As a model, Madison Headrick, 29, is always on the go, and in a world full of backstage fashion show mania and with hundreds of travel hours under her belt, she had to get smart about skin care fast. With a decade in the industry, she’s seen everything from stubborn cystic acne to quick-fix skincare malfunctions, and come out the other side with envy-worthy skin.
We sat down with Headrick to talk all things skin and the inspiration behind her travel-friendly skin care system, Care.ē.on.
The Ascent:
From Cystic Acne to Clear Skies
Headrick was one of those kids that had to learn about skin care early. “I started suffering from cystic acne around seventh grade,” Headrick explains. “I was one of those teenagers that just had pizza face, no matter what I did. And your teen years are already hard enough!”
Headrick was self-conscious, but her acne made bullying from her peers worse. “I remember trying everything,” Headrick says. “We went to a dermatologist and that was when Proactiv was really big, and those ads were always on. I remember begging my mom for Proactiv so I could get the clear skin those celebrities had.”
But the kind of acne she was struggling with was the most difficult kind to curb. Hormonal acne is often resistant to topical medications and is usually resolved via a prescription oral medication or by growing out of your teen years, when your hormones are in flux.
“I became pretty obsessed with skin care,” Headrick admits. “Even though hormonal acne can’t really be controlled with just skin care, I started to take it seriously to figure out how to minimize and prevent scarring and hyperpigmentation.”
In-Flight Turbulence:
The Routine That Kept Her Flight Path Clear
Even though her days of hormonal acne are behind her, Headrick found a new skin-care battle to focus on: how to keep her skin healthy while traveling.
“When I’m at home, I go all in on skin care,” Headrick explains. “I just want to completely treat my body in the shower, exfoliate, do masks and facials, the whole thing. It’s kind of like a pit stop during a race, where I’m refueling.”
But aside from the many products that would require carrying out through flights and taxi rides, travel also causes different skin-care concerns to arise. Dry cabin air is a particular problem on flights, for example.
“When I’m traveling I like to keep it really simple and calming,” Headrick says. “Not only is the travel itself hard on your skin, particularly by dehydrating it, but I’m also usually going to a job that is hard on the skin too. Photoshoots and fashion shows will sometimes put on and remove several rounds of makeup in a short amount of time, and it can leave your skin feeling really raw and open.”
Not to mention that straying from a strict routine hasn’t always worked out the best.
“I remember I once landed in London for a show, and my eyes were really puffy,” Headrick explains. “This was just when Face Gym started, so I went and got a treatment of a new product they were testing. Even though I didn’t feel any pain, hours later my eyes were super swollen and I had a rash. It was like, ‘this is what I get for going outside my routine!'”
Landing on the Runway:
With Care.ē.on in Her Carry-on
If you notice, there’s one part of Headrick’s collection that isn’t like the rest.
“I chose to include a hand sanitizer because I knew I wanted to minimize hand-to-face contact as much as possible,” Headrick explains. “Post-pandemic, I feel like we’re all more aware of germs and how to take care of ourselves, and I am always very aware that when I’m traveling I’m touching a lot of public spaces. That’s why we didn’t go with a jar for the moisturizer—I didn’t want to stick my fingers in there in the middle of a flight.”
The line includes a spray hand sanitizer, a hydrating facial mist, hydration pads and the High Flying hydration mask. These four products make up the backbone of Headrick’s routine, and is housed in a luxe mesh bag. The collection also retails for $38, which Headrick explains was important to her.
“I wanted this collection to be an affordable luxury that you could treat yourself to if you were in business class, first class or economy,” Headrick says.
Carre.ē.on was born from a desire to keep her skin hydrated and calm after everything it gets put through during travel and modeling.
“That’s why the entire line is clean ingredients with a focus on hydration with ingredients like niacinamide,” Headrick says. “I’ve come home from set with my face feeling like one big scab, so we knew we needed it to be really non-irritating and good for sensitive skin.”
