Building a post-gym skincare routine

Athletes struggle with a ton of sport-specific skin issues. Chafing, redness, sweat acne, skin eruptions, blisters, fungal infection risk - you get the idea. Post-training skincare is really important. Let's dive in on the basic do’s and don’ts of a solid post-workout skincare routine.

DON’T: Wear sweaty gear for hours after you finish training

Whether you’re working out solo or in a group, you need to get out of sweaty clothes ASAP. The sweat itself isn’t bad, but when sweat-drenched fabrics sit in covered places on the skin, you can easily develop weird bacterial and fungal infections. These infections can cause pimples, itching, redness, and other irritating skin reactions.

Maybe this wasn’t as problematic back when humanity only had breathable textiles to wear like cotton, linen, and silk. But today most of us wear petrochemical plastic fabrics like polyester or spandex. These fabrics are awesome for athletes because they are super silky and they prevent chafing and blisters. But they also stay wet for hours. Wear a sweaty bra under a top and vest for too long, and you might see some irritation. Layer those fabrics with underwear and pants in the groin area, and things can get funky pretty fast. Pair those running socks with modern day footwear, and your feet become a breeding ground for fungal infections like athletes’ foot. You get the idea.

Your skin needs to breathe. It needs to air out. So, at the very least, bring a fresh change of clothes with you to change into after your work out. If it’s not super cold out, wear sandals when you walk out of the gym so your feet can air out.

DO: Shower as soon as feasible

The best thing you can do after working out is to take a shower. This isn’t because sweat is evil for your skin. On the contrary, sweat has a lot of skincare benefits, which we write about here. The problems come when we wear unnatural fabrics that trap sweat and heat on the skin. That’s how the bacteria starts to breed, which can cause trouble for your skin. Luckily, most people have a pretty good intuition about this, which is why many public gyms have showers.

If your workout is just between you and yourself, and you aren’t really breaking that much of a sweat that day, then maybe you can get away with a quick wardrobe change and be done with it. But if you are training a high-contact sport like jiu jitsu, judo, or wrestling, then you will need more than a wardrobe change. You need a shower, and there’s no substitute for it.

One of the problems with high contact sports is the crazy exposure to other peoples’ funk. It’s unavoidable, and people who do not train these sports will never understand how truly disgusting they are. At Mil Usos, we definitely know. We’ve had the sweat of many large men drip into our eyes and mouths and ears. We’ve trained no gi on mats that resemble a slip and slide. We’ve fogged up our mat space until we are breathing in everyone else’s sweat. It’s all a badge of honor right until you step foot out of the gym, and then you immediately realize how incredibly disgusting it is.

Thing is, people unknowingly delay their showers. Maybe you commute to your school. So you’ll have a bit of a drive home. Maybe you’re starving after class, so you either grab a bit to eat, or you whip something up as soon as you get home. Maybe you have to swing by the dry cleaners or the grocery store on the way home. Once you leave the gym, your life goes on. We get it.

But every minute you delay your shower, you risk infection. This is not an exaggeration. This is very real. Skin infections have a short incubation period before they officially imbed themselves into your skin. There’s no way to tell how long each particular infection needs. But the sooner you go wash your skin, the safer you will be.

We once had a worried parent message us about her daughter, who had contracted several ringworm infections on her face. We asked her about her shower practices. Turns out they lived almost an hour away from the gym. They had started to train at this gym, and then they moved away. Since all of her daughter’s friends were there, they continued her training there. While the commute was nobody’s fault, it was still a problem. Since her daughter struggled with ringworm on her face, specifically, we suggested that she change her clothes and wash her face in the gym bathroom after every class. This was an easy fix that dramatically improved the problem.

DON’T: Use cheap soaps poisoned with essential oils

Other athletic brands directed toward athletes use tea tree oil, menthol, eucalyptus, and peppermint to help athletes feel “tingly fresh.” The tingling has nothing to do with being clean, even though we are hit with tons of marketing that says it’s the same thing. The tingling effect of these essential oils is just the skin’s reaction to them. It’s actually the skin’s way of saying it is irritated.

If you naturally won the skin lottery, then maybe you can use these cheap soaps and go on with your life. But if you struggle with acne and skin eruptions, if you have any open wounds, or if you have sensitive skin, then these cheap soaps are the WORST thing for your skin. And you’ll notice it when your skin is inflamed, red, and irritated.

Are essential oils natural? Yes. Are they antimicrobial? Yes. Are they also insanely irritating? YES. There are other natural options that are much better than essential oils, which we discuss in our next point.

DO: Use safe antimicrobial extracts

We get it – the need for antimicrobial skincare is REAL! We agree! We just don’t think essential oils are the best way to get there. We recommend safe antimicrobials, such as activated charcoal, green tea, short chain fatty acids, glyceryl laurate, glyceryl undelylenate, licorice, bakuchiol, colloidal silver, xylitol, sodium pca, echinacea, and polylysine. When used together, each one of these ingredients packs a punch for microbial invaders. They each work differently, so you can approach the problem from different angles with only a few products.

The best part about these ingredients? They all have MAJOR benefits for the skin. While essential oils only serve to irritate the skin, each one of the ingredients we recommend has been proven to help the skin become more resilient. They each soothe redness, feed the skin’s healthy microbiome, and repair the skin barrier. In fact, that is precisely why we use them. Mil Usos means “one thousand uses.” We want each of our products to be dynamic and multi-use. We do this by choosing ingredients that do the most for athletes’ skin. So, not only do our favorite ingredients each have a strong antimicrobial component, but they also have powerful skin-healing properties. This is why our products do so much more than the competition.

DO: Use leave-on products to improve your skin

We’ve mostly been talking about showers. Showers are good. Showers are important. But showers aren’t the end. Athletes should always put an antimicrobial layer of protection on their skin after they get out of the shower. Products that are applied to dry skin have hours to work their magic. Our Total Cranarchy Balm sinks in deeply to the skin, where it repairs the deeper layers. It’s also a genius product for soothing redness and keeping the skin clear and healthy.

An athlete should choose a moisturizer that is better quality than cheap drugstore products. Athletes tend to choose cheaper products because they are in a hurry and they are often worried about crushing bigger goals. But cheap drugstore products are made of water and synthetic waxes, which doesn't do enough for athletes' skin. The end result is they end up looking pretty haggard, and they often struggle with skin problems that could be eliminated if they choose specialty care designed for their needs.

Mil Usos' products are concentrated with a rich array of multi-vitamin plant oils, antimicrobial extracts, and potent skin soothers. Our line of specialty products is designed specifically to cleanse, heal, and support athletes' skin. Just because an athlete trains hard doesn't mean their skin has to suffer!

For quality cleansing that packs light and replaces every other product in your shower: Char Goals Everything Bar Cleanser

For effective exfoliation that replaces all scrubs: Scuff Love Exfoliating Glove

For the best antimicrobial moisture money can buy: Total Cranarchy Multi-Use Balm

Author: Rebecca Williams, Founder