Colin’s Beauty Pages

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.