Men’s Skin Month deserves some stories –
we hope you enjoy these and one or more are helpful for yourself or a man in your life!
What better way to illustrate the diversity of men and their attitude to skin care than to tell you some stories. Some of the men I have chosen have been under our care for a few years and using varied amounts of product and only two choosing to have regular in-clinic treatments – others I have seen a problem and helped them solve it. Most importantly, just like women, their skin story’s are vastly different.
None of them were happy to have us show you their photos; as good as they are; you’ll need to use your imaginations!
Sam is a 23 year old uni student; budget poor, quite active with football and swimming, transport is via bicycle. He lives in a shared house with two other male students.
Sam has always had good skin, clear of pimples, a few nose blackheads and is essentially a “good looker”. The problem he came to us for help with around 6 years ago was his exceptionally dry facial skin. It drove him so crazy his mum, one of our regulars, brought him into us for advice.
The important thing then for him was to establish a routine. We started him with a lactic based gentle cleanser and a hydrating moisturiser. We asked him to increase his water intake and decrease the processed foods he was eating. Cutting down the length and temperature of his showers made a difference too. He was happy with the results and has essentially kept in touch with us, continuing with this routine, adding other serums depending on his skin and life at any time.
When he took up swimming his whole body suffered with dryness. Simply washing immediately on leaving the pool and using the Miessence Body wash and body cream solved the problem. He took a skin care kit to the pool and the gym so he could easily shower and wash using his products and surprisingly never was teased by other “blokes”.
He went through a phase of body pimples, especially big ones on his back and chest. This was when he began uni so we discussed his choice of drink – cutting down on the beer really helped and, again, watching his diet. During this time he used the Aspect Purastat 5 cleanser on his body – except following swimming.
Now, he is still gorgeous and is settled with diet and drink, happy with his products. This is what he likes to use:- Aspect Dr Deep Clean, Aspect Dr Active C, Aspect SMC and Aspect Envirostat Dry Touch SPF. His body enjoys the Miessence Body wash, and he uses the body cream when he needs to. At present he is not using a Vitamin A, but really should be. The product I recommend for him is the Osmosis MD Calm; designed for dryer skins.
Robert is in his late 50’s, incredibly health conscious, working in the health arena, and like Sam has very fair skin, but at the other end of his life he has already had a few skin cancers cut out and burnt off areas of his face and body. About two years ago he decided to become pro-active with his skin and came to see us.
We immediately started him on a regime of the Osmosis MD products. His skin was quite sun damaged; thickened, coarse, blotchy with open pores. He described how his skin felt back then as “a bit dryish, but ok’. We also started him on a series of 6 Dermafrac; each one 4 weeks apart. He loves the feeling of the treatment and, now, about to begin his 4th series he firmly believes we have turned his skin around. He still has annual skin checks but has not had any, not one, skin cancer on his face since he began his routine.
He began using – all Osmosis MD – Purify cleanser, Rescue serum, Catalyst AC11 – Vitamin C and other antioxidants. Clear spray, Correct – Vit A and then Quench and Protect SPF. When he is active outside he borrows from his wife – the Sunforgettable Sunblock brush to top up all thru the day. She has now bought another as he somehow forgets to return hers to her handbag!!
Richard – the wonderful man who helps me in my garden; because I’d love to do it all but simply don’t get the time in day light hours!! He is well into his 60’s with dreadful flakey, sundamaged cheeks and other health problems. One day I simply found that i had to help him as his face just appeared so sore. Within a week of using Osmosis MD Clear spray and CosMedix Rescue Balm and the Cosmedix Reflect spray-on sunblock his skin had lost its raw look with his description of me being upgraded from “too busy to do your own garden to calling me an angel.” I had simply reduced the inflammation, begun to repair his barrier and helped with hydration.
He now understands the importance of showing his skin to a specialist and is having treatment as I write. Luckily he has caught it before any of the nasty cancers had developed.
Karl – in his 40’s,
is on the golf course and tennis courts almost every day and has been all his life. He has annual skin checks and watches his skin closely. He is extremely fit, sugar free and very very health conscious. His exposed skin is damaged from all the early years outside playing sport with, of course no sunblock or a not very good one. We started him a few years ago on a gentle cleanser, a Vitamin C and B and Cosmedix Reflect, adding a mild Vitamin A 2 months later.
This year he has enjoyed a series of 6 Lacto-botanic treatments increasing the strength until the last 3 were at 60%. These gave him a serious increase to the clarity of his skin and hydration with a massive infusion of antioxidants. He is about to embark on a series of Dermafrac, if he can manage to find some time. We expect these to stimulate collagen growth, continue to decrease the inflammation deep in his skin and combat his sun damage even more. Skin treatments such as these on outdoors people such as Karl, really need to be performed during the winter months when it is easier to avoid reflected UV rays.
He now daily uses the Osmosis MD Purify, Rescue, Catalyst AC11 and the SPF Protect on days he is not outside all day. He covers this and reapplies every day with a specialist sunblock “Actinica” which is a special order. It has been designed by the Swiss for auto-immune people who must wear sunblock but hate to wear it. It has extensive research and trials behind it and as Karl really doesn’t like the feel of sunblocks on his skin, and he really needs the protection he uses it and likes it. That is all we ask!
Lastly there is a friend, Dave, who is an avid cyclist. He was hit by a car a few weeks ago and did himself some serious damage. Luckily the only bones broken were some ribs. Pretty painful, a night in hospital and a bruised ego saw him at home. When I saw him 2 days later, the left side of his face was one huge scab. Looked awful and was obviously extremely uncomfortable – painful in fact. Again, the nurse in me, or the need to help a good person and fellow human meant I gave him some help.
Osmosis MD Clear Spray and CosMedix Rescue Balm as often as he could but certainly twice a day was the plan. His comfort level soared which was nice, but most importantly we could watch the skin healing and the scab lifting; it took less than a week, much much faster than if he’s continued using the Vaseline (aghhhh) that the hospital had prescribed. I checked his face out the other day, and he has a large bruise still over his cheek, you can see it’s quite deep, and I asked if he was still using the products. Of course, the answer was no, so I suggested he do so to help the underlying healing which needed to occur. He had, I was pleased to hear been using the Aspect Envirostat Dry Touch SPF 50+ every day. He needs to do this, for general health but also to protect the new skin.
“I am so impressed, and so are the Doctors and my fellow cyclists, with how fast my skin healed following the accident. It was absolutely amazing and I thank Gaye for her help and advice throughout the ordeal.”
So there you have 5 stories of men of varying backgrounds, ages and skin expectations.
What they all have in common is that they want their skin to feel nice; in other words to be hydrated and healthy.
They are all aware of the potential dangers of UV damage and appreciate that they are able to change their skin – and have been surprised at the ease that this can occur.
These men were pro-active and open to receiving skin care advice which we congratulate them for.
This is in contrast to our two “macho blokes” who have been trialling our men’s skin kits.
Watch out for their experiences on FB and following newsletters and enjoy a little laugh!
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