Thursday, November 13, 2008

Men's Skin vs. Women's Skin

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. This literary illustration of the difference between men and women points out to the disparity between their ways of thinking, feeling, and manner of perception. However, it does not end there. Even the structures of their skins are unequal. And with this clarified, it only follows that you and your boyfriend/husband cannot share the same skin care products. And if you are a guy who has a habit of using whatever product your girlfriend/wife is using for herself, don't you think it's about time you start getting your own stuff to meet your own needs?

For many years now, the concentration of most beauty and hygiene products are women. Cosmetics companies have already created a very wide selection of beauty concoctions to meet the needs and wants of women when it comes to their skin. Vanity and beauty are attributes typically related to women. Nevertheless, caring for our skin is not entirely due to vanity but it also has a great deal to do with proper hygiene and good health. Good thing that skin care companies nowadays have finally realized that men too have to concentrate on the needs of their own skin. To better understand the differences between the structures of men's and women's skin, let us take a look at these pointers:


Basic Facts

Based on thickness, men's skin is 20% thicker than women's. It is also firmer since it contains a higher level of elastin and collagen. This works to their advantage, for it makes them less prone to developing fine lines and wrinkles. As differentiated from women's skin, men's skin tend to have bigger pores, more active but smaller oil glands (also known as sebaceous glands), and more blood supply. By and large, men's skin sweats more easily and is oilier, thus, their skin tends to become dirtier than women's.

As men age, their skin thickness decreases by 1% annually. Aside from this, their skin is also more vulnerable. Although this may seem unlikely given their image and all that, there are several good reasons why this is so. For one, unlike women, most men have never been conscious of their skin. This lack of consciousness led them to neglect its needs. Besides, they are also more exposed to the negative environmental factors. But most of all, the fragility of their skin is due to their predilection for shaving. Shaving on a day-to-day basis causes the destruction of their hydrolipidic film, responsible for lubricating and protecting the skin.


Basic Needs

The most primary need of men's skin is deep-cleansing. Since their skin becomes dirtier, daily cleansing is a must in their routine. Although men have an advantage because their skin does not age as fast as women's, they still need to use products specifically made for their skin type because these are created with their specific needs in mind. Those that should become staples are aftershave lotion for their specific skin type and a moisturizer with SPF to help protect their skin from the damaging rays of the sun. Although no adverse effects have been reported with regards to the men's use of women's skin products, it is still better for them to acquire and use their own products because women's products may not have what it takes to address their specific needs.



Resource Box: Maricel Modesto is a writer and editor who writes for various health and lifestyle magazines.




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