Some men are probably familiar with it. A dry, tight, itchy skin that is sensitive to every stimulus and almost every ingredient. Annoying and uncomfortable. Besides, it often just doesn't look healthy. Just like women, we suffer from it, only we are often a bit more 'lost' in this area than women. We often think with our practical brain: a Day Cream will solve it. Nope, wrong. How you handle your skin and which products you use for it: that makes the difference. So we're obviously going to tell you more about that.
How do I know if I have dry skin?
Look, let's be clear about it. Every skin is different. That's why it's useful to be sure what type of Skin Type you have. Do one of these tests and you'll know once and for all which Skin Type you have.
Bare Face method
- Wash your Face with a mild facial cleanser and gently pat your Face dry. Wait about 30 minutes and then look in the mirror to see what you observe.
- Has your skin started to shine around your forehead, Nose and cheeks? Then there is a good chance you have oily skin.
- Does your skin feel tight and have spots or flakes appeared? There is a good chance your skin is dry.
- If your skin has different characteristics like dry and oily zones, there is a good chance you have combination skin.
- Has your skin become Red after using the cleanser and does it feel burning? Or is your skin in the General somewhat Red and blotchy? Then you probably have sensitive skin.
- Does your skin look Fresh and healthy, and do you have no issues at all? Congratulations! You are blessed with 'normal skin'.
Blotting Paper method
- Cleanse your Face and grab a sheet of kitchen paper or a tissue. Press it firmly onto your Face half an hour after cleansing and wait a moment before removing it from your Face.
- Has the sheet become very greasy? Then there is a good chance you have oily skin.
- Is there no greasiness to be found? Then you can classify your Skin Type as dry.
- If you have normal or combination skin, you will see a small amount of greasiness on the sheet.
Do you have dry or dehydrated skin?
To make it even easier (ahem), there is also a difference between dry and dehydrated skin. The difference is that anyone can get dehydrated skin and it often goes away on its own.
Lack of moisture can be caused because the moisture balance in your Body is not optimal. This happens if you drink too little, eat too many salty snacks (or just eat unhealthy in the General) or due to a hangover. Too much sun, a harsh wind, or dry air (from central heating for example), showering too hot, or using the wrong soap can also influence this. As your skin ages, it naturally loses more moisture and you are also more likely to have dehydrated skin. So it's not always 'your own fault'. Except for the hangover, of course.
A dry skin, on the other hand, is hereditary and occurs because the skin naturally produces too little sebum (natural skin fat). A typical dry skin has small pores, is prone to wrinkles and flakiness, but not to acne or blackheads and has never been very susceptible to them, even in youth. That's a plus point!
When a skin does not have enough fat, it is difficult for the skin to retain moisture. The result is often a skin that is both dry (low in fat) and dehydrated. But, there's also good news! There are ways for men to treat dry skin.
The disadvantages of dry skin
If you suffer from dry skin, you also know that there are often some unpleasant characteristics. Let's list them for you. A dry skin often suffers from the following:
- Unpleasant tight feeling of the skin
- A chapped feeling of the skin
- More prone to irritation
- More often known for red spots
- Sometimes the skin tends to flake
- Extra sensitive to irritation in the area of facial hair
- More sensitive to premature aging
- More vulnerable to weather conditions
- More vulnerable to dirt or moisture
In exceptional cases, germs can more easily penetrate your Body. After all, an overly dry skin cannot optimally fulfill its role as a barrier between your Body and the outside world. But, we wouldn't be us if we didn't give you good tips!
Tips for men with dry skin
- When your skin suffers from dryness, avoid contact with hot water. This dries out your skin and affects your skin flora. Soap is also too aggressive for the facial skin. The pH value of soap is high (which means soap is basic, the opposite of acidic) while your skin is slightly acidic: pH-skin neutral. Water is pH-neutral and therefore more basic than your skin. Contact with lukewarm or warm water is harmless, but should not last too long. Because then water can dry out your skin.
- Be careful with cheap cleansing lotions and aftershave, especially if they contain alcohol! Alcohol dries out your skin and can also irritate it significantly.
- Use good sun protection. This ensures that the harmful radiation from the sun cannot further dry out your skin.
- Don't use hardcore Face Cleansing. Go for the mild ones. A harsh Face Cleansing will strip even more sebum from your skin. While you don't have much of it already.. prevent that!
- Make sure you find the right care routine for your skin. We'll go further into this below and explain it step by step.
How to care for dry skin?
1. Cleanse with a mild Cleanser
Face Care for men always starts with cleansing the skin. Even for dry skin, Cleansing is important. Choosing a facial cleanser is an important choice. Many cleansers have the property of stripping the skin too much of its own skin fats. So go for a cleanser without sulfates, silicones, parabens, and a lot of Fragrance.
Tip: Everything revolves around caution with dry skin. Therefore, always clean your Face in the following way:
- Cleanse with lukewarm water.
- Gently massage the Face with the cleanser.
- Rinse with lukewarm water.
- Gently pat the Face dry, try not to rub.
2. Use a Serum
After Cleansing, it is important to hydrate the Face. You want to provide the Face with sufficient moisture. A Serum is extremely suitable for this. Especially one that contains hyaluronic acid. A Serum with hyaluronic acid absorbs moisture into the skin and retains it. This restores the moisture level, which is very low in dry skin due to evaporation. Sounds very strange, doesn't it.
Hyaluronic acid is a sugar molecule that is naturally stored in our connective tissue. It binds to collagen and water. It ensures that the skin remains hydrated and the joints remain supple. These molecules can hold up to 1000 times their weight in water within the skin cells. So it's a powerful building block to keep our Body moist and flexible. A great ingredient indeed!
3. Use a Day Cream for men
A dry skin has an insufficiently strong skin barrier, causing moisture loss. This skin barrier is normally formed by skin fats in the top layer of the skin. These protect the skin from the outside and ensure that moisture is not lost. To provide the man's dry Face with this, you want to use a Face Cream that contains a lot of oils and butters. These will create a good layer over the skin, to protect the skin and ensure that moisture is not lost.
4. Exfoliate the dry skin
Exfoliating is actually a mild way of scrubbing. Something many men with dry skin want to avoid in the Face. Yet it is necessary! With dry skin, there is an accumulation of dead skin cells. Sometimes this is accompanied by flakes. When you remove these dead skin cells with an exfoliator, the skin can absorb all active ingredients much better. All the products you use can therefore work much better. Cell renewal is also stimulated, so you quickly get a new fresh skin again. Truly a must!
The best products for men with dry skin
Then we come to the part that many men find very difficult. We receive a lot of questions about this. How do you choose the best product with all the choices available today? We have come up with a solution for this. Together with our beauticians, we have put together a package of top products that best suit dry skin. A suitable skincare routine for men in one set. We call it the Skincare routine kit.
Skincare Routine Kit - Dry Skin
In addition, we naturally have an extensive Collection Face Care for dry skin with everything you need! Facial cleansers, Toners, serums, day creams, Scrubs and exfoliators and much more. Do you still have questions about products, your Skin Type or other matters? Feel free to contact us. We are happy to help you! You know where to find us.
Good luck!
Your friends, The Alpha Men