Many students often complain about how school alters their appearance and ruins their makeup, hair, and skin. This is agreed upon by many and is rapidly becoming a big trend called “school air.” Although there are only guesses for why this phenomenon occurs, there are still ways to battle it.

There is a theory that the negative energy surrounding school is a contributing factor to how students look in the building. The decrease in mood at school due to factors like stress and tiredness make people look worse than they would out of school. While doing fun activities, there is a more content mood that boosts how we present ourselves. Outside of school, many people are less focused on how they are perceived because their peers aren’t judging them all day, so while it might seem like at school people look “uglier,” it is possible that it is just a mental game.

Another possibility could be that as teens, everyone compares themselves to each other. Students are surrounded by over a thousand peers and think that many of them have better appearances. This leads to them subconsciously comparing themselves to others and making them unattractive.

Furthermore, the lighting at school is much different than at home or in a car. Teens perfect their makeup in the lighting that they got ready in, but since the lighting is different at school, it won’t look the same. The fluorescent lighting used by most schools is often different then the lighting used to apply makeup and do hair, the switch causing a slight change in looks.

Humidity also has a part to play. Being in Florida, stepping outside for a few seconds results in frizzy hair that becomes unstyled. Once someone steps into school their hair already looks worse than when it was first styled. Additionally, being surrounded by a large amount of people raises the humidity in school. Some classes are so hot and are too small for the number of students in them, which also affects hair.

Many students feel like after stepping into school their hard work put into their looks completely diminishes into clumpy eyelashes, deflated and frizzy hair, and gross skin.

“School air is like a makeup remover. You walk in with all of this makeup on and it just strips it off, by the time I get home it’s like I didn’t even put anything on my face,” stated sophomore Lilia Conticello.

As it seems like school air is an inevitable phenomenon happening to students, the only way to battle it is to find the right products that work for one’s specific environment and each person’s own skin type.

Some simple tips include staying moisturized, remaining hydrated, refraining from using too much heat on one’s hair, and making sure the primer base matches well with other products used on the face which makes it so the makeup lasts longer.