Face wash is often explained to men as an afterthought. Growing up, men are led to believe that every cleanser is the same and has the same function. While it is true that all cleansers and face washes share a similar general function, it is not true that they are made equally.
What is also not true is that every product does or does not work for everyone. Even if your brother or best friend swears by a certain product, it may not be the right fit for your skin type.
One of the most difficult skin types to navigate in the world of skin care products is dry skin. Dry skin is difficult to treat for its intense symptoms and lack of moisture and hydration, both of which are essential elements of healthy, well-protected skin.
While sometimes difficult to understand, getting to know your dry skin and what it needs in a product is completely worth it. Using the right face wash for you can be what makes the difference between a handsome complexion and a humiliating one.
Today, we will be explaining dry skin, the importance of a good cleanser, and how to find the right option for you.
Why Face Wash Is Important
Finding — and consistently using — the right face wash is of the utmost importance when it comes to taking care of your skin. Even the most basic skin care routine should include a cleanser.
On the most basic level, cleanser can be described as the product responsible for ridding your skin of all impurities gathered throughout the day and night. Though this function is simple in theory, it can do a lot to protect against and treat all sorts of skin conditions.
Acne
Acne is a skin condition exacerbated by gathering dead skin cells, excess oil, and dirt on the skin. Everyone's body is covered in sebaceous glands. Sebaceous glands are responsible for secreting sebum to lubricate the skin.
Sometimes, the sebum does not successfully travel from the gland through the hair follicle to the surface of your skin. Instead, it combines with dead skin cells and grime and clogs your pore. When not successfully defended by your moisture barrier, harmful bacteria can reach these clogs, infect them, and cause them to spread.
This then results in acne. There are different forms of acne that include whiteheads, blackheads, papules, pustules, and cysts. Though acne varies in severity for everyone, it is never a desirable condition.
Washing your face every morning and every night with a quality cleanser is the easiest and most effective way to combat acne. Face wash is used to rid your skin of the impurities that can contribute to clogging if left on your skin.
The right cleanser should also help with healing your pre-existing acne. A good face wash will be able to clean out your pores without damaging your skin.
Ingrown Hairs
Ingrown hairs result from hair growing back improperly after being tweezed or shaved. As previously mentioned, our sebaceous glands are connected to hair follicles that act as tunnels for sebum to pass through. These follicles are also meant to provide passage for hair to grow through.
When you shave improperly, or the surface of your skin is covered in a layer of oil and grime, the hair may not be able to grow straight out of the pore. Instead, the hair may grow out of your skin but then back in. There is also a possibility that the hair will not even exit the pore but will directly grow into your skin instead.
The result of ingrown hairs is swollen, red, itchy bumps on the skin. Often, these bumps will form in clusters popularly referred to as razor burn. Similar to acne, razor bumps can leave behind hyperpigmentation and scarring even after they have been healed.
To avoid developing ingrown hairs, ensure that you are properly cleansing your skin before and after every shave. Providing your razor with clean skin and facial hair will improve your shaving experience by minimizing the chances of you needing to shave over the same area twice.
Properly cleansing your skin after a shave will also help remove leftover shaving gel and debris that can clog your pores and impact the way your hair grows through its follicles.
Dehydration
Dehydrated skin is the result of a water deficiency. When a man feels dehydrated and does not consume more water than he expels, his body will not function properly. This effect also applies to your skin.
Your skin may crack, peel, and become irritated without a sufficient water intake suited for your environment and lifestyle. The symptoms of dehydrated skin are very similar to those associated with dry skin.
One way to tell whether you are struggling with dehydration is to pinch your cheek. If your skin wrinkles out of shape from the pressure, it lacks hydration.
While the most obvious solution to dehydrated skin is increasing your water consumption by drinking more fluids throughout the day or eating healthy foods that double as good sources of water, the right cleanser can help with this.
A good cleanser should hydrate your skin every time you wash. While the traditional methods for hydration are essential, a hydrating cleanser is perhaps the best method for hydrating your skin because it does so directly.
What Is Your Skin Type?
The five different skin types are normal, dry, oily, combination, and sensitive. If you have dry skin, it is determined by genetics but can be triggered or exacerbated by other factors like the weather, diet, and dry skin conditions.
Dry Skin
Dry skin is one of five skin types. Those with dry skin most commonly struggle with dry patches on their face. If you have dry skin, you may have noticed that your skin feels rough to the touch. In addition to feeling tight and itchy, your skin may also appear dull and experience flaking. This can contribute to further irritation of the skin and more visible fine lines and wrinkles.
Dry skin is sometimes confused with combination skin. This is an understandable mistake since combination skin shares a lot of the same symptoms. However, the difference between the two is that combination skin also shares symptoms with oily skin.
Combination Skin
If you are struggling with dry patches of skin but also observe excess amounts of oil on your T-Zone, which is identified as the forehead, nose, and chin, you have combination skin rather than dry skin. It is important to distinguish between them because they require different treatments to control their symptoms.
For example, those who struggle with oily areas of skin may benefit from products that offer drying effects like those with an alcohol base, while men with exclusively dry skin should never use such products.
Test a Skin Test
If you are struggling to determine whether your skin type is dry, you can attempt the oil test. After washing your face, wait 30 minutes before applying any other products. After this time has passed, use blotting sheets or tissue to gently dab over the various areas of your face.
Examine the blotting sheets or tissue as you go. If you find that there is oil exclusively on your T-Zone, but no oil is absorbed on any other areas, you likely have combination skin. If you notice that you are not picking up any oil, it is safe to assume that you have dry skin.
We should note that, in some instances, those with sensitive skin will also experience a lack of oil on their skin instead of an overproduction of sebum. To distinguish between sensitive skin and dry skin, analyze the visible symptoms of your skin type.
If you observe redness, rashing, and irritation, your issue is sensitivity. However, if your skin does not usually respond poorly to external pollutants in a way that extends beyond excessive dryness, you have dry skin.
The Resetter
When selecting an all-around effective cleanser that is ideal for treating dry skin, we recommend MadeMan’s The Resetter as featured in The Re(Set) Collection.
The Resetter is a 2-in-1 facial cleanser that doubles as a shaving gel. Shaving can be more difficult for men with dry skin as they may be more prone to cuts or microtears. However, The Resetter purposely combines eucalyptus essential oil with a natural foaming agent soap bark to facilitate a smooth shave.
In fact, all of our cleanser’s ingredients are carefully selected to improve your cleansing and shaving experience, regardless of skin type. The Resetter is water-based, which is ideal for those with dry skin.
As previously mentioned, alcohol-based products cause more harm to dry skin than they do good. Since water is our product’s main component, it can offer you maximum hydration every time you apply it to your skin.
The Resetter also contains several beneficial, natural oils as ingredients to help you combat your skin’s natural dryness.
For example, the glycerin-infused coconut oil is full of antioxidants that can help preserve the skin by creating a barrier on the skin’s surface that decreases the loss of moisture and, in turn, reduces dryness.
Conclusion
In conclusion, washing your face consistently and with the right product is more important than you may have originally thought. While skincare can be simple, no two routines will ever look identical, as everyone's skin is unique to them.
Take your skin type into account when selecting your cleanser. After identifying your dry skin, consider what sort of qualities your skin may most need — moisture, hydration, etc. — and select the product that fits this description the best.
After all, It starts with your skin.
Sources:
Mechanisms and Management of Itch in Dry Skin | PubMed
Skin type classification systems old and new | PubMed
The causes and treatment of pseudofolliculitis barbae | PubMed
