Is there any way to avoid clammy hands/face on a long trip?

Question

Long travel days often leave me with a sort of clammy feeling... My hands and face, especially, feel icky/sweaty/gross. Simply washing my hands and face will generally only lead to a temporary relief.

This is the one aspect of long trips that I always despise the most. I can sit in an airline seat for 12 hours, or drive for 24 hours straight. But until I've had a shower, I am miserable from this clammy feeling.

I realize sweat is a natural response to heat, so avoiding sweating seems like a good first step, but I feel clammy after a long trip even when I'm in relative comfort.

Is there anything I can do to avoid it before it happens? Can diet, hydration, clothing, or other factors, be used to help reduce this effect to make my long journeys more bearable?

Answer 1

Shower is washing your whole body, but its refreshing effect is something more - it's also a change of temperature, you take it also in some room, which means the travel is over, there's a fresh air (at least much more as in car or train etc.

Baby wipes are very good. They are cheap, they take little place, they moisturize your skin, and they are usually perfumed. You can wash with them also your neck and armpits, which is very hard in public toilet. If it's impossible to take whole body wash, washing neck and joints (the opposite side of knee and elbow, I don't know if they have some special name) will have a significant refreshing effect. If you can get a bit of privacy, wipe with them also your groin.

Answer 2

In the "amenity kit" of some business class international flight or another, I was given a small bottle of "refreshing facial spray", citrus scented, and mostly water. I have to say it works nicely once you get over the idea of spraying yourself in the face.

I am not sure where you can buy these - my guess would be a high end department store. Air Canada has changed suppliers so I can't find the product I was given. I did find a magazine article explaining why they are great and naming some brand names.