I’m a male wedding blogger – it’s not the most manly occupation I could have picked for myself, I can admit that, but today I’m going to use my lofty polka-dotted platform in order to redress this issue of manliness and earn my self a few macho points…
Who am I trying to kid? Today I’m talking about male skincare and cosmetics!
From hydrating to cleansing and moisturising, I’m even going to touch on makeup for men (shock, horror).
Rockstars Probably Do It.
I’m 33 years old next year. I remember when I was a young lad it was ace at the start of a new year as you could say “next year I will be…” and you could add two numbers onto your age (because you hadn’t had this years birthday yet) to make yourself seem extra old. It’s not so good to do that now. In fact it’s scary.
Even though I’m 33 next year (currently 31 thank you very much) I still get spots regularly… I have been waiting for ooh about 14 years now for clear skin – but it has never arrived. My skin is better now than it ever has been, but I rarely get a day when I don’t have a few visible skin issues, be it a big ole spot, a few red blemishes or some other dermatological nightmare. I don’t think I have had a single day of 100% clear skin since I was about 15 years old. FACT.
So, you’re probably thinking I’m not the best person to offer up my knowledge of male grooming – Don’t listen to spotty Crohill’s skin advice – look at his face for god’s sake! Well, I’m not offering up miracle cures, quite the opposite if anything. What I am suggesting is a routine and a few tricks that work for me and minimise the appearance of bad skin and also keep some of the more serious outbreaks at bay. As I said my skin is better now than it has been since I can remember, so I must be doing a few things right.
First thing is – it’s ok to use products! as the title to this section suggests – Rockstars probably do, and they’re doing alright… that’s how I reassure myself anyway.
The Products.
Moisturiser.
Having listened to a some of our real brides having a chin wag on facebook I learnt that a few of their H2B’s skin would benefit from being in better general condition, particularly in these winter months.
I’ve used a few moisturisers in my time and generally I hate them, I don’t like the feeling of having a layer of slippy grease sat on top of my face – it’s bad enough when I have to use suncream on holiday – why subject yourself to this on a daily basis? Persistence has paid off though and I have found a moisturiser that seems to do the job. I use Jean Paul Gaultier Energising Face Care. It feels bearable during application and literally in 10 seconds it’s like it’s not there at all. It is quite expensive at over £25.00 a time but I have also used L’Oreal Hydra-Energetic lotion which is a fraction of the price, still pretty good and can often be found in “2 for 1″ type deals in supermarkets. If it is on “2 for 1″ I wouldn’t really bother with any of their other male focussed products – just double up on the face cream.
Also my hands get really bad in the winter months – although this last mild winter has saved me a fortune in hand cream, usually by mid November my hands are so dry that a walk to the shops can result in bleeding knuckles – that Nutragena Hand Cream stuff usually sorts ‘em out.
Cleansing.
Exfoliation is key in keeping your pores clear – the girls know this – and just look at their lovely soft skin. The trouble is – it’s really boring. I hate those scratchy exfoliation pastes and face washes you get, they take so long to rinse off. Maybe I’m lazy but if its not a quick process I’m inclined to skip it… and then ultimately my skin suffers.
What I have found to be good are the slightly abrasive cleansing wipes you can get now. A good mannish scrub with these seems to do the trick pretty well, then I use Clinique scruffing lotion (which is actual sold as a pre-shave prep) for after I’ve given my face a scub and cleared out those pores. You can get a scruffing lotion to suit your skin type which is a bonus, and also its got quite a blokey name so you can keep it on the window sill in the bathroom and not be ashamed of it.
Vinny Jones don’t use cleanser… he bloody well uses scruffing location, Alright? (said in best cockney gangster voice). Anyway, the combination of scrubby wipe thing followed by scruffing lotion makes my skin feel really clean and clear. End of.
Concealing.
There is an opinion that men should be “men”… but does that mean we have to walk around with a spot on our face? Everyone is ok with men using hair products to enhance our appearance, so what about a bit of make up? What’s the difference? The question is then – to conceal or not to conceal?
Personally I do, on occasion… Not every day but I will consider it, particularly if there is any danger of a camera being in the room. I think if you’ve got a full blown MAHOOSIVE spot on your face somewhere, just live with it – trying to conceal that bad boy is only going to lead to trouble. However, say you’ve got some inflamed skin, maybe a spot is on the way – it’s gone a bit angry but the skin hasn’t actually broken yet. It’s at this point where a little dab of concealer can reduce the red effect dramatically, and boost your confidence at the same time. Most concealers have ingredients in them to fight off the spot too, so if caught early it may never even arrive.
If you do apply concealer – check yourself in a brightly lit room, or a bathroom mirror. If you look alright close up in bright lighting you’ll be fine – no ones going to catch you wearing make up in public, which let’s face it has to be the only reason for not wearing concealer. Unless you are a particular fan the bright red angry skin look. You can get Clinique Anti Blemish Concealer from mankind for £11.50 and it will last forever! Or if you are feeling flush you can go for Jean Paul Gautier Monsieur Concealer which comes in at around £18.00.
Secret Weapon.
Probably the cheapest thing on the block… brought to us seemingly from the same marketing team that branded “Lard” back in 1973, we have sudocrem. Forget the packaging, forget that it advertises that it’s for bed sores and nappy rash… dab a bit on an area of bad skin, be it a dry patch or a spot and leave on for as long as you can. This is particularly tricky if the blob of sudocrem is in your peripheral vision, but seriously if you prevail you’ll discover that this stuff is good. You can pick it up anywhere for little more than a quid. Bargain.
Of course the ideas I present here are simply what seems to work for me, I’m not even using some of these products for their correct purpose (especially not the lard) but hopefully you might feel like going out and trying a few for yourself.
You Get What You Pay For?
A high price tag of course does not necessarily mean quality and won’t intrinsically lead to success. The key is to try a range of products and find which works best for you, from a success point of view and as a routine. There is no point having products that work if the application takes 20 minutes out of your day meaning you skip the routine half the time because you’re running late.
I have my own tale about a high price not leading to success… A few years back I paid a massive amount of money for a sk:n consultation and subsequent arsenal of lotions and potions they suggested that I needed. Although I would never say blankly “IT DOESN’T WORK” sk:n didn’t work for me. I remember I was given a hydrochloric acid face wash that was designed to burn off dead skin cells… (scary) In fact what it did do was make my hands feel all slippy and smooth after a few weeks of applying it every day in the shower – it was as if the cream was slowly removing my finger prints or something…
I did actually consider doing a bank robbery, it would have been the perfect crime with no prints left and I needed a sharp influx of cash from somewhere if I was going to be able to afford another shopping trip to sk:n… In the ended I decided to stay inside the law and instead changed my routine for a more wallet friendly (and fingerprint friendly) option.
Well, that’s about it folks – hopefully there might be some useful bits of info here, and maybe a few products for H2B to try. And just for the sake of starting a nice Friday afternoon debate – Girls, what is your opinion of a man who conceals? Are you all for it, do you see it as part of modern mans routine, you know – scrub face, brush the old toothy pegs, put clean pants on, splash a bit of aftershave about, mess up hair… conceal the spots?…
…or is that one step too far?
And of course, also please share any wonder potions that you may know of too.
Adam.
My H2B wears sudacrem every night… the first night we spent together, he came out of the bathroom covered in it… if that doesn’t prove it’s love I don’t know what would!!
He also uses Proactiv which I’ve also recently started wearing (because my face cream was running low) and I have to say, it’s FANTASTIC! I haven’t had a spot or blemish in months (which is especially good considering the amount of badness I ate and drank over Christmas!)
Great post Adam, this actually had me laughing out loud at my desk (good job I have my own office!) with your scrubby wipe things and lard!
I see nothing wrong with men taking a bit of care with their skin – you all look better when your faces are clean and moisturised, better than craggy, dry and scaly! If I preferred that look I’d have married a lizard. I introduced my hubby to the Liz Earle cleansing stuff (partially to stop him thieving mine) so he uses that when he can be bothered and usually moisturises too or his skin gets v dry and flaky. Not sure he would buy concealer for himself although when he walked into a door last year (I don’t beat him, he ACTUALLY walked into a door) and got quite a nasty scar on his forehead I did put concealer on him a little bit…just sometimes when we might have had a picture taken etc.
But hey, some guys can totally rock the guy-liner look too. If you feel more comfortable with make-up on then why not – I know I wouldn’t be happy going out of the house without a full face of slap so who am I to judge anyone else.
Just keep pretending you’re a rockstar Adam
xx
Adam – my friend who has had real problem skin over the years swears sudocrem is the only thing that helps with really bad spots.
Oh and very secret…ssshhh, he’ll kill me… but Mr C has been know to steal my concealer on occasion , and one day, I had brought a new concealer and he was looking through the make up bag and said ‘Wheres my concealer gone?’ I laughed!!
So yeah, I dont really care if a man wears concealer, (I understand, I’d hate it if I couldnt conceal my spots!)
Adam, what a brilliant post! As soon as I finished, I sent it over the boy with instructions to read it in the subject line!
He always steal my products which I’m sure are not adapted to his skin. I think a trip to the shops is in order for the weekend…..
Hmmm I’ve never thought about men’s concealer, but why the heck not?!?! If we’re allowed to cover our unhappy bits, so should the boys I say!
See you tomorrow! xx
Just what I needed, my h2b has more cosmetics than me but rarely shops or looks for anything that would actually help. I will certainly give this to him to spur him on buying something useful. Thanks!
Adam have you tried the Hemp hand cream from the Body Shop? My hands tend to fall apart in winter so I’ve tried everything under the sun and that stuff is the best by far!
Thanks for the moisturiser advice – hopefully that will stop mine being stolen by the boy x
Great post Adam- very humorous!! My husband didn’t take much persuading to buy moisturiser many years ago, he will never graduate to concealer, but always has lip balm & hand cream:)
I’m enjoying the love for sudocrem on the blog today… it’s funny sometimes how the cheapest most rubbish looking product can give the best results!
Lyla – I’m going to try proactiv then, thanks for the tip there… I would love to be completely blemish free for once
Tammy – I’ve not tried the hemp cream – ill certainly give it a go although I have got away with it this winter as it;s been so mild and I’ve started religiously wearing gloves whenever I leave the house!
Sarah – I didn’t even touch on lip balm! A bit of chap stick is essential kit though agreed.
Adam.
Sudocrem? Genius! I have a huge pot of it that doesn’t get used so much now that the little one isn’t quite so little any more and the punishment my skin has taken through the Winter wedding season makes this a timely and highly appreciated feature indeed!
I’m emailing this link to h2b, we both need to get into a good skincare regime but he doesn’t know where to start. Thanks Adam!
hubs is definitely one of those people who thinks its completely un-manly to take any sort of care of himself in anyway, i’m gradually weaning him off this but its a long road!
having said that, he’s not above stealing my concealer on the odd occasion!
i like the body shop’s body butter as a hand cream, most of them smell a bit overpowering for my tastes but the shea butter and brazil nut ones (cream and brown tubs respectively) are nice and relatively … gender neutral smelling!
mrs r x x x
@ Phill – it only seems fair that you give RMW the beautiful gift that was Dan and Rommalee’s destination wedding (amongst others of course) and in return I give you the gift of a-way-to-use-up-that-jar-or-nappy-rash-cream that’s been sitting about.
We are now EVEN.
Lovely to see a post like this from a guy! But I just wanted to say that I used to work for Sk:n and they offer some fantastic advice I also had Laser hair removal with them 6 years ago and have never ever had to shave my legs since! Facial skin care is a tricky business and mostly it’s a case of trial and error with products which unfortunately can end up costing a lot of money. Spots are a very difficult thing. I know this because I suffer from acne myself and I’ve found that really the only thing that works is antibiotics! If you’re looking for a moisturiser the only thing that will truly moisturise your skin will be a product containing hylauronic acid. But overall the best thing you can do for your skin is wear A SUNBLOCK everyday and yes that means in BRITAIN in WINTER.
I am loving this post! My fiance has had so many problems with his skin breaking out and being a bit of a man’s man doesn’t like trying too many products, although he does like a bit of sudocrem! But of course now that the wedding is 6 months away he’s worrying about the photos and is making more of an effort so I am definately going to make sure he reads this post! Thank you x
Hello Adam, good post will ask mr Angus to read tomorrow as he is after a new face cream product thing.
I feel the same on the spot situ, when do they stop? I’ve been waiting years, lucky mr Angus does not get spots.
I can also recommend Aquaeous cream, it’s a pure form of moisturiser you can buy in any pharmacy in tubes or massive pot, bit like sudocream on the packaging and texture front. Really good for excema – on some people. Great for sunburn.
Concealer – I don’t see why men shouldnt, but I know my man won’t. He let’s me pluck the brow now and then mind.
love the blog…..we run weddings out here in Marrakch, and it’s amazing how many grooms are really getting into the whole wedding ‘thang’ (the planning, detailing, etc)……..great to get a new slant on it all!
Adam – get on eBay! Jean Paul Gaultier Energizing Face Care for £15… Might invest on the boy’s behalf thanks to this post.
I think I’ll forward him the link too, as we’ve both been frustrated with suppliers/venues directing questions at me and ignoring his input. Nice to see something wedding-related aimed at the groom. We’re both paying for the bloody thing after all!
[this is the first time I've commented on RMW despite being a daily reader, so clearly a great post...]
I’ve put face powder and concealer on my dad before!
I buy H2B moisturiser and hand cream for Christmas/birthdays hoping he’ll take the hint, he usually doesn’t, he does use lipbalm though! I wish he would exfoliate once in a while, maybe I’ll have to get him in the shower under false pretenses and give him a good scrub!!
Yay Adam! I haven’t been on RMW since Thursday, so didn’t realise you’d actually done this post – brilliant!
Some great suggestions on here. Mr A does use moisturiser and suncream, but it stops there – might treat him to some of these goodies before W-day.
Abi – your comment about ‘my concealer’ cracked me up! Cheeky h2b