Men are from Mars and women from Venus – and that includes skin care. You may be tempted to steal your partner’s sweatshirt, but you don’t want to borrow his skin-care products.
What a guy needs
The Institute for Skin Sciences says:
- The skin of a man is thicker than a woman and has more collagen. Men also secrete more sebum (oil) throughout life.
- Men sweat more and it stays on the body longer.
- Men have more body hair and therefore more surface area for bacteria to develop.
Choosing Products
Men are advised to use products with ingredients that give better circulation such as menthol, camphor and eucalyptus. Use products with higher molecular structure to protect the larger pores such as evening primrose oil. Products that have ingredients to tone the skin, such as witch hazel and aloe vera. Products with, say, comfrey that help a repair process.
What a girl needs
The Institute for Skin Sciences says:
- The thinner skin means women age faster. Skin appears about 15 years older than a man’s of the same age.
- Women stop secreting sebum after menopause, therefore the skin looks coarser and drier as they age.
- Women have more subcutaneous fat (fat below the skin) which is why they suffer from cellulite.
Choosing Products
Use cleansers that contain ingredients that “pull” the daily dirt off the skin and out of the pore as opposed to abrasively rubbing, brushing and peeling the skin. Do not use toner – it may roughen women’s skin. Use tightening serums. Use moisturizing and reparative creams.
