The New Men's Grooming

Within the past several years there has been an upsurge in interest in men’s skin care and shaving. This fairly new phenomena gained ground with the emergence of the metrosexual a few years back and since then has had a steadily growing appeal across the board for all types of men. All of a sudden, men are actually interested in their appearance and creating a skin care regimen. Men want to look good and that includes their skin. Pop culture has helped increase awareness in this area tremendously because of openness of many Hollywood male stars about their own “beauty” regimens and treatments.

The industry has noticed and taken and active interest and role in providing men with new and innovative products for their growing grooming needs. From high end products to drugstore brands, men now have plenty of choices. However, the question remains whether men are actually buying the products. The unequivocal answer is yes. The men’s sector of the overall beauty business has been enjoying steady double digit growth yearly.

Of course, lest we forget the law of supply and demand. By the number of new men’s skin care companies that have steadily cropped up over the past several years as well as already established women’s cosmetic brands adding a men’s division, there is definitely a high demand and an equally high supply.

However with huge number of new companies cropping up, how does one make the right choice? Men’s only skin care lines offer many advantages for the consumer such as an R&D department totally devoted to creating solely men’s grooming products. This means that they can afford to use high quality ingredients that have been thoroughly researched and proven to work specifically for man’s skin type. As opposed to more established women’s skin care lines that just added a men’s line with a percentage of their R&D department devoted to it and may not have the specific knowledge about men‘s skin care needs. One must understand that although a lot of the ingredients are the same for both men’s and women’s’ skin care products, the concentration of these ingredients is very different and that is where the knowledge part comes in. Do not assume that if one can create and effective product for a woman, one can do the same for a man.
Nevertheless, do not count these companies out. Their men’s products have proven to be highly effective and the same high quality as their original women’s counterparts. This has shown to be the case in the continuous increase in women’s lines getting into the men’s skin care market.

What does all this mean to the end consumer? It means plenty of choices. Men’s only lines have an advantage of creating customer loyalty because they only cater to men and that creates trust. However, the more established women’s brands already have name recognition and familiarity. A guy will see these brands on their wife’s or girlfriends vanity and then see that same brand in the store but now with a men’s line and will want to buy it because of these factors.

The bottom line is that men now have many brands and products to choose from to fit any style and budget for their skin care, shaving and grooming needs.



Michael Walsh is the owner of http://www.ShopLOLEX.com, an ecommerce website that offers men's skin care, grooming and shaving products as well as male grooming advice, tips and articles.

Please Don't Use Cheap Products On Your Face

Like the title says...please don't use cheap products on your face. The most important reason is they're loaded with alcohol! Sure it's great to drink but not to pour all over your face. Alcohol dries out your skin. So why do drugstore brands continue to use it in their products? Because most men's skin is on the oily side and this is a cheap ingredient to "supposedly" help with oily skin. However, all alcohol does is overly dry out your skin, even if it's oily. Also, please do not use any acne treatments that contain alcohol.

You get what you pay for so invest in your face. If you use inferior products, you're going to see inferior results. Use high end brands. When you do, you will see faster results and better results. Invest in men's skin care.

Men's Skin Versus Women's Skin

Yes, there is a major difference between men's and women's skin. First off, men's skin is 20% thicker, oilier and tend to have larger pores. Therefore, men need to always have effective acne treatment on hand. Also, men's skin tends to be subject to more agressive habits such as sports and mainly shaving.

On the plus side, men are less prone to wrinkles. However, it is important to note that the aging process for skin is the same for both men and women, it just shows up faster on women. The problem with this is that it seems that men tend to age almost overnight.

So what to do? Use anti-aging products and eye creams to hold off the aging-process for as long as you can. You won't always look like you're in your 20's but who wants to. A little bit of an aged look is actually atractive. Also, don't use women's products. they are made for women (get it?)

Men's Skin Care Routine

This week I'm going to go through a daily skin care routine for both morning and evening. Yes, you need to do both to get the full benefits.

MORNING:
Use facial cleanser to remove dirt and oil. 2-3 Times per week use a
scrub to deep clean. Apply eye cream. Finally, use a SPF facial moisturizer, especially if you're spending any time outdoors and that includes getting to work, going out for lunch, etc.

EVENING:
Cleanse your face to get rid of the daily dirt. Use an eye cream if you didn't use it in the morning (you only have to apply once per day). Apply your anti-aging serum to rejuvinate your skin. Finally, moisturize (regular, not SPF).

That's it, so easy yet so beneficial.

Men's Skin Type

Hello all, I know last week I promised a skin care routine but I realized before that I needed to clarify skin types. What is my skin type and why does it matter? For most men it's oily but not always. It matters because there are many different types of men's skin care products that cater to different needs and skin types and if you don't use the right one you may do your skin harm.

Normal skin: not too oily and not too dry; hardly ever gets breakouts; even skin tone
**You are lucky and can use any grooming product you like.


Oily skin: thicker and less sensitive skin; large pores; get lots of acne; dull skin tone
**This is most men, use an alcohol-free facial cleanser and an oil-free facial-moisturizer. Also, use a shave gel instead of a shaving cream because it's made especially for oily skin. Most importantly, use a high quality prescription strength acne treatment for those breakouts.

Dry skin: tight skin; small pores; never get acne; more visible fine line (especially around eye area)
**You should use very gentle products and always use a SPF facial moisturizer when going outside. Hydrate yourself and moisturize often!

Combination skin: T-zone is oily but rest of face is dry
**Use oily skin care products on t-zone and only moisturize your dry areas.

Sensitive skin: red flaky skin; bad reactions to many products; itchy, burning face
**Use alcohol-free products, SPF moisturizer, and shaving gel. Do not use soap.

Men's Shaving 101

This may seem a bit redundant since practically all men know how to shave but if that was truly the case then why do so many guys sport tissue pieces on their faces? So here's the correct way to do it. First use warm water only to soften your skin. Use a pre-shave lotion first. Then apply your shaving cream or shaving gel over the pre-shave. Shave with the grain first, keeping you skin as flat as possible to avoid nicks (no more tiolet paper!). Then, if you want to avoid the dreaded 5 o'clock shadow, re-lather and shave against the grain. Rinse off with cool water. Do not forget to use an alcohol-free after shave to moisturize your skin. That's it. Next week...men's skin care 101.

Why I Started This Blog

Hello all! There are some great blogs out there giving all kinds of grooming and skin care advice but none really tell you what to do. They just barely review a product and don't even bother telling you how to use it. So I guess it's up to me to sort this whole thing out. I'll be posting fairly regularly advice and tips on male grooming, skin care, shaving and hair. As well as thorough product reviews on products that I have actually used myself. For now, check out this male grooming and skin care site I found and have actually used and bought from.