Being a man in the modern age is not a simple task.
Stress, not enough sleep, and unhealthy lifestyle as a whole lead to our face looking tired and prone to breakouts.
That’s why we, as men, need a solid face care routine to retain the elasticity of our face’s skin intact for at least a bit longer.
While many of us already have a developed daily routine, we often don’t spend too much time on it, or if we do, it’s often done with too much attention. While both extremes aren’t good for the skin, the gold spot lies in-between. A face care routine shouldn’t take more than five minutes a day and it shouldn’t be stressful on the skin.
Begin with your moisturizing cream
As simple as it seems, your moisturizing cream plays a fundamental role in your face care routine. Our faces rarely need anything more than a little moisture after a shave or an exfoliation.
With most of the moisturizing cosmetics on the market targeted towards women, men are often left with little choices. Most brands targeted to men are either hard to find (and are mostly located online), extremely expensive or have too many products in them that may improve your skin short term, but bring nothing good long-term.
That’s why often investing in the simplest moisturizing creams causes you achieving the best results.
So, which moisturizing cream should you buy?
Real, no-fluff moisturizers aren’t expensive to make.
Remove all the excess ingredients and it doesn’t take more than $6 to make a good moisturizing cream.
Reduce the use of your exfoliant
While exfoliants can be good for our face most of the time, we’re overusing them.
Just think how much you are using yours! Twice a week? Every other day? It’s too much.
Ideally, leave your exfoliant at the back of your face care routine. Overusing your exfoliant can lead to oily skin, breakouts and even peeling skin. Use an exfoliant for 10 years and the reverse results will come.
So, how often should you exfoliate? It depends on where you live, your lifestyle and your skin.
If you live in a hot climate, then you’ll most likely need to use an exfoliant twice a week. That goes if you’re sweating more than average, as well.
On the other side, if you’re rarely sweating you can cut on exfoliating your skin three or four times a month.
If you’re on the market of choosing a new exfoliant, we suggest you experiment. The different ingredients and size of the grain will make your skin react differently.
Embrace the five o’clock shade
While a smooth face may be more enjoyable to your girlfriend, letting a little stubble is better for your face. Every time you’re shaving your face the razors are creating microscopic cuts in your skin. In time this decreases the elasticity of your skin, irritates it and will prematurely age it.
To keep your stubble looking sharp, you can use a beard trimmer after your morning shower.
If you, however, feel that the butt-smooth face is your thing, consider investing in a quality razor. And no, we’re not talking about Gillette’s 5,000-blade razor. In fact, the fewer blades- the better.
A straight razor may be a little too much for the average man, but a single-blade safety razor will do wonders to your skin and it will improve your face care routine tenfold.
Which one should you buy?
Invest in a safety razor and you’re ready. You’re pretty much getting the best bang for your buck, just remember to change the razor once or twice a month to keep it sharp.
Increase your water intake
Good face care routine comes from the inside too. The amount of water that you’re drinking a day is directly correlated to the health of your whole skin. The good old’ two liters of water per day have been long debunked, instead, you have to adjust your water intake to your weight.
There are numerous apps on tracking your water intake, and most of them are free, so there is no excuse not to drink more water.
If you’re interested in a close estimation of how much water you should drink you should calculate it.
Skip off-the-shelf face masks
It’s super comfortable to use a ready-made mask. Apply it on your face, wait 15 to 20 minutes and rinse it off. But are they really that good?
Most of the times off-the-shelf masks give good results fast, but that’s what they are meant to do. The effect lasts a couple of hours at best! They rarely bring any long-term benefits to your skin care routine, instead, they’re nothing more than a money waste.
Instead, try some homemade face masks or vitamins for acne. Honey, aloe vera and almond oil are all great ways to nourish your skin.
