THE EMPIRE
Hey Team,
So I know this won’t be for everyone, but I can assure you, Those that take the time and put in the small amount of effort will reap the rewards
There is nothing wrong with taking care of yourself, a bloke that takes care of himself will get noticed!
So, Let’s be fair. Most guys won’t bother with a basic skin care/ Face care routine cause it’s in the ” too hard” / ” not worth it basket” and not to mention those that are open about it will often get labeled things like un-manly or metro sexual. Well guess what, I’ve been putting in the effort lately and not only has it been effective but it’s also yielded comments and compliments from others that have noticed a difference. Gota be a good thing if the ladies are going to take note right? I think you’l find most girls will appreciate a guy taking a bit of care of themselves. Confidence also comes from feeling like you’re the best you, you can be and confidence in itself is a huge asset to have as part of your day.
Right so where to start?
Well the first thing you’re going to want to do is assess your skin, is it dry? is it overly oily? patchy? acne? blackheads? acne scaring? All of these things are quite manageable and some of which you’l be surprised how easy it is to fix.
We can focus more on problem solving another time, lets just go over some basics to get you started.
First step is to cleanse your skin
Cleansing basically means you’re prepping your skin to be cleaned, so first thing, either hot wash or a hot face cloth or best a hot shower will open up your pores and allow trapped dirt and other nasty shit to get out. It’s that nasty stuff that’s giving you problems like pimples, blackheads and other irritations. Next you’re going to want to find a mens face wash that suits you, We don’t need to worry about cleaning off make up for the most part so mens face care is a little different to womens in that respect. It’s worth spending a couple extra bucks on the quality brands I use Nivea for my face wash and it smells good and seems to do a good job. I am however always open to people sending others things to try, which we’l get into later. Once you’ve given a good lather and wash for a good say 30 seconds or so wash it off with cool water and pat dry with a clean towel. Cool water will close the pores up again now they are clean and pat drying is better than rubbing as its less likely to induce wrinkles.
Basically how it works depending on the ingredients there will be an active agent, charcoal for instance, that is going to cleanse the pores of dirt at a granular level, another to help break down those dirt particles and another to help wash it all away, sometimes you’l find some that will give an after care protection or soothing, something like Aloe Vera the Nivea ” protect & Care ” I use has Aloe Vera in it and seems to do a good job. Can get it from the supermarket for ~ $9.00nzd and should last you a couple months if you’re not over using it.
Nice n clean now hey
Scrubbing.
I’ve been using the Black Leopard face scrub which was sent to me by Captain Groom to try out. Hands down and with no money being transferred to me to say this, It’s the best face scrub I’ve ever used and I highly recommend it. No paid promotion just honest truth.
So think of this almost like you’re wet sanding your face, it’l take out the top layer of skin and reveal the clean new skin underneath. At the same time think of it also as a bit of a buffering. Get some hot water in the sink, wet your face, dab around some facial scrub. and rub it in. Now like cutting paint on a car you can over do it. It’s sort of a trial by error thing and you’l know it certainly shouldn’t hurt or get a rash of any sort. I’d say I work the scrub around with my fingers in all areas and doubling down on problem areas for say 30-45 seconds to a minute. Rinse it off and pat dry. Boom you’ve just given yourself a brand new face. You can also get pads from the body shop for example which I’ve used in the past but I’ve stuck with Black Leopard since I got it and ditched the scrub pad as the product itself does such a good job. Also a point to note, guys being guys, you’re probably gona get into it a bit too vigorous with this step so don’t do it before going out on a date, do it the night before it can leave you red for an hour or so as the new skin comes to terms with being on the top layer, you’ve changed the natural process and the skin needs time to adjust. You also don’t want to do this one every day. Perhaps 2-3 times a week at most as you’l start getting down to 2nd and 3rd layers of skin and do more harm than good.
The basic make up and effectiveness is achieved by essential oils mixed with Glycolic Acid ( exfoliates and purifies skin). Don’t let the word ” acid” throw you, healthy skin sits around 4.2 to 4.6 on the pH scale, and Black rice, giving it a unique and very nice smell, that’s the oily part, the grit that does the work of ” sanding / polishing” is black rice, which is a natural exfoliator. Some products contain microbeads which here in NZ either were just or are about to be banned due to their effect on the environment.
You can order this online via Captain Groom that sent it to us to try for $17 and it should last a easily two months – by comparison a NIVEA daily face scrub will be around $9 from the supermarket but using daily wont last as long. I found the Black Leopard highly effective and the best I’ve used to date so I’ll happily spend the extra couple bucks for that one.
Again its a balance thing that you will figure out as you do it and you’l suss out what’s working best for you.
Moisturizing.
Now this one is kind of a balancer that a little can be good but some will need it more often than others and some will need extras.
A little bit of moisturizer either before heading out or heading to bed will just as the name implies, add some moisture that is taken from the sun and other free radicals stripping your skin of its moisture. So if you’re in the sun more you might want to do this morning and night, Again experiment and see what works best for you.
All you need to do is find a product you like maybe pinch one from the Mrs if shes not looking and try it out. dab a little on the middle of your forehead and your cheeks and just work it in. you only need say a half a pea size worth, most good moisturizers will get 3 of those size dabs to a whole face. Of course you might be a hat wearer? if so you might wanna add a little more care to your forehead especially if you sweat in your hat as some sweats can be a bit acidic and harm your skin
I was using a product from a company Leonardo Skincare which I did a video on a while back but I don’t know if they are still around, haven’t seen it in shops. It’s a shame as that was the best one I’d found so far. So currently I’m on the Nivea for that too, only because its the one that jumps out at me when I’m at the super market so I grab it. The one I use is Nivea Men Sensitive Moisturizer – it’s got SPF15 built in costs about $11 bucks and should last again a couple months depending on how much you use it. An alternative could be something very rich in vitamin E
I’ve got a Vitamin E moisture cream I got from the body shop as it was supposed to encourage collagen growth which will help combat acne scaring. It’s not seemed to do all that much to be honest and it was about $12 bucks. I wouldn’t bother getting that again but,
If we add up all that time including prep and brushing your teeth you’ve spent less than 5 minutes extra in your wake up and out the door prep or pre bed rituals and in no time you’re going to notice a difference.
If you’re worried about wrinkles or crows feet you can always go into a pharmacy and ask or perhaps if you’re a bit shy Captain Groom that sent us the Black Leopard stuff for example will be more than happy to answer some questions. It’s totally ok to ask any retailer what is going to work best for you. The big take away from this is two fold, Firstly. Everyone is different and something that might work for me might not work for everyone, I’ll try cover as much as I can, given I’ve got acne scaring and sensitive skin that’s a couple major issues that people deal with that I can try stuff on and get real results to share with you guys and then you can decide if you want to try it. Secondly, perhaps most important. Give it a go, you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain, feeling good in your own skin as I said will give you confidence and you’l feel better about yourself, and if you make dramatic improvements hey that can’t hurt either right?
The sooner you start the less aging will effect you later on too, think of it like preventative maintaince just like servicing your car. we’l get into this in more detail next time round. There are a number of factors that will effect your skin, from the sun to smoking to poor diet or sleep. perhaps that’s where we should kick off next time
IF you guys have any questions or things you wana know more about by all means either comment, direct message, email its all there! I know it can be one of those thing its not cool to talk about or whatever but hey. you’re worth it!
Peace
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