If you’re a Speedy Gonzales in the bathroom, you won’t look or feel your best. Instead, choose a gentle pace with your personal grooming, and you’ll soon start to see the benefits. Alex Gazzola explains.
You leap up out of bed, you take a quick shower, you have a quick shave, you get dressed quickly, and you rush out to work… sounds okay, right? Wrong, gentlemen - it’s all too quick, quick, quick. Taking the time with your personal grooming in the morning can make the world of difference to your psychological wellbeing, the health of your skin and how good you look too! It may mean you’ll need to get up half hour earlier than normal - but boy, will it be worth it.
Power shower
Before you step into the shower, consider indulging in a brisk skin brush. Using a bodybrush or loofah, brush your skin using long-firm strokes in the direction of your heart. This stimulates blood circulation, aids lymphatic system functioning and drainage, and maintains healthy skin.
When you get under the spray, make sure you take time to enjoy that shower. This invigorates you and cleanses your skin fully of the toxins flushed out through its pores overnight. “But avoid alkaline soaps, which act in opposition to your skin’s natural acidity,” says dermatologist Sally Penford. “Use an acid-based shower gel instead.”
For the face, Sally says it is important to exfoliate, and although shaving exfoliates, this is not enough to remove congestion and clogging in pores. “Men often strip the skin of too much lubrication with harsh soaps and alkaline shave foams, and then tend not to replace it, resulting in dry, irritated, sensitive and flaky skin, often gooseflesh and razor burns are also noticed,” she says. “Try a foaming gel wash for combination skin, or an anti-bacterial cleanser or clay cleanser for oily skin.”
Face scrubs can be good, but choose gentler ones, perhaps based on oats or other grains, rather than abrasive ones which use ingredients such as apricot shells, as these can damage the skin. Again, avoid soaps on the face, as these strip oils from the skin, dehydrating it.
Long-term tip: Keep out of the sun during peak mid-day hours. Approximately 90% of ageing related deterioration of the skin is caused by sun exposure.
The perfect shave
Male grooming expert Carmelo Gaustella says preparation is vital. “Wait 20 minutes after waking before shaving as this allows facial muscles to tighten and lift the hair,” he advises. “Shave before breakfast, as once the digestive system is activated, blood flow increases, sensitising the skin.”
First wet the skin with warm water, then follow with a shaving oil, which protects the skin, providing it with a comfort barrier of moisture between blade and skin. Further, the mixture of moisture and oil helps to soften the hair, easing the shaving process as the blade meets less resistance and the skin will be protected from the blade. On top of that, use a bristle brush to apply shaving foam, to smooth, soften and lift the hair before shaving.
“When shaving, it is important to stretch the skin and follow the hair’s direction with your blade,” says Carmelo. “Always rinse your blade under hot water before shaving, and between each stroke.” Take your time - it is poor shaving preparation and technique which leads to irritation, nicks and missed hairs. If you find yourself rushing, stop and make the decision to be slow, and to enjoy what you’re doing.
Sally Penford adds “To soothe any post-shave irritation, always spritz with a refreshing toner, which is hydrating and anti-inflammatory, to calm redness. Further, now that you’ve abraded the skin, it is vulnerable to environmental pollution and attack, so follow up with a good, lightweight moisturiser with added SPF30 to ensure maximum protection from UV and therefore the ravages of premature ageing”.
Long-term tip: Every once in a while, go treat yourself to a professional cut-throat shave. This will act as a good reminder as to how you should be shaving every day.
Hair apparent
And what of your crowning glory? Wash and condition it every day. Trichologist Philip Kingsley says “Your hair looks better when washed, and when you shampoo the hair you exercise the scalp, which itself helps maintain healthy hair by keeping a healthy blood flow to the follicles.”
“Avoid the use of anti-dandruff shampoos, which can turn your hair into wire wool,” says grooming expert David Waters, author of The Style Files. “Only use them when you have a scaly break-out and switch back to a regular shampoo once the flakiness is alleviated. Regardless of dandruff, alternate two or three different brands every few months to avoid the build-up on your hair caused by constantly using the same product.”
Waters advises choosing a conditioner that smoothes and thickens your hair while increasing its shine and bounce. Take care with drying your hair. Towel it dry, then leave it to dry naturally, or blow dry on a medium heat with weak air-flow setting, to avoid overdrying it. A little residual dampness is protective.
Long-term tip: Clarifying shampoo, that is shampoo which gets rid of other hair product residues which can linger on hair long-term, can be used once a month.
Paws for thought
You don’t need to do it every day, of course, but looking after your hands and feet is an important occasional aspect of your grooming repertoire. Save it for the weekend, when you have more time.
Manual care is easy at home. According to David Waters, there are four key stages:
- Trim your nails with clippers, leaving a thin strip of nail beyond the pink nail-bed.
- Working in one direction, use an emery board to smooth the edges.
- Soak hands in warm soapy water for five minutes, then push back cuticles with a cuticle stick.
- Massage in some hand cream.
Incarcerated in your shoes all day, your feet need some attention now and then too.
Waters recommends:
- Following a bath or shower, scrub soles and heels with a pumice to remove dead, tough skin.
- Trim your nails with clippers, following a similar method to the one used on your fingernails.
- Massage in some foot cream.
Eat to be handsome
It’s all very well moisturising from the outside, but your skin also needs moisturising from the inside. Number one rule: drink lots of water - a tip you hear repeated from all the good-looking catwalk models with flawless skin.
As for food, a varied diet filled with fresh fruit and vegetables with a selection of wholegrains and oily fish is the way to go. Oily fish contain essential fatty acids called omega 3s, a lack of which can lead to dry skin and weak and flaking nails.
One portion of salmon once or twice a week is a terrific way to get what you need. Omega 3s are also found in flaxseeds, linseed, walnuts and spinach.
Eating a ‘rainbow’ of fresh food is important in order to obtain a healthy mix of antioxidants, which limit the damage in the body caused by free-radicals, which attack DNA and cause premature ageing (as well as other health problems). Yellows, oranges, reds and greens are all vital, but the nutritional buzz at the moment surrounds purple or black foods, said to be richest of all in antioxidants, especially a class called anthocyanins, reputed to fight ageing. The fuss has even spawned a new ‘proverb’ - “a plum a day keeps a facelift away”. Include blueberries, beetroot, red grapes, plums, black rice and blackcurrants in your diet to give your skin a nutritional boost.
As for eating for healthy hair, male pattern baldness is genetically acquired and triggered by the influence of testosterone in the body - sadly, changing your diet can’t stop it and there is no nutritional magic bullet which can reverse the loss. Stress and unrelated illnesses may also be factors in hair loss.
Nutritionally speaking, as hair is about four-fifths protein, some recommend topping up protein levels in the diet, but this is unlikely to help. “The interesting thing about hair cells,” says trichologist Glenn Lyons, “is that they are one of the fastest-growing cells in the body, so this growth’s demand for energy is very high indeed. The best foods for energy are good complex carbohydrates such as wholemeal bread, brown rice, pasta and jacket potatoes.”
He adds “If you are looking to hang on to you hair, you can maximise its health by keeping energy levels topped up and not leaving long gaps between meals which allow levels to drop. As far as the body is concerned, hair is a low priority - so when resources are low, those resources will be diverted elsewhere, away from the hair follicles. A wholegrain breakfast is the most important energy kick, and is the best way to fuel up before the day starts.”
Other researchers suspect high-fat diets can contribute to hair loss - especially diets with high hydrogenated fats, found in processed meat convenience products such as pies, pastries and sausage rolls, and some margarines and spreadable fats. A diet high in essential fatty acids found in fish, nuts and seeds may have the reverse effect.
Studies from the US have suggested soya may reduce hair loss in men, due to a compound called equol, a digestive by-product of soya, which may limit the damaging action of testosterone by-products on the hair follicles.
With the scaling conditions, Glenn Lyons recommends addressing dairy intake. “It’s generalising a little, as there may be other factors involved, but it’s better to minimise dairy foods to reduce dandruff and eczema of the scalp,” he explains. “This is an idea which the medical establishment is gradually becoming sympathetic towards, and cheese appears to be the worst culprit of all, as it’s one of the hardest foods to digest.” Again, omega 3s help prevent dandruff - another reason to get your oily fish.
And if and when the inevitable happens and you can’t hide the loss any longer - be a man and go for a close shave. Women will love
you for it…
The ‘handsome’ haters
These three will only make you look ugly. Avoid them as much as possible.
1. Caffeine.
One or two cups of coffee or tea a day is absolutely fine - the dehydrating effects are very minimal. But when you are dehydrated, choose water over an espresso, every time. Caffeine offers little to you, other than act as a pick-me-up and mental invigorator - so don’t overdo it.
2. Alcohol.
Dehydrates skin badly and messes with your sleep patterns, making you look tired and ragged the day after.
3. Smoking.
Introduces poisons into the body which eventually reflect in the skin. Extremely ageing, especially around the eyes and mouth.