You maintain a solid man routine as far as the yard and the car go, right gentlemen? Saturday rolls around, and you are up early to make sure the grass stays maintained and the hedges don’t look scruffy. The car gets its oil changed when its time. When the car is under a layer of grime, it gets a good wash. If you happen to be local to Vancouver, then we know this time of year when the sun shines, and Friday is around the corner, that your car or bike gets VIP treatment. Think: pre soak, wash, foam brush, rinse, wax. In there you will also spend some time on the tires. The interior gets some attention. And maybe you throw in a new freshener with a new car smell.
So. Here’s a question. Why aren’t you committing this kind of routine to your own man beauty? I mean, the car is replaceable. Your skin, much harder to repair (with a lot more effort and cost) then simply taking care of it upfront and maintaining it.While we imagine you have the gist of what goes on for the ladies, thanks to mass marketing of skin care in print and televised, you may not realise that while your routine should ideally run parallel to that of the ladies, your skin and the reasons you should be committing to this weeks topic of exfoliation are very different.
For one, you actually do a lot of exfoliation already if you do any sort of shaving. Shaving itself sloughs away dead skin. If you rock a beard, which has come abundantly in style here on the west coast, then you still need to commit to the care and exfoliation of the rest of your face and neck. Sorry, you’re not off the hook…
Your skin gentlemen, has large pores, it produces a lot more sweat then the ladies on average and while you all have some degree of stubble and facial hair maintenance going on, all in all, you are amassing a much higher dirt content then the ladies. Squeeze into that formula that you probably aren’t up to snuff with your skin care routine, and its a recipe for aged skin, dull looking skin, and unless you have seriously upped your sunscreen game after last weeks post (its not too late to go back and read it) then you probably also have some sun damage to manage as well because of all of those sunny days polishing your car.
So now you get it, you need to exfoliate. But. What does that mean? What does it look like? And why would you do it?
Exfoliating at home can be very simple. There are 2 types of exfoliation, physical and chemical. Without boring you with a science lesson, physical/mechanical (think a face cloth, a loofah or a product with some grit or texture) chemical (this could be an alpha or beta hydroxy acid or an enzyme, these active ingredients loosening the dead skin cells allowing them to slough away more easily) So at home, that can be as simple as a good textured exfoliant removed gently with a face cloth. This will help to remove the dirt and grime from your skin, as well as the oldest dead skin cells on the skins surface helping to reduce clogged pores from occurring, unclogging of the pores themselves as well as reducing breakouts. If you aren’t sporting a beard, exfoliation will allow for a better shave as well making your mornings start that much smoother.
Same rules and suggestions above apply body-wide. Meaning, while your face, back and chest may be home to your densest hair, your whole body could use a scrub (there are a lot of over the counter products you can pick up to pour onto a loofah in the shower and that will suffice for your body). Just a little tip for you!
So now that we have acknowledged that your skin is important, covered the why’s and how’s of sunscreen and made a sales pitch towards exfoliation, we will close out this series next Wednesday tying it all together with general day to day maintenance and treatment, step by step style. We will recommend a few products, let you know what you may want to try in office (in case you don’t want to call and ask, but really, you aren’t the first and we don’t mind!) as well as encourage you to keep reading along with us! Beauty isn’t just for the ladies, and neither is taking care of oneself!
~DLC