Daily skin care doesn’t need to be complicated

We’ve been teaching skin care to men for over 15 years. Many that have come through our doors didn’t have much of a clue on how to care for their facial skin. They imagined needing hours per week to perform multi-step rituals involving expensive products with exotic ingredients. That’s not at all what skin care entails!

Let’s cover the basics, and discover how easy skin care can really be. If you’re ready to level up past the basics, check out the next article here.
 

Essential Step 1: Wash to clean

The foundation behind good skin is clean skin. It keeps your skin looking fresh, minimizing black heads and potential pimple breakouts. A clean skin also allows any other products that you use to work at their fullest.

Imagine a white T-shirt. You’ve worn it all day, and you need to clean it. Would you put the shirt under running water for a few moments, hang it up to dry and call it clean? Likely not. Your skin is like that white T-shirt; you need to give it a proper washing.
 
How to wash your skin:
Rinse your face with cool water. Apply a nickel-sized amount of face wash to your skin and actively wash your entire face for 60-90 seconds. Rinse your face with cool water, then dry with a towel.

The key here is to actively wash your face. Does a white T-shirt become clean by just sitting in soapy water? No, it needs to be scrubbed to get all the dirt and grime off. Same with your skin.

When you’re done washing your face, your skin should feel soft and dewy. It should not feel tight and tacky. If you make funny faces and your skin feels a bit tight, then the facial cleanser you are using is likely stripping too much of your natural oils. Don’t treat your face like a dinner plate; squeaky clean is not the goal. Choose a gel or milk cleanser that leaves your skin feeling soft and hydrated.

 

Essential Step 2: Moisturize to hydrate

Moisturize your skin every day to maintain proper hydration levels and to keep its protective barrier function healthy. Imagine a piece of leather clothing. If you don’t keep it hydrated with a conditioner, the leather will become dry, brittle and crack. It will look older and be more fragile. Your skin is the same (technically, leather IS skin… so makes sense that they are the same).

When choosing a moisturizer, look for ingredients that will add hydration, like hyaluronic acid and glycerin. Richer formulas containing oils may be needed for people who don’t produce enough natural oils to lock-in that hydration.
Check out our blog titled “Dry Skin: An Intro Guide for Men” to learn more about the causes behind dry skin. Then check out our blog titled “Choosing a Moisturizer” for a full description on how to choose a moisturizer for your skin.
 
How to apply your moisturizer:
After washing your skin, apply a large pea-sized amount of moisturizer onto the tips of your fingers. Spread your moisturizer over damp skin. It’s important that your skin be damp (not dripping wet!) so that the moisturizer spreads evenly across your entire face.
Added bonus: you will likely use less product, saving you money.

 

Essential Step 3: Wear sunscreen to protect

In our blog “Sunscreen Guide for Men“, we reported that people of all skin tones should wear sunscreen with at least SPF 30 which blocks up to 97 per cent of the sun’s harmful UVB rays. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer and everyone is at risk. Approximately a third of all new cases of cancer in Canada are skin cancers, and the numbers continue to rise. Wearing sunscreen is one of the recommended preventative measures that you can do every day.

Beyond cancer prevention, sunscreen is recommended to help prevent some of the most common concerns we hear at Bodé:
– “I want to look younger”
– “My face is darker than the rest of my body”
– “I have these brown spots on my face that I didn’t have before”.

Some moisturizers contain SPF, acting like a 2-in-1 product. These products work fine. However, we recommend choosing a moisturizer without SPF for two reasons.
Firstly, the SPF in most moisturizers is a chemical sunscreen. Studies are still in process on the effects of regular usage of chemical sunscreen. Also, chemical sunscreens can feel greasy, leaving a residue on your skin.
Secondly, Health Canada recommends reapplying SPF every few hours throughout the day. Reapplying your 2-in-1 SPF moisturizer every few hours is unnecessary (and possibly expensive). Your skin won’t be able to use the overdose of hydrating ingredients, and it may increase your chance of breaking out. “More” is not better.

Choose a moisturizer and a separate sunscreen (preferably mineral) that you like, and reapply your sunscreen as directed.
 
How to apply sunscreen:
Health Canada recommends applying one teaspoon to cover your face and neck. Apply 15 minutes before sun exposure and reapply every 2 hours. If you sweat or get wet, consider reapplying more often.

When choosing a sunscreen, look for these 4 keywords on the label:

• Broad spectrum
• Water resistant
• SPF 30 or higher
• Mineral sunscreen (preferred over chemical sunscreen)

Check out our blog “Are you using the wrong sunscreen” for a full description of these keywords and how to store your sunscreen.

 

That’s it! That’s the BODÉ basics of skin care. We recommend that you do these steps once a day.

If you prefer to do everything in the morning, then you will wash, then moisturize, then apply your sunscreen.
If you prefer to take care of yourself before bed, that’s ok. Wash, then moisturize before bed. The next morning, you can apply your sunscreen 15 minutes before you step out of your home.