The Best, Most Obnoxious Face Masks to Wear In-Flight

Take it from someone who has spent a lot of time on airplanes: Flying wreaks havoc on one’s skin. The air in the cabin is not only recirculated and crawling with lawd-knows-what; it’s also about as dry as the Mojave Desert and sucks all the moisture straight out of the skin, leaving it with the consistency of a saltine cracker.

I know what you’re thinking: You’re sitting there all, “Y tho?,” giving a lifeless expression looking like Pope Leo X. But the only thing worse than looking like that famed Fernando Botero painting is looking like a flaky, shriveled up Fernando Botero painting. So, what’s a gal to do?

Enter in-flight masking. I get that it’s not (yet) a culturally acceptable way to combat skin woes, and may very well both scare and scar children, but even if the latter turned out to be true, it’s vital to remember that self-care isn’t selfish. And sometimes (read: always), self-care comes in the form of wearing the most obnoxious sheet mask one can find on an aircraft. (Or on Amtrak, or the subway, or the DMV. And yes, I’ve done it all.) Your skin may very well be the only thing to do so, but it will thank you.

Ahead, see our top picks for masking in-flight and start chopping those cucumbers.