Nine Commandments of Healthy Skin Care for Middle-aged Men
Nine Commandments of Healthy Skin Care for Middle-aged Men
  • 한정선 기자(향장학 박사) (fk0824@k-health.com)
  • 승인 2020.02.28 09:16
  • 댓글 0
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A real ‘overbearing older person’ has shown up in Chongmuro, Seoul. As we even ate dinner together from the same table, he is not a mere passerby. And from dealing with his excessive talkative nature, I couldn’t help but become hopeless.

How is he in his 40s. Can’t believe it. Even more, he considers himself a ‘handsome middle-aged man.’

Especially since the modern society has developed a hot trend of ‘grooming tribe’ (a new Korean term to indicate men who generously spend money on fashion and beauty), should we not at least look our age to be rightly perceived?

Today, I plan to introduce the 9 commandments of healthy skin care for middle-aged men.

I hope that you can also actively carry out these commandments in your daily life and therefore become a member of the ‘handsome middle-aged grooming tribe’ of the modern society.

CARD 1. Throw away the ‘skin toner for old men’ reeking of alcohol smell


Are you still using the ‘green skin toner’ placed at the public baths?

If you still mistakenly think that the strong alcohol smell of the toner symbolizes ‘manliness,’ your ‘old man looks’ will also quickly escalate.

This is because the alcohol’s strong reactivity and volatility make it the main cause of skin dryness and skin barrier damages. Therefore, let’s immediately throw these skin toners away.

That is the way to protect our precious skin.

CARD 2. Stop using soap for shaving! Must use shaving foam

A razor that cleanly organizes the beard may also leave minor scars on the skin’s surface.

Since the protective barrier of the skin can also be damaged during shaving, let’s use a shaving foam that produces enough foam to protect the skin.

Although the pH of surface skin is slightly acidic with a measure of 4.5~6, soaps are generally of a strong alkaline nature. Therefore, soaps tend to become the cause of skin dryness by excessively reducing skin proteins (dead skin cell layer).

Furthermore, soap has lower cushion capacity than a shaving foam so a soap is more irritable to the surface skin.

CARD 3. Soap is not an all-in-one solution

Even men who had highly active sebum secretion in the past face higher moisture loss rates as they age.

In order to tackle this problem, you need facial cleansers that will not break the balance of the standard oil-water ratio.

Most facial and body cleansers include stable washing power and moisturizing components. Therefore, if you have dry skin, you should use such cleansers.

The feeling of ‘laziness’ which makes you believe that soap is an all-in-one solution may also make you look much older than the people of your age.

CARD 4. Be friends with the sun cream for 365 days of the year

The biggest cause of skin aging is ultraviolet rays. Ultraviolet rays is a critical factor that threatens our skin for 365 days of the year no matter the weather or whether you are indoors or outdoors.

Even during cloudy days, about 80% of ultraviolet rays get through the clouds.

Do not avoid the sun cream because of stickiness and white cast but remember that it is an essential cosmetic to keep near you when your skin cells are young.

CARD 5. Do not like stickiness? Moisturization is the only solution

Male hormones thicken the epidermis and quicken sebum secretion. Compared to women, men have higher sebum secretion rates and lower moisture levels.

However, because sebum control and moisturization are of completely different methods, one must not distance oneself from moisturization just because of the discomfort from stickiness.

A healthy skin is made when the right oil-water balance is maintained. Since skin aging further escalates the more we age due to decrease in sebum and loss of moisture, let’s start accumulating moisture right now.

CARD 6 . If you have lots of sebum, minimize the use of basic cosmetics.

In case your skin becomes too slippery and skin troubles arise due to excessive sebum, cosmetics actually become the main stimulants that exacerbate the skin problems.

Because our skin is a system that strictly adheres to the ‘law of total cosmetic amount,’ cosmetics will only linger above the skin surface no matter how much you apply them.

This will block the pores and cause excessive sebum secretion and skin troubles, leading to a never-ending vicious cycle. Only the basic cosmetics should be applied.

CARD 7 . Use a facial cleanser that goes well with your skin type

Men’s skin has larger pores then that of women and therefore, waste matter can more easily accumulate. Furthermore, because men’s skin texture is rather rough, face washing is critical.

As a result, use a facial cleanser that well matches your skin type with lukewarm water to clean facial pores, remove accumulated waste, and prevent skin troubles. This is the key to a healthy skin care process.

Unless your skin is extremely dry, washing your face with only water due to laziness is like wishing for healthy teeth while gargling water instead of brushing your teeth.

CARD 8. Use cosmetics with AHA & BHA components


AHA and BHA are two types of acid which loosens the link between dead skin cells of the surface skin by melting them. Products including these acids provide peeling effects for skins with frequent troubles arising from dead skin cells and therefore, they are very convenient to use.

In particular, applying products with these AHA & BHA components before sleeping is the best tip to remove dead skin cells lightly without irritating the skin.

CARD 9 . If you have a dull skin, quit smoking right now

If you smoke one cigarette, blood vessels shrink for about 30 minutes due to nicotine.

Shrinking of blood vessels interrupts the transfer of nutrition and oxygen, directly making the skin duller and less vibrant.

In addition, smoking also damages the skin elasticity fiber, thereby reducing skin elasticity and quickening the formation of wrinkles.

Quitting smoking is by far the most cost-effective method among any expensive cosmetics and a very wise decision to make.


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