How to Reduce Visible Allergy Symptoms

Allergy symptoms are the worst, aren’t they?! They are often very visible and involve puffiness, redness, and sore, dry, and blotchy skin. Here are a few tips and tricks to try to reduce the visibility of these symptoms.

Puffiness

• A common tip is to put the back of a cold (clean!) spoon over closed eyes for a few minutes. You can also buy eye masks that you can put in the fridge/freezer to keep cool, but make sure you keep these clean and bacteria-free if they are being kept with food!
• An important tip is to prepare! Try to remember to take your allergy preventatives and remedies before you start showing symptoms. I find that remembering to apply HayMax before bed helps to prevent puffiness in the morning.
• Preparing an allergy or hay fever ‘first aid kit’ in advance of experiencing symptoms means that you can be prepared whenever and wherever for any allergy ‘attack’. One or more natural products, one antihistamine, one nasal spray and eye drops.
• Another tip is to keep allergens in your bedroom down to a minimum. If you’re allergic to pollen, this will mean keeping your windows shut as often as possible. Putting an extra sheet over your bedding during the day will help reduce the pollen in your bed. Then, when it’s time to go to sleep, carefully remove it so as not to disturb the pollen. This will protect your bedding from getting pollen on it if you want to keep your windows open during the day!
• If you’re allergic to dust or pet dander, make sure you’re regularly cleaning your home and try to avoid letting your pets in your bed (difficult for some, I know).
• A little less common but interesting tip: if your puffiness just won’t let up, you can always try contouring your face! If you’ve never done this before, then you can look up videos or articles that show you how to. The internet world is your oyster!
• Another option for de-puffing is taking an antihistamine*. These are used to calm your body’s reaction to allergens, but they can make you less alert and drowsier and groggier. If you want to know more about antihistamines, you can read about them here.

Red Nose

• Make sure you moisturise your nose more than you normally would.
• Keep applying HayMax. HayMax is an allergen barrier balm and some customers (and me!) have found that HayMax has helped protect their nose from getting red and dry. If you apply HayMax after every nose wipe, blow, or dribble then it could prevent the skin from becoming more damaged. This hasn’t been proven in a scientific study, but it works for me!
• If you wear concealer or foundation, you can use colour-correcting primers and concealers. You can also put a little bit of yellow concealer over the top of your foundation in areas showing more redness.

Dry Skin

• Make sure to use an exfoliant in your skincare routine. Chemical exfoliants are better than physical/mechanical ones if you are using them on the face. A chemical exfoliant such as glycolic (better for combination skin) or salicylic acid (better for oily skin) will break down the flaky skin cells with a deeper penetration than a physical exfoliant such as sugar or coffee scrub.
• Moisturise daily. Surface hydration is very important if you have dry skin so you will want to buy a gentle but deep moisturiser with little to no perfumes in it.
• Drink lots of water and eat lots of fruit! Surface hydration is important, but not as important as internal hydration! Water and fruit are the key ingredients to maintaining a hydrated body and mind. They both seem to be the key to lots of minor ailments!

Blotchy Skin

• Use perfume-free skincare and makeup products. Perfume in products makes them smell good, but it irritates and dries out the skin.
• Make sure you cleanse your face every day, morning and night, with a gentle cleanser to remove any makeup, pollen, and dirt particles that have collected on your skin overnight and during the day.
• If you use makeup, try to reduce how often you wear it. If you want to wear makeup, then you can use a green colour-correcting primer and concealer before you apply the rest of your face makeup.

Undereye circles and watery bloodshot eyes

• Eyes are often the most obvious physical symptom of allergies, and itchy eyes are not what you want when out.
• Use eye drops to top up the moisture levels in your eyes. If you wear contact lenses, make sure you leave at least 15 minutes between eye drops and lens insertion* and never use eye drops with your contact lenses in – even if the eye drops are contact lens friendly, you should always apply them without lenses.
• Skin around the eyes is very sensitive so can be damaged much easier than the rest of the skin on your face. I know it is almost unbearable but try not to rub your eyes – this will only irritate them more in the long run.
• Use an eye cream to keep them moisturised.
• You can use a caffeine eye serum, The Ordinary do a great one. Apply a small amount to each eye day and night and this will reduce the tired bags under your eyes.
• Use HayMax! Apply HayMax as soon as you’ve finished your skincare routine and if you wear makeup, apply some more HayMax after you’ve finished this step. HayMax traps pollen, dust and pet allergens before they can enter your eyes. If you have less allergens entering your body, you should experience less symptoms. I always find putting HayMax on to be soothing too, especially if I apply HayMax Aloe Vera.
• Another top tip is getting a good night’s sleep and stick to a sleep schedule if you can! Having the same hours of sleep at the same time each day has been proven to reduce tiredness, which in turn means it should reduce the appearance of dark circles. Sleep is so important for our bodies to recover from the busy day we have had, so make sure you are getting enough sleep!
• Relieve your stress. Undereye circles have been linked to increased stress levels. Obviously telling someone to stress less is like saying ‘just un-break your foot!’ but you can take measures to reduce your stress levels. Try to keep on top of deadlines, reduce the amount of extra-curricular or after-work activities and maybe take a step back from some chores for a few days. Remember to be kind to yourself, always!
• A good tip that I find helps a lot is to wear less make up (if you already wear any at all). Make up clogs your pores, especially around the delicate eye area. The skin around your eye is very absorbent, so it collects a lot of the makeup particles throughout the day, adding to those undereye circles. If you keep up a good skincare routine and avoid make up when you can, then that should alleviate your visible allergy symptoms around the eyes in the long-term.

*NB: Always ask your GP or pharmacist before combining treatments and always consult a medical and/or health professional if you have prior health conditions.