Skin is the largest organ in the human body and the most visible one at that. Due to the same reason, any damage to the skin or lack of its cleanliness contributes to your aged or unorganized looks.
Why is skin care important for men?
Compared to women, the following lifestyle and biological aspects can affect men’s skin and hence they may actually need more skincare (if not grooming) than women.
- The percentage of men working out in the sun or involving in outdoor activities, is much more than the percentage of women doing similar activities. Over exposure to sunlight is the main reason behind aged looking skin
- Unlike women, men have hair in most part of their body and hence maintaining cleanliness has to be at a larger proportion
- Men sweat much more than women and hence skin care is even more important
- Since men have to do face shaving (as against epilating or waxing in the case of women), proper care of the facial skin is a must to maintain your ‘face value’ – literally
Skin care tips for men
Now let us check three important aspects of skin care protection for men. They are protection, cleansing and exfoliation
Protecting the skin against UV radiation is the first step in skin care. This has to be taken care of on a daily basis. Please note that a few minutes of sunlight every day is in fact good for the skin and the body as it helps absorb Vitamin D. However, this has to be something like 10-15 minutes a day activity and anything more than that would mean that you have to wear a sunscreen lotion that is rated SPF 15 or above. It’s advisable that you wear hats, comfortable clothes that cover most part of your body and sun glasses while working out in the sun.
Cleansing the skin and face washing is something that never happens with most men. For them, it is all about just washing the face with hotel grade soap or for that matter something that happens during the shower alone. That’s not quite enough. It’s ideal that you wash your face every day – probably during an evening shower after work – with a proper face wash. Daily face washes ensure that your face and neck are free of any dirt deposited in the skin pores thereby making the skin young looking and healthy. Using a proper cleanser (such as Noxzema) a couple of times a week is the best way to cleanse your face.
Equally important is the unwanted hair removal process. Every health conscious man should regularly remove unwanted hair from his armpits and private areas. If you have the habit of sporting a beard, you have to also make sure that you shampoo and clean it regularly.
The third aspect of skin care is the exfoliation. Since men have to do face shaving a few times a week, it is ideal that at least once a week, you exfoliate (remove dead skin) your facial skin with good quality scrubs or peels. We shall cover exfoliation techniques in another article on this website.
For men, proper shaving technique is important to keep their face clean and young looking. Please read our shaving tips article to learn more about this important aspect.
What is not mentioned here is the need to keep your skin moisturized from inside and outside. Use proper moisturizers on your face and body round the year and make sure that you drink a lot of water (2 to 3 liters a day) to keep your skin healthy and moisturized.
