What's your manly skin type?

You need a clay mask once or twice a week to tamp down sebum excretion.

Photo credit: Pool

If I had to be efficient about it, I would say there are four skin types men need to contend with —  oily, combination, dry and normal. I’ll be honest with you here. These are also the skin types women have. And, even though for the longest time it was stated otherwise, it turns out your skin, much like your personality (yes, I know, shocker!) is fluid. But this is about the manly man so here goes.

Oily: The skin type most men immediately think they have. Because you don’t have to wear foundation or face powder, your forehead bounces all the light in the world and it sticks. A few hours after washing your face, you can fry an egg with all that grease. You probably carry a kerchief or steal away into the gents to pat down your face and make it appear less oil-soaked. Up close, your pores are visible, like the orange peel.

- Needs a clay mask once or twice a week to tamp down the sebum excretion. More than that and you will dehydrate your skin. Use a facial scrub once a week to degunk the surface of your skin. Use a gel-based moisturiser and an oil-control serum daily.

Look for Clinique, Nimue, L’Oreal, La Roche Posay or Neutrogena cleansers specialising in oily skin. In your case, you simply MUST cleanse your face twice a day.

Dry: The second most declared skin type. Dry skin can sometimes be mistaken for oily skin.

How, you may ask? Dry skin is taut, stretching across your face. It feels like you’re wearing a clay face mask. Women get this so ask one to further describe it. Dry skin has shiny patches on the forehead and cheeks. But, it is not fatty. Should you wash your face and stay for an hour or two without moisturising your skin, it starts to itch.

➡  Needs exfoliating twice a week to get rid of the dry, flaky skin and give it a lift. Also, get a hydrating face mask aka a sheet mask. There are countless options of these in pharmacies such as Good Life, where you will find Garnier, one of the more popular brands, or the Kenyan-owned start-up, Uncover. Jumia has leads too and they sell L’Oreal products for men. That way if you’re feeling shy, shop online. Shop for products with glycerin and hyaluronic acid.

Combination: This skin type is so confusing sometimes I think dermatologists made it up because they couldn’t pick a side. It is exactly as it states. It is more than one skin type. This means parts of it, such as your T-Zone, (that spread of skin across your forehead and down to your chin) is oily, and parts of it, such as your cheeks, are dry. Try the blotting paper or two-ply light tissue test. If the T-zone has oily residue, and the cheeks don’t, say hello to your combination skin.

➡  Needs combination skincare. Thankfully, there are lots of combination skin products on the planet. You get to buy two of each. A clay mask (for your T-zone) and a hydrating sheet mask for both ends of your spectrum, but on alternate days. Get your hands on gentle exfoliant aka scrub.

Normal: Needs Vitamin C, probably the skin type that gets away with a rub of Arimis or Vaseline; therefore in need of sunscreen. Wash every morning and every night, get a serum that continues to balance your skin and make an attempt to at least exfoliate once a week. Break-outs disappear quickly and your skin is the stuff of legend.

Here is how to test for your skin type.

I presume you shower before bed every night. So here is what you’re going to do:  Wash your face with a gentle cleanser. Don’t have one? Use what you normally use to wash your face.

➡  After washing your face, leave it.

➡ Go to bed. Again, presumably, you get about seven hours.

➡  In the morning, go to the mirror and touch your face.

➡ If your fingers or back of your hand come off as oily, well, Bob’s your uncle. If your skin feels dry and maybe even flaky, yours is dry skin. If some parts of your face are oily, and some seem not particularly oily, you may just have combination skin. If you can roll out of bed and brush your teeth without examining your skin closely in the mirror hoping it changed overnight, then begone with your normal skin.

There are three other skin ‘types’ that will pop up at various points in your life. These will be the result of the environment, products that you use, or stage in your life.

Sensitive skin: This is NOT a skin type. It is a skin condition. Sensitive skin happens when your skin is easily irritated by product. Stop everything you are doing right now.

Your skin will thank you if you try a little tenderness. Buy the gentlest products you can find, but slowly. Starting with a moisturiser, then moving to a cleanser. If your skin reacts, say it feels tender to the touch, or you get rashes, inflammation, and if it occurs in areas you shave. The gentlest product in the market right now is called Simple.

Start with that.

Acne-prone skin: If you have it, you know it. See a dermatologist to help take care of this. Acne needs internal medicine that you can get through prescriptions, doubled up with products containing salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide and retinoids. You want to diminish your acne with adult supervision. Don’t try over-the-counter products. The sooner you start treating your acne, the better off your skin will be. This is especially critical for moderate to severe acne. Again, don’t try this at home.

Mature skin: Skin that is 35 and above is classified as mature skin. Here, the needs cross over into anti-ageing. Wrinkles, laughter lines and furrowed brows are increasingly obvious especially when your face is at rest. Men with oily skin, this is your time to shine. You will age slower than any other skin type. That grease that offends you so much, is the foundation they mean when they say “black don’t crack.”

That being said, your skin is thinning, producing less collagen and losing elasticity. You might want to replenish this not because you’re vain, but because more and more men are starting to care about ageing. Hence the avalanche of skincare products that meet this need. Shop for retinoids, vitamin C to brighten your skin, hyaluronic acid supplements to hydrate you from the inside, and cover up with sunscreen for goodness sake.

Shopping for skincare products won’t kill you. I promise. Now go and put your best face forward.