Hello my male readers! I hope you don’t think you’ve been neglected on this blog. The truth is, whatever I discuss on this blog is applicable to both women and men.
(If you’re not male, this article will be helpful if you buy skin care for a man in your life.)
Is Skin Care For Men Different?
Yes and no.
Yes because you do have some different skin characteristics from women due to testosterone. You can read about those differences in my last article (Male Skin vs Female Skin).
No because at the end of the day, skin is skin. And the same principles about how you treat skin apply to men and women.
The primary difference is that you do not need to moisturize as much as women. In fact, many of you probably never moisturize. This is because your skin produces more oil, which lubricates your skin. When you have more facial hair, you produce more oil.
Another difference is that you may need anti-irritants to soothe your skin after shaving. Do you experience razor burn, get red or irritated easily, or develop ingrown hairs from shaving?Then anti-inflammatory and soothing ingredients are essential. These ingredients are typically included in shaving products (shaving cream/gel/oil/balm, after-shave). You should also look for these ingredients in your other skin care products.
Cooling ingredients that soothe irritated skin and energizing ingredients are also common in men’s products.
MEN’S SKIN CARE TIPS
What You Need At A Minimum If You Are A Man
I have seen a range of men’s skin care routines, from the most basic (nothing, not even a cleanser for the face) to the highly complex and involved.
Your lifestyle and preferences will dictate what you use. But here is what you need to do at a bare minimum for healthy skin:
1. Wash your face with an actual ‘Cleanser’ for the face
Not just with water. Because water won’t remove dirt and oil.
And not with body bar soap, which is too alkaline and will throw off your skin’s pH (creating potential skin issues). Not all bar soaps are bad. Bar soaps that are especially formulated for the face are fine. For example, Dermalogica’s Clean Bar is a favorite with men who use professional skin care.
Choose a facial cleanser that’s appropriate for your skin type – normal, oily, acne-prone, dry, or sensitive.
If you are prone to breakouts, look for Salicylic Acid in the cleanser. This will help control breakouts and reduce blackheads.
2. Use your preferred shaving products but be on the lookout for certain ingredients
Look for soothing ingredients and anti-inflammatory ingredients. These will reduce irritation from shaving.
The most common soothing and calming ingredients are: aloe, arnica, chamomile, cucumber, menthol, mugwort, oat, and zinc oxide. There are many more.
The most common anti-inflammatory ingredients are: aloe, arnica, chamomile, green tea, licorice, milk thistle, mugwort, and oat.
As you can see, some of them overlap.
Watch out for irritating substances. I’m always surprised when I see irritating ingredients in men’s shaving products. They’re actually making your shave worse!
3. Wear a sunscreen every day, not just when you’re in intense sunshine
If you’ve been following my blog from the beginning, then you’ll know how important sunscreen is. If you’re just joining me now, then this is all you need to remember:
SUNSCREEN is the #1 best thing you can do for your skin
It is the most effective, easiest, and cheapest way to achieve healthy skin for a lifetime
Anyone can have healthy skin simply by using sunscreen. Even someone with a very modest budget. You don’t need a fancy sunscreen. A drugstore brand will do. The important thing is to protect skin from UV and pollution. 
Sunscreen will give you 80% of the benefit with only 20% of the effort for preventing aging. This is the 80-20 rule.
In other words, if you can’t be bothered with skin care, but you still want youthful skin, then the best method is to use sunscreen. It’s that simple!
The most common fallacy is that sunscreen is only needed when you’re outside in intense sunshine. This is quite untrue. UVA rays are present on cloudy days, and UVA is largely responsible for aging the skin. UVB rays, which burn skin, are what you feel on a sunny day.
To understand sun protection, read my Sun Protection Guide or the 1 Minute Version of the guide.
If You Care About Aging, Then Here Is What You Need to Add
I know you may not want a fussy routine. But if yo
u are serious about slowing down aging, you’ll have to do a bit more than cleanse and wear sunscreen.
I recommend you add one additional product:
- an antioxidant moisturizer OR serum
Antioxidants in your skin care products are important. Every day, your skin is subjected to free radicals from a variety of sources. Antioxidants neutralize them.
Vitamin C is an essential one. You can read more about antioxidants here.
Choose a moisturizer or serum that is appropriate for your skin type and feels good on your skin. If you don’t like the way it feels, you won’t use it for long.
If you don’t know your skin type, I give some pointers here: how to determine your skin type. Or go get a professional facial. An esthetician can identify your skin type and skin issues (like congested pores, which is very common on men).
More and more men are going to spas for facials. In fact, men’s skin care products and spa services are all the rage in Asia (Korea, China, Japan, India). Beauty has become an important way to gain an edge in their extremely competitive job markets.
A facial treatment will give your skin a deep clean, clear your pores, and most of all be relaxing!
If you have bags or dark circles under your eyes, you should consider adding an eye cream to your routine, too.
To Step Up Your Routine Even More
Of course, you can go ALL OUT in skin care if you want. Why not?
Simply read everything else on this blog 🙂 Everything is applicable to you.
Want an idea of what some men’s skin care routines look like? A few men at Nordstrom’s beauty department in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, were kind enough to show me their routines.
I was very impressed with their routines! Thorough and carefully thought out. These are not basic routines, but thought you might be interested in seeing what they use.
Take a look:
Chris’ night routine
Dyron’s night routine
Travis’ night routine
Of course, you don’t need to use this many products. The important thing is to cleanse your safe correctly, wear sunscreen diligently, and treat the problem areas of your face.
Men’s Skin Care Lines
Men’s skin care lines are not all that different from lines marketed to women. In fact, that’s the key difference – marketing. Men’s skin care is packaged and marketed in a way to appeal to men – like blue, black, and white packaging colors, masculine product names, and advertising that appeals to a man.
There is nothing wrong with using skin care products that women buy. Of course, you can buy men’s only skin care if you prefer. But you will have fewer options.
More beauty brands are creating separate men’s skin care lines. Here are some of the most popular men’s lines:
MEN ONLY
- Anthony Logistics
- Badger Skincare
- Bulldog
- Jack Black
- Eufora
- Evolution Man
- Hommage
- LAB Series
- ManCave
- Task
- Taun
- The Art of Shaving
- Zyrh
BIG BRANDS WITH SEPARATE MEN’S LINES
- Kiehls
- Clinique
- Shiseido
- Tom Ford
- Marc Jacobs
- and more..
Let Me Know Your Skin Dilemmas
I’m always curious to know what you men are using. Tell me about your routine in the comments below!
How interested are you in using skin care? Are you low maintenance or high maintenance? Is there anything preventing you from using more skin care in your life?
What questions do you have?
Hi Good Day i am 37 years old
Which brand and what products do you recommend? for my skin type it istoo oily, and i would like to reduce the wrinkles around the eyes and get a rejuvenated skin
Thanks and regards
Hello Jose!
Thanks for writing. This is not a quick question to answer unfortunately, because there are so many options. My recommendations take into account a person’s skin type, skin conditions, skin history, budget, plus what other products are being used. I’m not able to answer this for you here, but I offer private consultations for these kinds of questions. You can learn more here.
Also, if you follow me on Instagram, I often share products that are good for aging, acne, or oily skin.
Hi Rita so just to summarize, What is the best skincare routine you recommend for men in steps? Thanks for your time -T
Hi Tal, for the bare minimum routine: AM: 1) Cleanse 2) Sunscreen PM: 1) Cleanse 2) Moisturize. This will keep skin nourished and protected. You can do much more too, depending how much time you want to invest.
If you have shaving issues, you can add a post-shaving soothing treatment before sunscreen.
If you have problem areas (such as blackheads or acne), you’ll want to add a treatment serum or spot treatment, or include some weekly products, such as an exfoliant.
If your goal is to prevent or treat signs of aging, a simple routine could be – AM: 1) Cleanse 2) Antioxidant Serum 3) Sunscreen PM: 1) Cleanse 2) Serum 3) Eye Treatment/Cream 4) Face Moisturizer. Incidentally, although you may not need moisture in the eye area, if you have wrinkles, you’ll want to treat that area with some type of product. You can do that with an age-fighting eye cream, or you can use your face moisturizer if: it doesn’t irritate your eyes, you want to keep things simple, or you want to save money.
There’s no difference between a male and female routine in terms of how simple or involved it can be. The difference is in your choice of products for each step, due to innate differences between male and female skin (e.g. how oily it is). Many men need less moisturization than women of comparable age. So you can use fewer products or lighter products.