Debby Ryan Reveals How She Keeps Her Skin Free From Breakouts While Traveling

Updated on 11/2/2019 at 6:50 PM

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Insatiable actress Debby Ryan has been on TV since she was 14 years old, which means she went through her teenage years — acne and all — while in the public eye. "I would get pimples in the first bit in my career, but really when I was like 18 or 19 I started getting cystic, really intense acne, right after I developed Jessie," she said of her Disney channel show. "I went to an esthetician, I went to a dermatologist; I tried to figure everything out." Eventually, Ryan learned the best way to handle acne is to prevent it before it starts.

Ryan made sure to apply a salicylic acid spot treatments before her makeup and asked makeup artists to blot her with an oil-blotting paper instead of applying more powder while filming. When her acne got really bad, she'd even wash off her makeup in the middle of the day, apply a mask, and then reapply all of her makeup. "It is so drastic and it requires a lot of time, but also sometimes that is the only thing you can do to get [your skin] back on track," she said.

While it was stressful at the time, now Ryan knows that looking her best can help her perform better at her job. "If you are going in with fresh skin, healthy hair, and a body that can do everything you need it to do, it does set you up to feel the most confident . . . and so the more that you can do to prepare so that you can get out of your own way, in terms of worrying about what you look like, that provides the best work."

It's not always perfect, but she's learned a lot of valuable skincare lessons from the time she started to today. Check them out ahead.

Debby Ryan's Unorthodox Fix For Breakouts

If Ryan finds that she is breaking out, she has a specific regimen for taking care of it. "If I wake up with congested skin, I do cardio to where I am sweating for 20 minutes," she explained. "In the morning and throughout the day, I drink a bunch of water and stay away from stimulants and things that dehydrate me. Then at the end of the day I try and sweat for another 20 minutes and typically that will help reset my skin and get that right on track from the inside."

How Debby Ryan Cares For Her Skin While She Travels

Now that she travels often for her job, Ryan makes sure to take care of her combination skin. "I try to wash [my face] twice a day and I use a clean washcloth every day," she explained. "Then I'll tone and add a light moisturizer with a little bit of SPF. I try and always create a barrier between makeup and my skin care. So something like gel moisturizer is great to prime and smooth the skin."

Ryan, who is an ambassador for Clean and Clear, also likes to treat herself once a week to a scrub or a mask from the brand, especially when she's flying. To remove dirt and oil from her skin, she opts for C&C by Clean and Clear's Mask Two Deep Cleansing Clay Mask ($16), which is formulated with charcoal to draw out impurities. Or she'll pack on the Mask One ($16), which is a peel-off. "It becomes rubbery on your skin, which is so nice because you can feel it," she said. "You put it on as a goo or whatever, right? And then as it dries, it creates this like rubbery feeling and I pull it away and it just unplugs the pores."

C&C by Clean and Clear's Mask Two Deep Cleansing Clay Mask

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$16

Mask One

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$16

The One Thing Debby Ryan Will Never Do on a Flight

While in-flight, Ryan makes sure to moisturize, but she does skip one popular method of looking fresh-faced when getting off an airplane. "I feel weird about sheet masks on planes," she said. "I don't want your goo all over the seat. I don't want that. I'm uncomfortable by the idea of being a sheet-mask-on-a-plane guy."

The Hair Color Debby Ryan Wants to Bring Back From the Past

It seems like Ryan has really got her routine down these days, but there is one thing she'd like to bring back from her teens. "My Jessie-red hair. . . . It was so specific to a time in my life, and I love it so much. I still really have so much love for that and I felt like a really great version of myself with that red hair."