipe in tow. Ursa Major’s are individually wrapped and can fit in your pocket.) One swipe will soak up accumulated grease and airplane funk, help dissolve dead skin cells, and rehydrate and tone your face. You’ll de-board the plane with a tingle on your skin—like you just went to a mile-high spa.

4. Moisturize Upon Landing

You don’t need to travel with a lot of grooming products, especially since your hotel or hosts will have you (hopefully) supplied with supplies. However, one product you should always stow (in addition to the eye cream, of course) is a moisturizer. Even if you don’t go for the pre-landing facewipe, a simple splash of cold water (with clean hands!) will clear a good bit of oil from your face, giving you a clean slate onto which you can lather some nourishing, skin-defending moisturizer. It will restore your skin to its supple pre-flight state, and keep you from feeling brittle and parched as you head to a business meeting, happy hour, or the pool. (You should also moisturize before the flight, after you tone the skin and apply eye cream.)

5. Ban All Beverages But One

Coffee, alcohol, and soda will dry out your skin, and can lead to breakouts. The latter won’t happen in the span of a cross-country flight, but avoiding these three is still a good rule of thumb. Either way, with your body losing roughly one cup of water for every hour you’re in the sky—because of the dry air—you need to stay hydrated. Dehydration hinders a number of bodily functions, but it quickly parches your skin and leads to next-day pimples. So, order water when the beverage cart comes around (or at least keep the booze to a minimum, and skip the bloody mary mix). And don’t hesitate to push the ‘assistance’ button and request a refill on that water.

By Adam Hurly