Facial care for men with dry skin

Some men probably do. Dry, tight, itchy skin that is sensitive to every stimulus and almost every ingredient. Awkward and uncomfortable. In addition, it often just doesn't look healthy. Just like women, we suffer from it, only we are often more 'lost' in this area than women. We often think with our practical brain: a day cream will solve it. Nope, wrong. How you treat your skin and which products you use: that makes the difference. So of course we will tell you more about that.

How do I know if I have dry skin?

Look, let's be clear about this. Every skin is different. That's why it's useful to know for sure what kind of skin type you have. Do 1 of these tests and you will know once and for allwhat skin type you have.

Bare Face method

• Wash your face with a mild facial cleanser and then gently pat your face dry. Wait about 30 minutes and then look in the mirror at what you see.
• Has your skin started to shine around your forehead, nose and cheeks? Then chances are you have oily skin.
• Does your skin feel tight and have spots or flakes appeared? Chances are your skin is dry.
• If your skin has different characteristics such as dry and oily areas, chances are you have combination skin.
• Has your skin turned red after using the cleanser and does it feel burning? Or is your skin generally a bit red and blotchy? Then you probably have sensitive skin.
• Does your skin look fresh and healthy, and are you not bothered by anything? Congratulations! You are blessed with 'normal skin'.

Blotting Paper method

• Cleanse your face and grab a paper towel or tissue. Press it firmly on your face half an hour after cleansing and wait a while before removing it from your face.
• Has the cloth become very greasy? Then there is a good chance that you have oily skin.
• Is there no oiliness to be seen? Then you can label your skin type as dry.
• If you have normal or combination skin, you will see a small amount of oil on the wipe.
  

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 this often passes by itself.

Dehydration can be caused because the moisture balance in your body is not optimal. This happens if you drink too little, eat too many salty bami slices (or just eat unhealthy food in general) or because of a serious hangover. Too much sun, a cold 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 loses more moisture anyway and you are therefore more likely to have dehydrated skin. So it's not always 'your own fault'. After that hangover.

Dry skin, on the other hand, is hereditary and arises because the skin naturally produces too little sebum (natural skin fat). Typical dry skin has small pores, is prone to wrinkles and flakiness, but not acne or blackheads and has never been prone to them, even in youth. That is another plus!

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 low in moisture. But, there is also good news! There are ways to treat dry skin as a man.

The disadvantages of dry skin

If you suffer from dry skin, you also know that there are often some unpleasant features around the corner. We're going to sum it up for you. Dry skin often suffers from the following:

• Unpleasant tightness of the skin
• A chapped feeling of the skin
• More likely to get irritated
• More commonly known with red spots
• Sometimes the skin tends to flake
• Extra sensitive to irritation in the area of ​​facial hair
• More susceptible to premature aging
• More vulnerable to weather conditions
• More vulnerable to dirt or moisture

In exceptional cases, germs can enter your body more easily. After all, skin that is too dry 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 some good tips!

Tips for men with dry skin

1. 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 facial skin. The pH value of soap is high (that means that soap is basic, the opposite of acidic) while your skin is a bit acidic: Ph skin neutral. Water is pH neutral and therefore more basic than your skin. Contact with lukewarm or lukewarm water can do no harm, but should not last too long. Because then water can dry out your skin.
2. Be careful with cheap cleansing lotions and after shave, especially if they contain alcohol! Alcohol dries out your skin and can also irritate it considerably.
3. Use good sun protection. This ensures that the harmful rays of the sun cannot dry out your skin further.
4. Don't use a die-hard facial cleanser. Go for the mild. A heavy facial cleansing will ensure that your sebum is stripped even more from your skin. While you don't have much of that already.. prevent that!
5. Make sure you find the right care routine for your skin. We will discuss this further below and explain it step by step.

How do you care for dry skin?

1. Cleanse with a mild cleanser

Facial care for men always starts with cleansing the skin. Cleaning is also important for dry skin. Choosing a facial cleanser is an important choice. Many cleansers have the property of stripping the skin too much of its own skin oils. So go for a cleaner without sulphates, silicones, parabens and lots of perfume.

Tip: Dry skin is all about caution. Therefore always clean your face in the following way:

1. Clean with lukewarm water.
2. Gently massage the face with the cleanser.
3. Rinse with lukewarm water.
4. Gently pat the face dry, try not to rub.

2. Use a serum

After cleansing, it is important to moisturize the face. You want to provide the face with sufficient moisture. A serum is extremely suitable for this. Specifically one that contains hyaluronic acid. A serum with hyaluronic acid absorbs moisture into the skin and retains it. This restores the moisture content, which is very low in dry skin due to evaporation. Sounds crazy, 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 flexible. Each of these molecules can retain 1000 times its own weight in water within the skin cells. It is therefore a powerful building block to keep our body fluid and flexible. A great ingredient!

3. Use a day cream for men

Dry skin has an insufficiently strong skin barrier, which means that moisture is lost. This skin barrier is normally formed by skin fats in the top layer of skin. These protect the skin from the outside and ensure that moisture is not lost. To provide this to the man's dry face, you want to use a face cream that contains a lot of oils and butters. These will lay a good layer over the skin, to protect the skin and to ensure that moisture is not lost.

4. Exfoliate dry skin

Exfoliating is actually a mild way of exfoliating. Something that many men with dry skin in the face want to avoid. Yet it is necessary! Dry skin 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 the active ingredients much better. All products you use can therefore do their job much better. Cell renewal is also stimulated, so that you quickly get a new fresh skin. Really a must!

The best products for men with dry skin

Then we come to the part that many men find difficult. We get a lot of questions about this. How do you choose the best product with all that choice these days? 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 skin care 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 range of facial care for dry skin with everything you need! Facial cleansers, toners, serums, day creams, scrubs and exfoliators and much more. If 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