Black Men and Their Skin

Black Men and their skin need tender loving care also. The movie Black Panther sparked conversations about just about any and everything you can think of. Yes, I’m still referencing Black Panther.

However this time it’s for the Brothers. While a lot of you ladies had your fill of eye candy as black men pulled off their shirts and showed their chiseled, sculpted bodies … did you notice the smoothness of the chocolate skin on their faces?

Those men had to have had some serious skin care regimens to keep their skin from breaking out. That’s right black man, you need a skin care regimen just like your gorgeous black women. You see, as actors, they’re wearing heavy makeup and working under intense lighting all the time. Their skin is under tremendous stress.

Therefore, they have to make sure they give their skin a good cleansing without over manipulating it. Ok Guys, not everyone is an actor but your skin still needs tender loving care.

Most of you will never be subjected to the levels of makeup actors have to wear. That doesn’t mean that you should ignore your skin. Your skin is gifted with melanin. That substance that gives you your beautiful bronzed or deep dark chocolate complexion. Your black will crack, if you don’t take care of it.

What Should Your Regimen Consist Of?

Black men, You and your skin will need a skin care regimen that’s going to be basic and not take a lot of time. While women don’t mind the pampering concept of skin care, you’ve told me more than once, that as men, you want to keep your skin care regimen simple.

So … a basic 3 + 1 will work for you. What’s a 3 + 1 regimen? This is when you Cleanse, Tone and Moisturize everyday, twice a day. And, once or twice a week, you’ll exfoliate. Exfoliate another way of saying you’ll use a scrub to remove dead skin cells from your face and neck.

Cleansing helps remove any dirt and debris from your skin that’s built up over the course of the day. If that’s the case, why do I need to cleanse again in the morning, you might ask. Unless you change your pillow case every other day, your skin is shedding at night and not all of you are going to cleanse at night. This means that all the build up of the day ends up on your pillowcase.

Toning helps bring your skin’s pH level into balance.

Moisturizing helps lock in moisture and keeps your skin feeling soft and smooth to touch. Women like that!

Exfoliation helps in removing dead skin cell build up.  Dead skin cells can often be the cause of what you perceive to be uneven skin tones.

Beards Need Special Attention Also

Some of you have the added care of a beard and you’re challenged with ingrown hairs. Your beard needs to be cleansed as well. The only added caution is that you don’t use any scrubs on your beard. Why? Because scrubs typically have jojoba wax beads, nut shells or salts as part of their ingredients.

These ingredients can take forever to remove if lodged in your beard. Therefore, when you cleanse your face and neck, use this step to massage and give a gentle scratch to your beard all the way down to its roots, where skin meets hair. This will enable you to help remove dead skin cell buildup in your beard.

The same rules also apply for you black man as it does for women when it comes to popping pimples and touching your face. Don’t pop pimples and definitely keep your hands off your face. On a daily basis, you touch a thousand and one things and you don’t always wash your hands. You’re not even aware of all the things you touch. Door handles, elevator buttons, car handles, door knobs, computers, office phones, light switches, cell phones and copy machines.

This is just the beginning of where your hands land on a daily basis. Let’s not forget shopping carts and gas pumps, yuck! Get the picture? Every time you touch any one of these items and then touch your face or stroke your beard or chin, you’re passing who knows what to your skin. This one habit has caused trauma to so many of you.

Bottom line Gents …

Your skin is just as special as your woman’s. Put your regimen in place and you too will be looking like a well groomed black man giving the actors in Black Panther a run for their money.

That’s it for this week.

Here’s to the Cool In You Gents!

Juliette Samuel
Esthetician/Author/Publisher

Nyraju Skin Care