While most of us have read erotic stories about the musky man scent tickling thy butt-holes and sending you into a tizzy, let’s face it, grooming per se is not only a woman’s domain, and men need grooming too.
As a student of cosmetology and dealing with clients day in and day out, I have the (dis)pleasure of encountering male species that feel it is ‘unmanly’ to moisturize, let alone do anything more than a ‘crow bath’ – a five minute or less shower each morning.
BOYS, get your act together or else even the one that craves for your manly musky body odors would be ashamed of hanging around with you.
Disclaimer: This is a post that is not meant to shame anyone, it is rather for personal hygiene and well-being. Kindly get in touch with a dermatologist if you have issues of the skin which cannot be ascertained. So hope that’s clear!
1. Cleansing
Now am not only talking about a good scrub to the skin on your body and especially down there, but your face. Fine, you want to be the lumberjack, by all means do so, but remember, as a man, your skin is oilier than what a woman would have. This means, extra care needs to be taken. In doing so, the dirt, grime and pollutants sitting on the surface of your skin would wash off. Use a deep cleansing lotion at the end of the day to wipe the skin off the dirt. If you do use a face wash, using one that is fragrance and sulphate free, alcohol free and dye free is important. This helps balance the pH levels of the skin and doesn’t allow the skin to dry out too soon.
2. Toning
With more men having oily to combination skin types, the pores on the skin would be large. This is why, after deep cleansing the skin, a toning regime should be on the cards. You can even tone the skin after you shave as well. Toners that have alcohol in them or are alcohol based are not advised to be used. What you could do is to make your own toner at home. Rose petals or mint leaves in a glass of chilled water left overnight, forms a toner. Strain the water out and dab or sprinkle a tablespoon of it on the face each morning after you wash up. This helps close the pores, which means, dirt, grime and the pollutants of the day won’t settle in.
3. Moisturize
Important as ever, you need to moisturize your skin twice a day. Just because you feel your skin is oily, it doesn’t mean you should ignore it. Summer time, using gel based moisturizers are good and they control the oil production too. But use them after you tone the skin. They would nourish your skin and keep it protected. Moisturizers that are light in formulas are easy to absorb into the skin, and they keep the skin hydrated sans the greasy look.
4. Shower twice a day
Can’t say this enough, but you need to bathe twice a day, period. Body odors can be a turn off to many, especially if this is your first time meeting someone. If you gym, work outdoors or move around too much or sweat a lot and suffer from hydrosis, chances are your body would be sweaty and smelly. When you shower twice a day, you would be exfoliating your skin and preventing bacne and breakouts from happening. Areas to focus on are the chest, especially if it is hairy and around the nipples mostly. The armpits, I don’t need to explain why. Your genitals, be gentle, cup yourself, soak them in soapy water and a gentle scrub would do. These are areas that actually sweat out more than the usual.
5. Stop bathing in cologne
How often has it been that you have gone to meet someone but their cologne met you more than their personas did? Sounds familiar? Remember, colognes work only for a certain while, after which the body odor takes over and once the appealing smell is gone, the bad odors and the chemicals from the cologne stick on. This makes it worse. Reeking of perfume too can be annoying to the nostrils of the next. Hence, test the deo or cologne you want, and use it minimally. For FUCK SAKE don’t spray cologne on your genitals!
6. Regular shampooing
For oily scalp you need to shampoo thrice a week. For dry to normal hair, twice a week is enough. However, if you notice that you are outdoors too much, chances are that your hair would collect dirt and grime, which blocks the hair follicles and leads to hairfall. So shampoo up or else forget the crowning glory!
7. Beard trimming please
Yes, most of us love to keep our beards, but at the same time it is important to have your beard trimmed and kept in place. No one wants to have beard that is unruly and unkempt, right. Sexy, long, smooth and soft beard is what everyone wants to flaunt, and some of us want to play with it too. Nourish it with beard oil, and shampoo it thrice a week. Don’t forget to give it a blow dry- check the many videos on YouTube that show how to groom a man’s beard!
Stay sexy my boys this summer, and wear your tighty shorts for our viewing pleasure too!