A passenger went to the lavatory on a long haul flight for their skincare regimen. She came out wearing a full face collagen sheet mask. She wanted to be discrete, so she wore a pointed black hoodie pulled over her head. But that just made her look like the Grim Reaper.

The Reaper is drawn as a skeletal figure in a long, black robe or hooded cloak, with the hood shadowing his skull – creating a sense of anonymity, inevitability, and fear.

Another passenger – probably a travel companion – takes video of her coming out in this garb, and shared video reads “When you try to hide your face mask from the other passengers but just end up looking like a witch.” She’s seen walking past rows of seats to her own place.

“Imagine u was asleep and u woke up seeing the reaper walking towards u.”
“I thought u were pretending to be Ghostface.”
“It’d be less embarrassing to just walk out with the mask [showing].”

@emmamdarling Pride has gone out the window but at least I’ll have plump and hydrated skin featuring the collagen overnight mask by @biodance_official and hoodie by @RICK OWENS ONLINE #SkincareInTheSky #AgeDefyingSkin #41AndThriving #funnytiktok #travelglow ♬ Monkeyshine-JP – Lt FitzGibbons Men

What’s most striking to me is that some people try to maintain these skincare regimens on a plane, and carry them out in the lav.

• I get that cabin air runs exceptionally dry, even Boeing 787s and Airbus A350s.

• I’m no dermatologist, but it seems like sheet masks might backfire inflight? The sheet is drying in the dry cabin air, wouldn’t it pull water from the skin? You’d better remove the mask while it’s still wet.

• You’d probably be better off just moisturizing pre- and post-flight (and probably window seat passengers use sunscreen). Keep your hands clean. Bring lip balm.

• And avoid the inflight routine especially where it involves putting water from the lavatory on your face.

Don’t worry what you look like to other passengers. Don’t worry what you look like at immigration when you land. If you must go straight from landing to a meeting, that’s why airlines created arrivals lounges. Or stop off at your hotel first – if your room isn’t ready they might make the spa or gym available to you at least.

The only real exception to this is the Emirates shower spa in first class on their Airbus A380. Even the Etihad A380 first class cabin, which offers a shower, has too small a space to really do much. You need to get in and get out. Emirates will even provide you with plenty of products. And you’ll be returning to a seat with a door for privacy.

But please avoid strong odors and aerosols, whatever your inflight routine!