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If you’re not taking care of your face it doesn’t matter how nice your clothes are
Ed. note: Here at HSS, everything we do is built around the idea that if you look good, you feel good. While clothing, accessories and etiquette play a key role in cultivating confidence and personal style, grooming is just as important. Today, we’re excited to introduce you to our new grooming expert and contributor, Jordan Martin.
When it comes to staying healthy, men love to talk about fitness and eating right. We extol the virtues of exercising regularly and we even add supplements to make sure we’re giving our bodies exactly what they need. Too often, however, men neglect taking care of a specific body part that is essential to good health: our skin.
The skin is our largest organ and performs many functions important to good health beyond just making us look good. Very simply, our skin is our first line of defense. It serves as a barrier between our bodies and the outside world. It protects us from germs, bacteria and the harmful effects of UV rays. Healthy skin also regulates body temperature and helps filter out toxins.
So why don’t men talk more about skincare?
Skincare frequently gets lumped into the “beauty” category and, as a result, becomes a topic of only feminine concern. But what about us guys? We have skin, and our skin has specific issues that need to be addressed as well. On top of that, whenever skincare for men does come into the conversation, our products are always centered on shaving, getting clean (and I mean really clean), or making us not smell like, well, men.
This line of thinking leads to many problems and certainly does not aid in the quest for healthier skin.
We get products that are mainly concerned with facial hair, that over strip our skin, and that are packed with skin-irritating fragrances. Men don’t know how to achieve healthy skin, because they don’t possess the knowledge or tools necessary to achieve it. That’s where I come in.
It’s time to go beyond the beard
I am looking to move past all the marketing BS and help inform you about the most essential and most important things when it comes to skincare. Doing this means seeing through the gender-biased marketing and into the cold, hard facts of how to achieve healthy and beautiful (or handsome, if you prefer) skin.
This doesn’t mean you need a bunch of pink and flowery products in your bathroom. Because let’s face it, if these products are going to sit in our bathrooms or on our dressers, and we are expected to use them every day, then we want them to look good. This is HSS, after all, and we always appreciate great style and design. But I am not going to rule out products which have say rose water (learn all about this and other ingredients in future posts) in them or that don’t have packaging representing a clichéd version of masculinity.
As far as I am concerned, skin is skin, and caring for skin is crucial to everyone’s health. Healthy skin not only looks good and stays looking good longer, but it also helps keep us free of diseases and infections. Sub par skincare habits can lead to acne, sores, rashes, and wrinkles. All of these issues affect our appearance and how we feel about our appearance.
Feeling confident in how we look is a critical part of achieving great personal style and our skin plays an important role that quest. So let’s get down to business and begin the conversation of how, and why, men need to care for their skin.
Chime in: What are some skincare-related topics you’d like to see covered in the future?
Thanks for reading.
Stylishly Yours,
Jordan Martin
He Spoke Style
