Tips For Healthy Skin For Men
The skincare industry is notorious for marketing towards women exclusively for many, many years. Recently, it became more socially acceptable for men to admit that they have an interest in taking care of their skin, too.
While hygiene and taking care of your body are not at all “feminine-only” activities, for a long time, it was seen as un-masculine to care about those things openly. Nowadays, there exist plenty of skincare products for people of all genders.
Why Should Men Take Care Of Their Skin?
Beyond appearances, skin care is a real way you can ensure long-term health.
How?
A good skincare routine ensures that you don’t fall victim to preventable skin diseases or conditions. When you cleanse, nourish, and moisturise your skin, you remove pollutants, dead skin, and other unwanted debris. This ensures that the pollutants don’t cause deep harm to your skin and body, and you avoid painful acne.
Not only that, but regular moisturisation maintains a strong skin barrier, protecting the whole body from foreign invaders like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
When you apply SPF on a daily basis, you help prevent the formation of skin cancer, which affects 1 in 36 UK males, according to the NHS. Furthermore, 86% of melanoma skin cancer cases in the UK are preventable.
Lastly, when you regularly inspect your skin, you’re more likely to notice anything off, like a melanoma formation, in the easy stages, which might just save your life.
Do Men Need Different Skincare Products Than Women?
The answer is: it depends.
Most skincare products are suitable for anyone, provided it’s for their skin type, regardless of gender. But some products suit men’s skin better than women’s. There are a few reasons for this.
Hormones: Men and women have different hormone levels, which can affect their skin. Testosterone, which is present in higher levels in men, can cause thicker and oilier skin, leading to a greater likelihood of acne and blackheads.
Shaving: For men who shave their faces, the razor can cause irritation, razor burn, and ingrown hairs. This means that these men's skincare routines will need products specifically designed to soothe and protect the skin post-shave.
Facial hair: For those who don’t shave, or who keep some hair on their face, special consideration must be taken for the skin under the hair as well, as it can often be a problem area.
Sun exposure: On average, men tend to spend more time outdoors than women, increasing their exposure to UV rays. This means that men's skincare routines often involve products with higher SPF protection to prevent sun damage.
Of course, you can also be exposed to the sun indoors and in your vehicle through windows, so even an office worker is exposed to the sun’s rays if they have a window with a view.
Skin texture: Men's skin is typically thicker and more rugged than women's skin, which means that products formulated for men often have more active ingredients to penetrate the skin's surface and provide deeper hydration.
So, for some products like exfoliants (physical and chemical), SPF, and cleansers, you can probably use any that strike your fancy regardless of what demographic they are targeted at. But, you might want to consider a deep moisturiser that can go deeper into the skin.
Skincare For Men
The typical skincare routine, for anyone, consists of a few simple steps:
Cleanse with a gentle cleanser (not soap!)
Once or twice per week: exfoliate*
Nourish with any extra serums or oils you need for your skin
Moisturise with a non-comedogenic (non-pore-clogging) and nourishing cream
*If you shave, you may choose to gently exfoliate more often to help prevent ingrown hairs.
If you have a beard and/or moustache, it’s important to consider how to maintain it and the skin growing it. Gently cleanse and exfoliate with a fingertip massage at the root of the hair, rather than a fast, aggressive scrubbing motion. Be sure to rinse well! Leaving cleanser and scrub residue can lead to dry skin, or the appearance of dry skin as the product dries up and flakes off later.
Then, ensure that your beard and skin dry thoroughly. When skin stays wet for too long, it breaks down (called ‘maceration’) allowing viruses, bacteria, and fungus (like yeast) to penetrate and cause an infection.
Finally, be sure to moisturise your beard and the skin beneath. Just make sure not to use too much moisturiser, or you’ll end up with product build-up and potential maceration just the same.
Face Vs Body
Both the skin of the face and of the body can and should be cared for, but they have different requirements.
The body’s skin is much thicker and heartier than facial skin, so it can handle exfoliation that is a little bit more aggressive (but make sure not to scrub too hard!), gentle soap rather than a cleanser, and less routine moisturisation than the face.
How To Mitigate Skin Damage
Throughout our lives, we will undoubtedly come into contact with things that can cause some skin damage. It’s part of interacting with the world, and it’s part of ageing. But there are things we can do to help prevent some damage, and perhaps even reverse some damage as well.
The biggest factors that cause skin damage are:
Air pollution (emissions from vehicles and factories, dust, dirt, smoke)
UV rays
Water quality (chemicals in the water and temperature)
Blue light (from screens, fluorescent lights, and LED lights)
Allergens (things you are allergic to like pollen and ingredients in soaps and skin products)
You can take some preventive measures to ensure that you sustain the least damage possible.
Always wear SPF 30 or above on any part of the body that sees sun (even indoors) and reapply throughout the day
Reduce screen time when possible
Cover up physically with UPF-rated clothing
Find out what allergens you have and avoid them (some allergic reactions aren’t severe and it can be easy to miss them)
Clean off dirt, dust, and sweat as soon as possible throughout the day and before sleeping every night
There are also a lot of ways you can care for your skin on an internal level. Ensuring to always stay hydrated and well-nourished with a proper diet, managing stress well, not smoking or excessively drinking, sleeping enough, and avoiding foods you are allergic to are all imperative for skin health.
Following your skincare routine will ensure your skin gets the best support by removing all the day’s sweat and grime during cleansing and allowing recovery at night with a protective moisturiser!
What Ingredients Should I Look For?
The most nourishing and helpful ingredients, in general, in skincare products are:
Vitamin B3 (Niacinimide)
Hyaluronic acid (found in aloe vera)
Salicylic acid (found in willow bark extract)
Vitamin E (found in many nut and seed oils)
Glycolic acid (found in sugar)
Vitamin C (in citrus and pumpkin extract)
Witch hazel
Green tea extract
Shea butter
Coffee grounds
These ingredients are nourishing, help encourage cell turnover and growth, and provide moisture for a strong skin barrier.
Skincare can be a daunting subject, but with time, you’ll perfect your skin care routine and give yourself the gift of good skin for a lifetime!
