Gone are the days when skin care was only for women. Nowadays, much more attention has been pointed to skin care for men. That’s great — the skin is a vital organ (the largest of them all, in fact), and keeping it healthy goes a long, long way.
Odds are that most men reading this don’t really know much about skin care. Fret not — we’re here to show you the ropes of male skin care.
1. Lather It Up
One of the most basic tips for male skin care is to wash your face with water on a daily basis. Doing that will get rid of dead skin cells that normally call your face home. Rinsing this stuff off will let your otherwise clogged pores breathe.
For a more profound cleansing effect, you can use a facial cleanser or foaming wash with glycolic acid (preferably in the morning and at night). You can also try out facial scrubs once or twice per week, but doing it more often than that can cause irritation.
2. Use the Right Moisturizer
Right after you clean the dead skin cells off your face, you can move on to moisturizing. For maximum effect, apply the moisturizer while your skin is still a little bit damp. That’ll seal in a little extra moisture to nourish your skin.
If you have acne-prone skin, it would be a smart idea to use water-based moisturizers. These will be much milder on your skin, so you shouldn’t develop any irritation because of them. But if acne isn’t a problem for you, then feel free to opt for an oil-based moisturizer.
3. Drink Your Water, Boy
It’s depressing how few people drink water regularly, let alone enough of it to stay well-hydrated. Water is basically the glue that keeps your body together: if you don’t have enough of it, you’ll feel miserable.
And wouldn’t you know it, dehydration can lead to skin problems too.
So the solution here is simple enough — drink gallons of water every day to avoid dry skin. Well, actually, just drink one gallon a day (that’s 3.7 liters for you decimal system lovers), which is the recommended amount for men.
4. Watch Out for Those Wrinkles
Wrinkles can be a real hassle to remove once they appear. So the best fix is to stave off their arrival as much as possible. Even if you don’t show any signs of aging now, an early start can help put off wrinkles appearing on your face.
The best method for doing this is to apply a retinol anti-aging cream daily. This cream promotes cell growth and the production of collagen, which will reduce the chances of wrinkles developing.
That said, keep in mind that the new skin retinol cream generates is pretty tender. It’s best to apply this cream at night to prevent any sunburns on your now-sensitive skin.
5. Save Some Sweets for Your Partner, Don’t Eat Them All
Ah, sweets. You’d have to be mad not to love them. However, the sad truth is that they don’t love you, especially your skin. You see, sugar can exacerbate various skin conditions, such as acne or eczema.
There’s no way around it — you have to cut down on the sweet stuff. Quitting cold turkey will probably end badly, so try eating a little less than normal for a while. Once you’ve adjusted to that amount, reduce your candy intake even more. Keep this up until you’ve reached a level you’re happy with.
Alternatively, you can just share your candy with someone else if you can bear to watch them eat it.
6. Too Much Sun Speeds Up Ageing
The sun’s rays damage your skin, making it look older. More precisely, its ultraviolet rays damage the elastic fibers responsible for keeping your skin tight and flexible. As a result of this, your skin winds up all wrinkly and harsh.
To prevent sun damage, make sure not to spend as much time in sunlight with exposed skin. Noontime sun is the most harmful in this regard, so steer clear of it if possible. In case you can’t avoid it, wear sunscreen instead.
RELATED: 10 Tips for Protecting Your Skin from the Sun
7. Get Some Sleep
Sleep can do wonders to keep you healthy. Yet, similar to the water problem we’ve mentioned earlier, too few people get enough of it.
Optimal sleep will, among many other things, keep your skin looking vital. It helps you produce more collagen, making the skin plumper and less prone to sagging.
So get as much restful sleep as you possibly can. How much sleep you need depends on the individual. Eight hours is enough for most people, but many will find that they need more or less than that.
8. Fight off Free Radicals With Fruits and Veggies
In case you didn’t know, free radicals are unstable remnants of molecules that can damage cells by taking their molecules’ electrons. Unfortunately, free radicals are all over the place — they get you through pollution, smoking, radiation, stress, bad food, and a whole other bunch of places.
Luckily, there’s a way to fight them off, even without skin care products — fruits and vegetables. In the case of fruits, the more sour ones work better. That means stuff like oranges, grapefruit, blueberries, kiwi, and more.
On the other hand, green and otherwise colorful vegetables do the trick too.
9. Don’t Stress Too Much
Stress can wreak havoc on your body in so many different ways. Of course, it also affects the skin (it wouldn’t be on this list if it didn’t, would it?), usually by making already-present problems even worse.
If stress is your main issue, you might not even need a skin care routine for men: just take it easy for a while.
Try meditation, cutting down your workload, talking with someone about something in your life that’s bothering you. It might sound counterintuitive, but you’ll see results after a few weeks of being stress-free.