Exercise is brilliant for physical and mental wellbeing. It fires up your circulation, strengthens and tones, is great for your heart and bone density, and can give you a real spring in your step. Getting hot and sweaty while you do it is all part of the deal. However, getting sweaty can also be part of the problem when it comes to your  skin, which is why it’s important to think about how best to take care of it when you work out.

Arriving at the gym with your make-up on and going straight into class isn’t good. As you warm up and begin to sweat, your make-up melts and gets absorbed into a pore-clogging cocktail of sweat, foundation, SPF and sebum. It blocks pores and potentially triggers the beginnings of a breakout. If you can, starting your workout with bare skin is always good.

The gym can also be a minefield of bacteria. Everything you touch – weights, treadmills, yoga mats – can carry bacteria from other people’s sweaty workouts which has had time to stew. When you then touch your face you transfer it to your skin. Introducing bacteria to your skin in this  way – when it can be quickly combined with a warm soup of  sweat, sebum, open pores and melted make-up – is a fast track to breakouts. Taking proper care of your skin after working out is crucial. It’s also a brilliant opportunity to really clean your skin deeply and properly.

When you are exercising, it’s not just your heart and muscles that are working. Your skin’s working too, acting to help rid the body of toxins. As you exercise, sweat and sebum rise to the surface of your skin. Cleansing properly after a work out is a really good way to deep-clean all of it off before it’s reabsorbed. That’s why it makes sense to be conscientious about cleansing properly each and every time you work out. However, your skin is also vulnerable after a work out; the pores are wide open, your blood vessels are fully dilated, and the salt from your sweat alters the ph balance of the skin’s mantle. You need to clean it gently so that you don’t strip it of its natural oils and leave it feeling dry, red and uncomfortable.

That’s why Votary Cleansing Oils are perfect for giving your skin  a really deep-down clean after exercise. The pure, potent natural plant oils clean your skin without stripping it, so every trace of  melted make-up, sweat, sebum, bacteria and dead skin is whisked away and your skin is left feeling super-clean, soft and plumped. Here’s why:

• Votary Rose Geranium and Apricot Cleansing Oil contains nourishing apricot and jojoba which lift away dirt and toxins. Grapeseed and sunflower oils add additional softness and smoothness. It’s perfect for all skin types, with a lovely uplifting fragrance of rose geranium.
• Super Seed Cleansing Oil is designed for more fragile or sensitive skins, or skin which is in hormonal  flux. (Anybody pregnant or menopausal – we’ve got you covered). Packed full of seed oil goodness, pumpkin, chia, broccoli and jojoba combine to cleanse, nourish and hydrate all in one.
• Clarifying Cleansing Oil contains rice bran oil, which is one of the most lightweight and non-clogging plant oils available. It’s great for blemished and troubled skin, especially when paired with oat oil which is soothing, and rosemary and bergamot which help purify and calm.

Using a Votary Cleansing Oil post-workout couldn’t be easier. Add three pumps into the palm of your hand, and massage it into your face in quick, light, easy motions. If your skin is feeling particularly red, dry or taxed, leave it on while you shower. If not, simply soak the Votary face cloth in hand hot water, wring it out, and then use it to wipe everything away. If you have time for a little mood lift, hold the flannel to your face and breath mindfully and deeply for a couple of breaths to inhale all the aromatherapy goodness. If you’ve left the cleansing oil on your face while you shower, simply do the same when you step out. Your skin will have benefited from the potent oils working like a mini-mask for added hydration. And – even though I’m a committed face cloth user and would never be without mine – if your gym provides towels but not face cloths and you find it too much of a faff to take your own, you can also wet the edge of the towel and use it to remove the cleanser and to give you a moment of fragrant peace. It’s unlikely to be as soft and fluffy as a Votary facecloth 🙂

Cleansing your skin in this way after a work-out has so many benefits.  You capitalise on your skin opening up and pushing out the bad stuff. Your skin will be properly, deeply clean, with every trace of make-up, bacteria, sweat and sebum removed. This means extra post-exercise glow, and skin that feels supple and comfortable, not stretched and tight. Votary Cleansing Oils prep your skin beautifully for make-up, or for simple, natural bare beauty. If you’d like an extra shot of goodness, I suggest adding a splash of our Brightening Hyaluronic Serum. It’s made with delicately scented neroli flower water, and infused with naturally active glycolic and hyaluronic acids which help to freshen and renew.  You can leave the gym feeling virtuous and looking healthy, glowing and radiant. That’s a win win…

Love, Arabella x

Read more about why it’s good to use plant oils on your skin here.

Take a master class in oil cleansing here.

Read more about our original cult cleanser here.

Learn which cleansing oil is best for your skin here.

Read about Votary cleansing oil’s starry moment at the 2019 Brit Awards here.