5 tips to keep cool and dry while wearing a face mask

"They more often carry a hand-powered fan or small, battery-powered fan,” he says. That trick comes with a caveat — if you are “around a lot of people's exhalation, you're

just fanning that air at yourself” — but with sufficient social distancing you may be able to use a fan to stay comfy while still protecting yourself. "The other thing you see a lot of

people doing in Asian countries during the summer is shading themselves with an umbrella,” Poland says. “Turns out that things like that actually do help." 4. SKIP THE MAKEUP Heat and

perspiration mixed with makeup or oily skin care products makes for a gunky mess under your mask. “You don't have the ability to have sweat evaporate when you have the mask on. It all

sits there and collects,” says Kovarik, the dermatology professor. That clogs pores and contributes to the lower-face skin eruptions that have been dubbed “maskne,” a combination of the

words mask and acne. Kovarik recommends masking up with your face clean, save perhaps for a bit of moisturizer (preferably with some SPF, if you plan to be out long). “Creams that have

dimethicone in them are a good moisturizer but also is a barrier cream, so it creates some protection between your skin and the mask,” she says. “It will actually create a barrier to the

friction." Another change to make to your skin care regimen: Avoid products with retinoids or salicylic acid, which some older people use to diminish wrinkles or sun damage. "Those

can be very, very irritating if used under occlusion or under some kind of covering. We don't want to put them under the mask,” Kovarik says. “If [people] are using those products,

it's better to put them on at night and then wash your face in the morning." 5. BRING A SPARE If you can't keep your mask from getting icky and sticky, there's no better

remedy than swapping it for another. “I recommend people do that anyway,” whatever the weather, Poland says. “When you're outside with the mask on, that mask has a limited

lifespan." On especially hot and humid days, pack multiple masks, recommends Vanos, the heat expert. Just make sure to follow the other CDC safety recommendations when changing masks,

like avoiding crowds and washing or sanitizing your hands. "If you really need to remove it to cool off, move away from people, cool off, maybe switch the mask to a new one, and then go

back,” Vanos says.