Look your best for Father’s Day
Men’s grooming: Through the Ages
As individuals we age like a fine wine… Like always shaving in the direction of hair growth, or using a face wash daily for optimum skin health. Unfortunately there aren’t many one-size-fits-all answers when it comes to men’s skincare, and if you want to ensure your skin remains in great condition then you need to get specific.
Along with tailoring your grooming routine to your specific skin type, one of the biggest factors in achieving great looking skin is changing your routine and products based on your age. Our skin alters dramatically between 20 and 40 – both internally and externally – and the way we take care of it and the products we use need to adapt.
To help give you some guidance on evolving your skincare routine as you get older, here are some handy tips broken down into three different age brackets…
Teens & Early Twenties
Developing a sound grooming routine can become merely an afterthought while you’re picking up your exam results, travelling, partying, graduating, moving away from home and shaping your career. But it’s in your teens and early twenties that you can lay the foundations of great skincare, and ensure your work is a lot easier by the time you hit 40.
The biggest contributor to wrinkles and other key signs of ageing is sun damage. Protect your skin against UV rays and you’ll be thanking your younger self throughout your forties and fifties.
Adapting Your Lifestyle
You can use the best products in the world but if your lifestyle doesn’t match you’re never going to have success. If you want the best results you needs lots of sleep, you need to drink lots of water, have a healthy balanced diet with lots of fruit and veg – and you certainly shouldn’t smoke.
If you’re looking to boost your fight against ageing, then consider a daily vitamin and mineral supplement, which are packed with everything you need to maintain healthy skin and a balanced lifestyle.
Forty Plus
As you’ll have gathered by now, how much attention your skin needs post-40 depends on how well you’ve cared for your skin up until that point. If you’ve smoked, eaten badly and used no quality products or sun protection then you could have your work cut out!
But no matter how much you’ve prepared, fighting back against the signs of ageing requires a good routine, a few helpful hints and, more importantly, the right products…
Products That ‘Repair’
Once you get to 40 the signs of ageing seem to appear out of nowhere.
When the wrinkles and lines do appear, a normal moisturiser will keep your skin hydrated but you’re not going to see dramatic results.
Time to go Clean Shaven?
Less of a wrinkle reducer, more a trick of the eye – going clean shaven can really help guys in their forties appear more youthful.
Removing (potentially) greying stubble and leaving behind a smooth complexion can take years off. Plus, the razor gliding over your skin also acts as an exfoliant – revealing new, fresh looking skin post shave.
If you’re over forty and looking to go clean shaven, then it’s about time you treated yourself to some shaving tools worthy of a true gent.
Final Word
We all grow old; the key is to do so with the dignity and grace becoming of a mature gent. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t fight the signs of ageing all the way. Laying the foundations of a high quality, consistent grooming routine in your formative years will set you in good stead for preserving your youthful appearance as the years go by – adapting and evolving as your skin needs change.
Make sure you let us know how you have modified your own skin care regime as you have gotten older and what you have found to be the best products or natural boosts to help combat the signs of ageing.
If you would like to learn more on how to better your appearance, The Sharon Leavy College of Hair & Beauty now hold appointments for men’s cuts & shaves in the barbering Department every Monday, all 05786 62600 or email info@collegeofhairandbeauty.ie for more information.