Shaving with the grain of the beard

Biggest mistake? Not paying attention to the direction of how your hair grows.

When you go against the “grain” of your beard, you might be thinking all that friction is helping you get a closer shave. Unfortunately, what your doing on this first pass is simply irritating the hell out of your pores.

The trick:
The first swipe with your razor should go with the grain. If the hairs grows downward, follow this natural path with the razor. Now, after you’ve knocked the stubble off and you want a super close shave - try going across the grain. Never against it. This one-two punch gives you the close shave you need but doesn’t lead to ingrown hairs and irritation.

Being ghostly pale isn’t a good look for anybody but Casper the Friendly Ghost.  Typically, a guy’s face is particularly dry and ashen at the start of the day (or maybe red, depending on who he wakes up next to).

Here’s a few tips to help keep that skin moisturized and looking sharp.

Conserve water
Turns out if you take super hot long showers, you’re washing all your hard work down the drain.  Try and cut back on the time (and save water and energy too). This helps your skin hold on to those important moisturizers.

Get off the couch
Grabbing a run or lifting weights can actually have an added benefit for a man’s dry skin. Everyone knows exercise enhances circulation and blood flow but it can also refresh your skin. Turns out that perspiration stimulates the production of sebum, which is a natural skin moisturizer.

You are what you eat
Interestingly, dry skin can be caused by a slump in the skin’s natural moisturizers that are present in the body. These take the names of antioxidants and essential fatty acids and are two key chemicals to help skin rehydrate. So, how do you get these into your belly and ultimately your skin?  Try scarfing down antioxidant-rich foods such as spinach, broccoli, and fatty oil fish such as salmon.  Hate things that swim?  Go for fish tablets and take them before you go to bed to minimize the nasty burps. These foods can stimulate your cell’s oil production, while the natural fats help to revitalize skin cells.

Drink your 8 glasses a day
No rocket science here…staying well-hydrated helps keep moisture in your skin pores. If you live in a dry climate, consider firing up a humidifier at night to help you absorb more water. Cheapest prevention on the list.

These are a few simple lifestyle tips to help keep your skin looking great.  Any thing we missed?  Put your $.02 in the comments.

Well, you overslept and in the rush to make up time, you’ve nicked yourself with the razor. Of course the trickle of blood turns to a gushing stream and this is the day you have to wear a white shirt and tie.

Muttering f-bombs is not the way to tackle triage.  Here’s a few tips on how to stop bleeding from a shaving nick… (more…)

Nothing hurts worse than having your flesh split apart for no apparent reason.  For those of us living in the far northern reaches of the globe this shows up about the same time as the Fat Guy from the North Pole.

Here’s a few quick tips on keeping your skin together (literally)

Step 1: Suds up with a cleanser that contains a little something with either honey and aloe vera.  This helps clean you up but not harshly dry out your skin.  We recommend Kiehls for Men. (more…)

We’ve all been there.  Maybe haven’t made the best decisions the night before a big presentation.  One beer turns into a slurry blur with a KFC drive-thru finale.

Well, as we like to say around our office, “If you go out drinkin with the boys, you have to get up and go to work with the men.”  When that screech owl of an alarm clock reminds you that maybe death isn’t so bad after all, you have to get moving, think positive thoughts, and focus on setting attainable goals.

First goal, get the Colonel’s secret tasty seasonings off your cheeks, eyelids, and out of your ears.  If you’ve snoozed and don’t have time to steam the booze out of your pores, follow this old soldier’s trick:

1. Grit your teeth and plunge your face into a sink full of ice water.  Suck it up because this will shrink your pores, force the blood to get moving, and give you a nice healthy flush.  (Not to mention wake your ass up)

2. Now about those red, puffy eyes that are the mirror to your temporarily dark soul.  Take the air out of the bags with a bit of your chosen moisturizer rubbed in.  If you really went big, we hear that Prearation H can do the trick as well but that’s something that usually goes in other places, so be sure you have a clean tube dedicated ONLY to this purpose locked away from anybody else using it.  The only thing worse than feeling like ass is smelling like it.

3. Proceed immediately to get greasy food.  MickyD’s and a big Coke to wash it down.  Psych yourself up for a caffeine fueled day and how good that couch is gonna feel.

Key Insight: The way to fight through a challenge like this is small attainable goals.  Putting socks on before your shoes certainly qualifies.