The Approach to Skin Care

I can already hear the agonizing groan of some guys out there. “But men don’t use lotion!” or “Cream for your face (insert inappropriate comment here)” and of course “Exfoliate? That sounds gay!”

Let me tell you, there is nothing “gay” about not wanting your face to look like the surface of the moon when you get older. If you really don’t care about your complexion gentlemen you can always go to Youtube and watch some He-Man videos so you can feel masculine. Here, let me help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBLEYjXr_Nw

But remember, when this starts to happen to you years down the road don’t come crawling back here looking for a solution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DGFuHC75aY

Trust me, the only thing not manly about keeping up with your skin is the perception you have in your head about the whole thing. For example I have a friend who thinks a man’s hands need to be all rough, banged up and warrior like. Now, me and this fellow live in the same area, are of the same income and neither of us are dragon fighters or black smiths. So where he picked up the notion of “rugged hands makes the man” I can’t say? I mean, it’s not like if you have soft hands it should suddenly imply that you lay about like a Roman Emperor all day defiling youths and being fed grapes and wine.

(Would this guy have been any less manly if his face didn’t look like an orange peel? I say no. So if you want to be as “manly” as Edward James Olmos’ face then please ignore this article) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcITGNWtoIc

(Enjoy some theme music while you read)

I use products to keep up with my complexion. I’m cursed with a Medeterranian heritage which means my face gets oily. Oily faces break out frequently because the oil traps dirt which becomes a breeding ground for bacteria that cause blemishes. That’s simple facts right there. If your face is dirty tiny monsters will make you have pimples. The one benefit to having an oily face as opposed to a dry one is that you are less likely to develop wrinkles.

What I’ve decided to start with are a few pretty basic items and a few advanced ones. I made my purchases from a company called Premier which specializes in Dead Sea compounds(Salts and other minerals, vitamins, seaweeds ect ect)  Let me show you what I’m working with.

(Body Scrub and an Exfoliant for the face) 

I decided to give these two a shot, specifically the facial scrub. The body scrub was just kinda included in the package but it’s pretty great. The woman selling me the product also gave me a sample trio of soaps. A seaweed one, a mud one and something else that I can’t recall at the moment. The soaps are nothing special. It was a nice extra and it helped push me into the purchase i suppose but they’re soap. Far better than something like Dial or Zest or whatever bar you’re probably using but i wouldn’t go out of my way to buy these either. Truthfully Whole Foods sells the same type of soaps for cheaper than Premier’s twenty dollar a bar base price.

I gave these products try and used them for twenty days just. All photos below are taken after using the product.

Day One                                 Day Seven

Day FourteenDay Twenty One

After twenty days i can say the following: My skin felt much smoother then it did before. There are still some noticeable blemishes here and there. The product did not leave a dry constricting filmy feeling like cheaper products such as Aveeno. The Body Scrub and soap completely eliminated my usually dry elbows and my skin felt much better in general. These products worked well. But i don’t want to deceive anyone. They’re not cheap. The two scrubs, which came with the trio of body soaps too, cost about 75 dollars at the kiosk in the mall. From their website the costs are much higher. I haggled with the lovely woman running it that day and got much better prices then she initially offered.

Now, looking at the pictures, there is not a dramatic sudden difference like in those Proactive commercials. My face didn’t have that kind of problem though so the difference is less intense. Proactive also leaves your face very dry and robs it of the helpful minerals and bacteria too. It’s kind of like the bleach of the facial cleaning world. Kills everything. I’ve used their products too and they leave my face very uncomfortable.

Proactive and Aveeno kinda makes my face feel like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwPkAUBr4Sc

The second stage of the test comes below and this is where it gets even more interesting.

(Moisturizer Complex) (Eye Cream)

(Mask)

These products are what really make a  big difference in my complexion. The Mask is a product worn for thirty minutes that feeds the face all the nutrients that it needs. The Eye Cream eliminates the puffy saggy skin beneath the eye socket and tightens up the skin above the eye. The moisturizer and mineral stone it comes with is what prevents you from looking like Edward James Olmos.

I’ve used this combination of products along with the earlier two for three days now and I can see a big difference. Old acne scars showed very noticeable evaporation hours after the first use. My eyes also appear far less puffy. Warning, that Eye Cream is really terrible if it gets in your eye (Insert inappropriate comment). I mean it, hurts bad and for a pretty long time. Careful when using that. My skin is healthier looking and more radiant.

Day Three using all products

These products are also not cheap. But when you buy these things you are buying a year supply all at once so long as you use it right. You don’t need to cake this stuff on. In most cases it needs only a thin layer. Anything more and your face isn’t really benefiting. It’s eating up the minerals and being cleaned by the product that it’s touching, not the product layered on top of the product.

In all, i’m very happy with these purchases. My face feels better. It looks better and I’ll definitely keep using them. My approach to a healthy face is a serious one. I like comfortable skin, clean skin and skin that will hold up over time. Is this not “manly”? I leave that up to you to decide. The approach is up to to you but so are the final results too.

Products featured were not supplied free of charge or discounted with the seller’s intent to have them featured on The Approach. These are my opinions only. 

Premiere’s Dead Sea Products can be purchased from their Website at http://www.premierdeadsea.com/default.asp

or at some shopping centers. Mine were purchased from Westfield Mall in Aurora Illinois.