Men who moisturise
I know that the people who read this blog are almost exclusively female, so it is a bit quixotic to write a post aimed at men, but nonetheless here goes. If you could forward it on to a bloke you know I would be grateful.
In the Observer today there is an article talking about the efforts of cosmetic companies to market products to men
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/health/story/0,,2276511,00.html
I wish them well in this but I have to say, I don’t think that marketing to men is as easy as all that. Women are really interested in their appearance and take a keen interest in the products offered to them and have some idea about how they work and what they are supposed to do.
Men don’t.
So here is my quick guide to y chromosome owners as to why you should be moisturising and how you can go about it. I know you girls know all this already so bear with me.
First off, you need to know that the younger you look the more attractive you are. Although this is less pronounced in men than women, it is still true. You look better when you are twenty than you do when you are forty.
The biggest signal of your age is the state of your skin. It is not just wrinkles, though they don’t help, it is also the general tone. Humans have very good eyes and there is not much that you can do to fool them – but you have to do what you can.
The biggest difference between old and young skin is its degree of moisturisation. The skin is an amazing bit of engineering that manages to keep most of the 8 pints of water you contain in. Your skin gets dry when the rate of water loss goes up. What a moisturiser does is slow down the rate at which the skin is losing water.
You can do this in a number of ways. The most straight forward is to simply apply a layer of oil. Vaseline does the job quite nicely. If you are careful you could apply something like olive oil. You apply a thin layer with cotton wool. It will soak into your skin in a few minutes and for the next couple of hours you will notice that your skin feels better.
To apply a thin layer of oil to the skin it is usually easier to apply it in the form of an emulsion. An emulsion is made up of tiny oil droplets suspended in water – and both lotions and creams are simply emulsions. Find one that suits you and use it regularly and you will find that it will improve your skin tone and will even to some extent reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Once you have worked out your routine you can do it more quickly than cleaning your teeth. It doesn’t require an elaborate ritual. It won’t affect your enjoyment of football or your ability to parallel park. You won’t develop an interest in interior design or musicals. You will just look a bit younger.
Creams Cosmetic…
I think it really depends….
[...] More on Men who Moisturise here. [...]
I would like to know which ingredient in a moisturizer is the best for a dry, sensitive skin type? I have read your interesting article about lanolin and coconut oil, and concocted a bit, but it feels as if my skin feels even drier with oil on top of it, plus it also seems as if oily things enlarges the pores around the nose area. What I would like is to add moisture first, then apply the oily substance on top to keep it in as you know oil and water don’t mix so the oil will prevent the moisture from escaping. But what exactly would that moisture element be? I’m desperate.
Thank you.
Thanks for the comment Lorinth. One ingredient that nearly all moisturisers contain is glycerol. I think that it doesn’t do very much for most people, but it doesn’t do any harm and for some people it is really handy. If you try Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream, Fragrance-Free, it is particularly high in glycerol. It is an odd one, because some people get no benefit from it whatever but others swear it is the best moisturiser around.
I think what is going on is that the skin normally contains a fair bit of glycerol and similar molecules that work to hold the moisture in the skin. If you have enough already adding more doesn’t really help. But if your skin is a bit short you can get a real improvement from adding more.
Let me know how you get on.
Thank you so much for the advice Colin. I will report back soon.
[...] of the people who are likely to be using the product. I don’t know how many guys over 45 are men who moisturise, but I guess the ones that do would want to use this product. The products were given out in [...]
[...] don’t get much tougher than launching a skin care range aimed at men. I have blogged about men who moisturise before. Basically, most men don’t moisturise. Everyone tells me that younger men are more [...]