Skin Care

Feisar

Was out and about in Belfast with the GF and followed her into a skin care boutique type place.

While she was looking/sampling/buying/chatting/whatever I had a look at the male section.

There was facial fuel, scrubs, creams moisturizer for before bed, before breakfast, pre and post shaving etc.
Twas all a bit much for this spud picker.

Anyway I'm curious do lads have a skin care regime that they follow that seems effective.

My problem is bags under my eyes. Usually not to bad but since I'm pale they can be quite noticeable at times, any suggestions?

magneticimpulse

Feisar wrote: »

Was out and about in Belfast with the GF and followed her into a skin care boutique type place.

While she was looking/sampling/buying/chatting/whatever I had a look at the male section.

There was facial fuel, scrubs, creams moisturizer for before bed, before breakfast, pre and post shaving etc.
Twas all a bit much for this spud picker.

Anyway I'm curious do lads have a skin care regime that they follow that seems effective.

My problem is bags under my eyes. Usually not to bad but since I'm pale they can be quite noticeable at times, any suggestions?

your GF dragged you shopping?? EPIC FAIL

Feisar

Ahem I said "out and about" implying, well yea I was dragged. But ... no, no your right.

magneticimpulse

Ok so my previous comment was harsh...just I personally would never go shopping with a guy. No disrepect to guys, but I dont even go shopping with my female friends. Does my head in...definitely would never bring a guy to a Cosmetics/Skin Care Dept. I like to go in...look and buy stuff. I feel sorry for guys that have to go shopping with girls....I hate going shopping with girls let alone take a guy with me. Just I hate shopping myself, I can relate to guys not wanting to look at upteen pairs of shoes etc

I think Nivea and stuff is grand for guys. I personally hate nivea products...but you get what i mean, bit of moisturiser from Tesco...l'oreal/nivea etc.

If you did want to invest in something more expensive Origins is a good brand. However girls waste money on skincare etc. If you live a healthy enough lifestyle, dont smoke, dont binge drink, less caffeine, vitamins, drink water, eat well and exercise ye have just as much chance to look good and healthy.

I know skin is skin (whether male or female)...but stuff is hyped up on the market and over priced. You've as much chance getting a good cream from pharmacy. Us girls just like to waste our money on something....and cosmetics it is...Actually i think most girls look better with no make up to be honest. Au natural is the way.

Hyperbullet

I tend to throw on some moisturiser in the morning and evening, and always after shaving. Keeps the skin feeling fresh.

Feisar

magneticimpulse, yea solid advice on the general health end of skin care. When i really up the fruit and veg and water intake it makes a big difference.

LOL thought you were a lad first.

I don't mind going shopping with the GF, she appreciates my opinion which is always honest.

magneticimpulse

Feisar wrote: »

magneticimpulse, yea solid advice on the general health end of skin care. When i really up the fruit and veg and water intake it makes a big difference.

LOL thought you were a lad first.

I don't mind going shopping with the GF, she appreciates my opinion which is always honest.

Nope Im definitely female. Girly too.


Well if you actually enjoy going shopping i suppose. Thou I dont enjoy it...especially if I had to go to Primark/Pennys or look at Fu'uggly boots (those disgusting Ugg boots). Talk about nightmare. Lush I can manage, but I definitely would never bring a guy to any of those shops if I actually wanted to keep him as a long term boyfriend.

Boyfriends and girl clothes/cosmetics shopping dont mix

Female friends and girl clothes/cosmetics shopping dont mix as then we start fighting over the last pair of shoes in our size!!!!

Sofiztikated

I'll give you a blokes point of view.

Is it important for you to look after your skin? Yes, actually. You're in it for a while, so why wouldn't you.

What do you use at the moment? Calling yourself a spud picker, I'm going to guess a bit of water, and Lynx shower gels you get at christmas?

Bags under your eyes. A couple of things can cause these. Tiredness is one. Are you getting enough sleep? Dehydration as well, how much water do you drink? What about coffee/tea/soft drinks?

If you're serious about looking after your skin, don't just "get something from Tesco." You need to find out what type of skin you have, because just like women, men have different skin types. If you have no idea how to do this, ask someone. You need to match the products you use to your skin type. And even then, different products might not suit you.

There are products you can get to reduce bags under your eyes, I've used them on and off, and don't really find them of any good. You might have a different result.

For me, I keep it simple.

Facial scrub, I keep in the shower. Think about it. Your face is exposed every day to whatever shíte you put it through. A scrub will clean the crap of your face.
For shaving, I use a good soap/cream. I like Proraso. I use a DE razor though.
After shaving, cold water, and a toner. Yonka For Men is a nice refreshing spray type.
Then Yonka For Men NutriMoist/NutriCreme moisturiser. Smells citrusey.

That's it.

Think of it like you're working on a car panel. First you sand it down (Face Scrub). Then you prime it (Toner). Then you paint it (Moisturiser.)

magneticimpulse

Sofiztikated wrote: »

I'll give you a blokes point of view.

Is it important for you to look after your skin? Yes, actually. You're in it for a while, so why wouldn't you.

What do you use at the moment? Calling yourself a spud picker, I'm going to guess a bit of water, and Lynx shower gels you get at christmas?

Bags under your eyes. A couple of things can cause these. Tiredness is one. Are you getting enough sleep? Dehydration as well, how much water do you drink? What about coffee/tea/soft drinks?

If you're serious about looking after your skin, don't just "get something from Tesco." You need to find out what type of skin you have, because just like women, men have different skin types. If you have no idea how to do this, ask someone. You need to match the products you use to your skin type. And even then, different products might not suit you.

There are products you can get to reduce bags under your eyes, I've used them on and off, and don't really find them of any good. You might have a different result.

For me, I keep it simple.

Facial scrub, I keep in the shower. Think about it. Your face is exposed every day to whatever shíte you put it through. A scrub will clean the crap of your face.
For shaving, I use a good soap/cream. I like Proraso. I use a DE razor though.
After shaving, cold water, and a toner. Yonka For Men is a nice refreshing spray type.
Then Yonka For Men NutriMoist/NutriCreme moisturiser. Smells citrusey.

That's it.

Think of it like you're working on a car panel. First you sand it down (Face Scrub). Then you prime it (Toner). Then you paint it (Moisturiser.)

Hey there are alot of good products from Tesco/Pharmacy....

Im a chemist and therefore I work with people employed by LVMH (they own dior/guerlain/givency/benefit/make up forever)...my fellow colleagues take grapes and dry them to extract natural chemicals from them...alot of money is spent on this research. However why spend loads of money on an aqueous cream that has grape extract in it??? What about just eating the grapes??

I also used to work for a Cosmetics/Skincare company.

I do believe guys should look after their skin. However I think you have to think logically about what you are putting into your body, protecting your skin from the sun etc. As oppose to spending 100 euro on a cream with grape extract!

A key thing to avoid is alcohol (ie toner with alcohol in it)....this strips your skin of its natural oils. Rose water is a good natural toner.

The guy above said to exfoliant...however if you use something too abbrasive it can cause redness and give you broken capilaries (little veins), especially around the nose area. To reverse the effects of this damage, you need cosmetic surgery.

For exfoliant, I use 2 aspirin tablets...sometimes I use sugar and honey. Lemon juice is also good...because it contains Citric Acid .....yet if you go to make up counters they will try to sell you exfoliant with AHA = alpha hydroxy acids....what is this?? Citric Acid!!! Where does the cosmetic company get it from? Lemon juice!!! I wasnt paying attention myself one time and bought a face wash for 10 euro in a sale one time (it was 40 euro)....i look at the ingredients and the "active ingredient" was 1% citric acid...sure I could have just got that from my lab (or for other people the pharmacy for a euro).

To give the skin a boost i put a Vitamin E capsule (from tesco) on my face...you know the ones you are meant to digest?? I just open it and rub that on my face. None of this overpriced skin counter stuff.

Retinol is meant to be good for wrinkles...another thing apparently is hemorrhoid cream...apparently thats good for eye bags/wrinkles. However since I dont suffer from wrinkles/eye bags ive never tried this (maybe its because I look after my skin from within and use SPF each day).

Slices of cucumber are also meant to be good for reducing puffy eyes or tea bags (contains Caffeine...which in this case is meant to waken up your eyes and most skincare companies will try to sell you "caffeine eye cream".)

Nettle tea is also good for detox and flush out impurities.

Theres alot to be said for old wives tales/stuff your granny used to use before Estee Lauder came around. I think the most natural products the better....nothing that costs a fortune and the rest should be from the inside out!!

Feisar

Well to be honest I usually pick up whatever is on a 2 for 1 offer when it comes to shower gel/shampoo.

I have a Nivea exfoliator and moisturizer which get used every now and then.

I shave with an electric trimmer because I used to be plagued with lumpy shaving rash from ingrown hairs. Don't have that problem now.

I will find out what skin type I have. Although its primarily dry with the T zone being more oily.

Usually the splash of water is all the care my skin gets.

Although I'd be in the region of 3 liters of water a day coffee is my downfall, love the stuff.

magneticimpulse

^ You have combination skin (oily in T zone). I have combination skin and personally nivea doesnt work for me....it is too oil based...therefore contributing more oil to my T zone. I prefer to use water based (or oil free) moisturisers. In terms of Tesco/supermarket products Garnier is better. I think their products in Green packet is suitable!!! Garnier blue products = spots/oily skin Green = normal Red = anti ageing. Thou my personal choice is to avoid skincare companies with french names....usually means lots of animal testing/fragrance/mad new chemicals. I like Korres, Burt's bees (Origins thou its Estee Lauder) etc

Seriously coffee is bad for your skin, dehydrates it and makes it look puffy. So make sure to drink plenty of water.

The ingredients for most shower gels is the same - sodium laurent sulfate/aqua etc. Even the Lush stuff. In fact pretty much sodium laurent sulfate is in all fash washes too.

I think the key point I am trying to make is that most skincare products have the same base ingredients. Anything extra in the products you can prob get from increasing your veg/fruit intake.

Problem with skincare products is that they have preservatives such as Parabens/Sulphites in them....which actually counter balance your skin. As in...you think your putting one good thing on your skin, but if its laced with anti bacterial perservatives...its actually not good for your body...hence natural stuff around the house is best.

Also skincare companies make some crazy claims. Especially when it comes to the new hyped up "antioxidants" and free radical damage. Sure smoking/pollutional is not great. But free radicals are a by product of the body using oxygen. Im not clued up on it, but half of it sounds a load of crap. They are trying to sell products to prevent "free radical damage"...to counteract processes which happen in the skin anyway!!! Again im not clued up in this area...but its controversial.

Your skin is your bodies largest organ. Whatever you put on it is absorbed into your blood stream etc....so its best to just put natural stuff on it....skincare stuff prob is laced with perservatives that in years to come could be labeled a hazard/carcinogen...such as parabens/triclosan have already been labeled.

Sofiztikated

magneticimpulse wrote: »

Hey there are alot of good products from Tesco/Pharmacy....

Don't get me wrong, magneticimpulse, I wasn't knocking what Tesco carries, I just meant don't pick up the first thing you see. You need to look at what you are picking up.

Natural remedies and potions are definitely beneficial. Infact, my OH did her thesis on Natural And Homemade Beauty Products. But again, you can't just slap any old stuff on, you need to understand your skin first.

But as you said originally, there is a lot of bolox about cosmetics made up, just to sell them.

Feisar

An electric razor is fine. As long as it suits you. Shaving rash is often down to incorrect shaving technique. Hot water (not warm water) is needed.

While coffee is bad for your skin, you do drink a decent amount of water, BUT you need to balance out every cup of coffee with a glass of water, as well as some extra on top.

Morgase

I hope you don't mind another woman getting into this thread but I just wanted to give you my experience when it comes to acne and skin care. There's lots of people for whom acne is not just a teenage years phenomenon and I know it can get a person down.

I've always had pretty nasty acne which I used to control hormonally but for the past year or so that's no longer been an option, so I've had to resort to controlling it using facewashes, creams etc.

Best solution for me is using Benzoyl Peroxide (5% - you really don't need it stronger than that) once a day, gentle facewashes twice a day and moisturising twice a day. I still get the odd spot but I use Sudocrem on those (at night).

I've tried the grainy facewashes and though it feels like you're really cleaning your face of grime and dirt, after a few days the skin flares up a bit. So it's gentle foaming washes for me. Moisturisers don't have to be expensive (as magneticimpulse pointed out, their base ingredients are pretty much the same) - Olay do a nice one that has SPF in it. I know it seems weird to put moisturiser on greasy skin but honestly your skin will produce less oil if you use the moisturiser after washing.

That reminds me - if you go the Benzoyl Peroxide road you will almost certainly need a moisturiser with SPF in it. Your skin will be far more sensitive to the sun than before. I use that one in the morning, and use a non-SPF one at night.

Sorry for the essay

magneticimpulse

+1 for the Benzoyl Peroxide for acne. And the website acne.org.

Also the aspirin mask is a good exfoliant/remove dead skin cells/kill bacteria/anti inflammatory. Aspirin (salicylic acid) should not irritate the skin. Its cousin is Witch Hazel.

Maybe I have such great skin because I used retinol as a teenager to fight acne.

Thou if people do have bad acne, I do recommend going down the dermatology route. I had to take about 3 to 4 courses of Roaccutane to clear mine up.

Thou I think OP was looking more for "Anti-Wrinkle" skincare ideas.

AstonMartin

Personally i think lads who have a beauty routine and lots of potions and lotions are best avoided.

covering up anything is not the way to go.

as someone said fruit, veg, water, and exercise is all you need.

Sofiztikated

AstonMartin wrote: »

Personally i think lads who have a beauty routine and lots of potions and lotions are best avoided.

covering up anything is not the way to go.

as someone said fruit, veg, water, and exercise is all you need.

Meh, I'll stick to my nice stuff. Still get fruit, water, exercise, but I supplement it with multivitamins for what I'm lacking in.

I also like to keep my face clean, and protected, for that matter.

AstonMartin

I didnt say not to wash yourself and take a multivitamin.

magneticimpulse

Sofiztikated wrote: »

Meh, I'll stick to my nice stuff. Still get fruit, water, exercise, but I supplement it with multivitamins for what I'm lacking in.

I also like to keep my face clean, and protected, for that matter.

Again this is objective as to what is "nice stuff" for your skin and depends on the product. Like I said majority of skincare products are laced with chemical preservatives such as parabens as they are expected to have a shelf life of 1 to 2 years. Even then it might have "paraben free"....but this chemcial is most likely replaced with another preservative. Also if your putting anti-bacterial stuff on your face to keep it clean...surely the stuff that is killing the bacteria also has the potential to do damage to you over time?? Sometimes being overly "clean" is bad for humans....as with continuous use of chemicals we can be damaging ourselves.

Also, alot of skincare products have been proven not to prevent ageing...that would be impossible!!! They were also shown not to make any significant scientific difference towards skin cells. Of course SPF is good...thou avoiding direct sunlight altogether is better. The rest is just marketing and hype.

Alot of skincare trials are "surveys" carried out on a small selection of people - could be 60 people say (who most likely work for the company)....this cannot be considered "real" scientific studies to go out and buy products. Therefore it is skeptical to market a product to the world based on 60 people's "opinions".

I think the point people are making is that a resonable skincare routine and healthy lifestyle will benefit you most. There is no need to spend a fortune on fancy pancy products, especially for men. Unfortunately women are suckered into the market (including myself....when we know its mostly nonsense)

pragmatic1

Wash my face twice a day with a nivea facewash. Dont give a toss about aging just get a big oily face if I dont.

Back when I used to shave fully (rather than just trimming my facial hair now) I did have a full regime for doing so; it would first start by me scrubbing my face with hot water and some sort of exfoliating gel or cream, followed by applying some shaving oil under the shaving foam and then afterwards applying a moisturizer. I have extremely sensitive skin so these steps were needed in order to get rid of shaving rash, which people know is extremely extremely uncomfortable.

Now I just drink a lot of water, try not to eat a lot of greasy or sugary foods and wash my face every morning and night.

BopNiblets

Bah reading the posts in here skincare seems too complicated, my skin's not great, but I don't get too many spots anymore, I use shower gel with that exfoliating stuff (the red Dove one, it mentions moisture on the bottle too).
I don't shave other than trimming to stubble too often but if I do I use some anti bacterial gel to keep the little red spots away and some balm after.
Anything after that I couldn't be bothered with.

Daftendirekt

As mentioned above, I always found Sudocrem great for acne, though it's only really usable if you aren't planning on leaving the house. I also used to find tea-tree oil effective, although now I'm not sure if it actually does have any acne healing properties or if it's just quackery.

I've gone through phases of using and not using (cheap) moisturisers. Is there really any need, or will diet, exercise and hydration do the job?

Also, a shaving question: is electric shaving harsher on the skin than wet shaving?