civilizedskincare

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Best Pore Minimizer – Reviews for 2017

Got big pores? Find out how to fix them!

If you were born with big pores, you already know how awful it is. Big pores make you look older. They make your skin look rough and bumpy. They’re a magnet for dirt and oil. If you’re a woman, big pores make you look manly. If you’re a man, big pores mean acne… lots and lots of blackheads and acne.

Skin toners to reduce pores

Dickinson’s Original Witch Hazel Pore Perfecting Toner

doTERRA Pore Reducing Tone

Exfoliators to reduce pores

Naturopathica Pumpkin Purifying Enzyme Peel

Philosophy The Microdelivery Pee

Best pore minimizer for makeup

Maybelline New York Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser Primer

Having large pores on your face can feel like a curse, but it doesn’t have to be that way. As we speak, there are dozens of companies intrepidly trying to find new formulations to minimize pores.

There are also tons of “home remedies” like egg white masks and baking soda scrubs, but unfortunately, they really don’t do much to minimize your pores. Plus they make you look like a freakshow when you do them…

Things you should know about your pores

First of all, what are pores? Each one of your pores is actually the opening for a hair follicle. Even though you might be female and have no capacity to grow a beard, each pore is a potential hair growing out of your body. Each of your pores is home to a tiny little sebaceous gland. These glands are responsible for all your skin’s oils. It might not be too much of a stretch to say that big pores create oilier skin. But, look on the bright side, your friend with the perfect face with no pores suffers from dry skin something fierce! The size of your pores is, for the most part, determined by your genetics. If one or both of your parents have big pores, it’s quite possible you do too. Also, the darker your skin is, the more likely you are to have bigger pores.

Dirt and acne stretches out pores and could make them permanently larger as time goes on. And I really hate to tell this to all of you pimple poppers, but each time you do that, you risk damaging the pore and permanently enlarging it. Just look at some of the irregular pores on your nose to know this is true. This is why it is vital you use the best face wash you can afford that is suited for your skin.

Some other factors that enlarge your pores is excessive exposure to sunlight and age. The Sun’s UV rays are like kryptonite for your skin’s collagen. As collagen weakens in diminishes in your skin, your skin slackens creating wrinkles and loosens the pores making them look much larger. And as you age, the capacity for your skin to renew collagen and repair itself reduces adding to your worries about having large pores.

What to know about the best pore minimizer products

If you want your pores to appear smaller then it is crucial that you keep them exfoliated and clean. Any dirt, makeup, oil, or dead skin allowed to linger in your pores is just going to stretch out the pore and eventually form into blackheads (which REALLY makes your pores stand out).

The best thing you can do is consider getting a power facial scrubber. Now there are hundreds of these facial brushes on the market and some of them are pretty cheap. But seriously, this is your face we are talking about! The proverbial “money maker.” Of course, you can grab some lousy $20 facial scrubber and it will work well enough, but why not make an investment in your skin and get something that actually does everything it promises?!

That, my friends is the Clarisonic Mia2 two Speed Sonic Facial Cleansing Brush System. This mini-monster is seriously breaking out the power tools to minimize pore size, obliterate wrinkles and power exfoliator.

If you have a serious skin care regimen and don’t have this magical machine in the mix, you are pretty much wasting your time. The best thing this facial scrubber does is that it removes all the grime and dead skin cells leaving your face immaculately clean and bright preparing the skin so that the next skin care treatment absorbs completely. That is huge especially if you have any existing skin problems. If you are serious about wanting the best pore minimizer, this device is your savior.

Now this is a spendy unit, but there’s actually one even better (and way more expensive… sorry)! The Clarisonic Smart Profile is like the MIA on steroids and is definitely worth the investment.

Skin toners to reduce pores

You can’t just stop with the facial brush. Once you’ve prepped your skin with the brush, now is the time to knock your pores into teeny tiny submission. The next step in the process is to use a facial toner. Facial toners are like the black sheep of skin care because a typical main ingredient is witch hazel making this a not very pleasant smelling product, but it definitely makes your pores disappear! Keep in mind, the smell does vanish soon after application.

Here are a couple of our favorite pore minimizer toners.

Dickinson’s Original Witch Hazel Pore Perfecting Toner

This might be the absolute smelliest of the toners, but it’s really quite effective. Not to mention it is pretty much the best all natural pore reducer. People really love this product because it actually tightens your skin without drying it out. Definitely use this toner morning and night to see best results.

doTERRA Pore Reducing Toner

Now for those people who just can’t handle the smell of Dickinson’s, doTERRA’s pore minimizing toner has a much more pleasant smell. That’s not to say it doesn’t still have some funky scent to it, but it is way more palatable than the previous product. This toner does have a few more ingredients to it including essential oils of lavender, ylang ylang and German chamomile so you aren’t knocked out by the witch hazel.

Exfoliators to reduce pores

If you decide not to go with the power facial brush, you still need to exfoliate to make sure every pore is clean and clear to help reduce pores. You can do steps at the same time if you choose a great exfoliator with skin peel enzymes. Depending on the strength of your exfoliator, you can use it every day or every other day. If you have very sensitive skin, you will probably not want to use this product more than three times a week.

There are two kinds of exfoliator/peels. Some use fruit enzymes, alpha hydroxy acids, or retinol as the active ingredient. These are for normal skin types. However, if you have oily skin or tend to break out easily after treatments, try lotions with salicylic acid instead.

As with any peel, you should definitely put on sun screen afterwards. Your skin will be sensitive and the sun will make matters much worse.

Naturopathica Pumpkin Purifying Enzyme Peel

A tiny little bit of this goes a long way! This gluten free and vegan peel is activated with pumpkin enzymes and it really is in the best pore minimizer products you can find. This pore minimizer is pretty powerful so you should probably only use it one to two times a week. It leaves your skin feeling fresh and revitalized and you’ll definitely notice smaller pores and tighter skin.

Philosophy The Microdelivery Peel

Feel like a teenager again after using this peel. Its active ingredients are lactic acid and salicylic acid combine together to deeply exfoliate your skin. Plus it’s packed with antioxidants to help the skin regenerate and heal faster. You get the added benefits of having all of your fine wrinkles erased and that baby-bottom smoothness and radiance that you get from salicylic peels. After a few treatments, you’ll notice (or more accurately—not notice) your pores.

Best pore minimizer for makeup

So you’ve done all the scrubbing and toning and peeling and you’re still not satisfied with what all of these best pore minimizer products have done for you. There is one final solution that isn’t exactly a cure, but it sure does the job making your skin look young and smooth. You can use a primer in your makeup regimen. The good news is that for you guys who are looking to reduce your pores also, you can many of these skin care products without makeup or without looking like you have any makeup on.

Maybelline New York Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser Primer

This primer is designed to be used with or without makeup. It goes on clear and within a few minutes, it shrinks up all your pores and fine wrinkles to create a flawless face. Maybelline’s Baby Skin is pretty much the best pore minimizer makeup primer out there. Just about everyone uses this product and its price is perfect! After a little drop of this rubbed into your face, you’ll be telling the director, “I’m ready for my closeup!”

Thoughts on the best pore minimizer

Just about any dermatologist will tell you that the size of your pores is genetic and there is not much you can do about it. Here at Civilized Skin Care, we say an enthusiastic, “No Way!”

The reason a dermatologist would tell you to not bother is because most low-end pore minimizing skin products can really mess up your skin in other ways. Some primers essentially just spackle on and clog your pores giving you terrible breakouts. If you don’t diligently read all the directions for some chemical peels, they have the capacity to burn your face really badly. If you’ve ever seen someone walking around with the “red clown face,” you know exactly what I’m talking about. And some low end toners are basically just witch hazel or have other impurities added to pad the volume.

In you quest to reduce your pores, you could hurt your face more than you are helping. This is why you should stick with any of the best pore minimizer products recommended on this page. As with all skin care products, you might have to try a few different ones until you find the formulation that is just perfect for your skin.

As always, the best way to civilized skin is to seek out the best products you can find with the most natural ingredients. Take care!

The post Best Pore Minimizer – Reviews for 2017 appeared first on Civilized Skin Care.

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The Best Body Wash for Dry Skin – Reviews in 2017

Your dry sensitive skin will thank you

Having dry skin stays with you all day. If you use the wrong body soap, you feel it all day. Your skin feels sensitive and itchy. Your clothes rub and pull at your skin and you feel it every time you move. Having dry skin can feel like torture. The body wash you choose has very real consequences to dry skin so it’s vital you seek out the best moisturizing body wash for dry skin.

Best moisturizing body wash for dry skin

The Yellow Bird - Lavender Soap Bar w/ Goats Milk and Oats

Best natural body wash for dry skin

Tree to Tub - Soapberry for Body Sensitive Skin Body Wash

Best body wash for extremely dry skin

CLn BodyWash - Physician-Developed Therapeutic Body Wash

Best body wash for dry sensitive skin

Purity Natural Beauty - Organic Exfoliating Body Wash

Cheaper body washes use chemicals and toxins to pad and preserve their products. Sure, it says this body wash will last forever, but is that because it’s formulated with a nuclear isotope?! Obviously (hopefully!), that’s not true, but some of the stuff they do put into your soap is proven to be toxic to human beings.

Then you go scrubbing this into your sensitive dry skin… your poor skin desperate for moisture is going to soak up anything you put on it. This includes all the garbage they mix in so it doesn’t separate or break down from sitting on the shelf too long. And some of those companies that make body products by the MILLIONS, you can’t tell me that they are buying the best ingredients. They are buying the cheapest ingredients that can be provided in BULK with the best supply chain. This rarely means they are going for the best ingredients.

So let’s make a promise to your dry skin at this very moment to only put excellent body washes, soaps, scrubs, and lotions that has as many natural ingredients in them as possible. Ever hear of someone (without a food allergy) complaining of his skin breaking out from having too many natural products touching it? Didn’t think so.

So what is the best body soap for dry skin?

Literally dozens of ingredients can be packed into a body wash for many different reasons. You might think that the ingredient list really doesn’t mean much, but there are things that are brilliant for dry skin and then there are ingredients that can be devastating.

Some things you definitely should look for in body washes for dry, itchy skin:

Essential Oils. These oils replace the need for synthetic fragrances and many of them are good for your skin too. Some essential oils also offer tremendous healing benefits to our bodies.

Natural Oils. Oils like coconut oil, olive oil, or even hemp oil are all fabulous for your skin. They are naturally anti-microbial, moisturizing, and they provide tons of antioxidants and vitamins to your skin.

Beeswax. Not too many body washes have much beeswax in them, but it’s fabulous for your skin! It leaves your skin moistened and nourished.

Some things that you should avoid in your body washes:

Triclosan. This is an antibacterial and antimicrobial agent added to soaps. I’m not entirely sure why it’s in there, but studies have shown that it is shown to cause skin irritation.

Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS). This is a very common chemical agent that is designed to make soap more foamy. Yahoo! You get all these nice big bubbles, but SLS is really harsh! It can irritate the skin and if your skin is already dry, you will notice it drying out even more. If you have extremely sensitive skin, you can also add sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) to the list of skin drying agents.

Lye. Lye is one of those “old school ingredients” they always used to make soaps. Lye is a concentrate of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide sometimes combined with animal fats to make bar soap. Sure this was fine for your grampa to use on his thick, railroad-working skin (weren’t all people railroad workers back then?), but once you get it on your already dry skin, it can cause itching, irritation, and even skin burns.

Polypropylene. This is one of those things that large manufacturers of store brand skin care love to dump into their products. Who cares what it’s in there for, it’s a possible carcinogen and really has no place next to your skin.

FD&C dyes/Synthetic Dyes. First of all, if your body has an unnatural color, don’t use it!!! Synthetic dyes are dumped in to make our soaps cheerful and super colorful because, I don’t know, we are a bunch of children that need to get our happiness from brightly colored soap? You are an adult. You are a civilized adult. Do you really need My Little Pony colored soap? These dyes are made from petrochemicals that have been shown to cause allergies, skin irritation, even hives. If you’re really sensitive to fake dyes, it might even cause respiratory problems.

Antibacterial agents. Did you know that many antibacterial agents can kill 99.9% of germs?! Really? Regular soap and hot water can get around 80% of common germs. It’s that .1 percent of germs that this thing doesn’t kill that is the germ you should be most worried about. Seriously. Why would you want that on your skin anyway when it’s either basically bleach or toxic chemicals? Leave the antibacterial soaps at the stores where they can’t hurt anyone.

The Best Body Wash for Dry Skin

So here we come to what you’re really looking for. You’ve got sensitive dry skin that’s desperate for moisture and you want to feed it. But… you are civilized and you want to feed it in the best way possible to, quite possibly, cure your extremely dry skin. Look no further, my friends! Here are a few of our absolute favorite body soaps for dry skin.

Now if you’ve been buying stuff at your grocery store and haven’t gotten any relief from those cheap soaps, you might notice the price tag on some of these soaps. Let’s look at it this way: a lifetime of those gross four to seven dollar soaps have left you desperately looking for the best body wash for dry sensitive skin. Is it possible that these body washes are so expensive because there has actually been some RESEARCH into creating a product that actually works?!! You’re not just paying for a tube full of goo, you are paying for the very real science to formulate a soap that not only relieves your dry skin, but does a whole lot to actually curing it.

Your body wash is not a place where you can go cheap. It’s something you use every day, all over your body and if you have dry skin, this is the first place to look for a culprit. Get something that feeds your skin and not just strips it of its healthy natural oils!

Best moisturizing body wash for dry skin

The Yellow Bird - Lavender Soap Bar w/ Goats Milk and Oats

One of the few bar soaps we recommend because it’s just so dang moisturizing! This gentle exfoliator cleans all your body parts and leaves it feeling soft—and young! How many soaps can say that one? It also does wonders on rosacea, acne, eczema and any other rashes that might pop up on your skin. Users boast about how this one little bar of soap changed their lives after years of searching for something that actually puts moisture back in their skin.

Best natural body wash for dry skin

Tree to Tub - Soapberry for Body Sensitive Skin Body Wash

You won’t be able to say anything bad about this natural and organic product. All you need to see are the gushing reviews to know this might just be the answer to dry and itchy skin. Plus it’s made from soapberries (Sapindus Mukorossi) which is a naturally foaming product so they don’t have to add a bunch of chemicals to get the suds going. And the ingredient list sounds like a delicious smoothie that your skin will just soak up. This product might just be our absolute favorite!

Best body wash for extremely dry skin

CLn BodyWash - Physician-Developed Therapeutic Body Wash

What skin is more dry than Eczema? If nothing else works on your dry skin, you might look into the body washes formulated for serious skin conditions. And this soap by CLn free of steroids, antibiotics, parabens, triclosan, and fragrances. It’s also hypoallergenic, non-drying, and non-irritating that will make your skin purr.

Best body wash for dry sensitive skin

Purity Natural Beauty - Organic Exfoliating Body Wash

So what happens if your skin is sensitive but still could use a little exfoliation without making matters worse? This fabulous smelling body wash will curl your toes in glee! You will feel the difference after only a couple washes with this body soap and your sensitive skin will calm down and basically feel like… nothing! No more sitting in your clothes all day squirming from the burn and itch that seems to never go away. This is exactly what you are looking for.

Thoughts on Body Wash for Dry Skin

As I said before, if whatever soap your using now hasn’t actively relieved your dry skin symptoms, THROW IT OUT! It might be news to some of you, but the body wash you use could actually give you serious relief from the symptoms of dry skin. That’s right! You don’t need 50 different dermatologists to give you pills or skin care regimens when you choose a body wash and lotion for dry skin that will make all of your symptoms vanish.

This actually happens when real researchers spend a bunch of time experimenting with ingredient mixtures until they find a perfect solution that actually heals your dry itchy skin. For some of these other body wash manufacturers, I picture them saying “We should make a product for all the people with dry skin. Mix some low quality aloe in with our normal body wash and label it as a dry skin cure!” The problem is that that their normal skin body wash is packed full of chemicals and toxins that are destroying your skin and making it dry out more every time you step into the shower.

The best suggestion? Look at the label of what you are already using and if you see a ton of words that you can’t pronounce and don’t know what it’s in there for, THROW IT OUT! Get yourself something someone put a lot of effort into that actually does what it says. The best body wash for dry skin is the one specifically formulated for your precious body.

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The post The Best Body Wash for Dry Skin – Reviews in 2017 appeared first on Civilized Skin Care.

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The Best Face Wash for Men – Reviews for 2017

The best way a civilized man keeps clean

Doesn’t it seem like the women get all the best facial products while us guys are stuck with that industrial powdered soap to keep ourselves clean? Men were simply expected to wash their face with the same bar of soap they washed their own feet with!

Best Men’s Face Wash for Dry Skin

Brickell Men’s Purifying Charcoal Face Wash for Men

Best men’s face wash for oily skin

Aveeno Active Naturals Men's Face Wash

Aramis Lab Series for Men Oil Control Face Wash Facial Cleansing Gels

Best men’s face wash for acne

Urth Face Wash with White Tea & Ginseng Invigorating Daily Cleanser

Best facial scrubs for men

Jack Black Face Buff Energizing Scrub

Fortunately for all of us, men’s skin care has really started taking itself seriously in the last 20 years. Scientists and developers have figured out that men’s skin is very different from women’s. For one, men have much bigger pores that get prone to clogging and acne. Add the difficulties of shaving daily and you understand that in order to keep your face clean, you can’t just grab any face wash off the shelf formulated for women and expect the same results on your own face.

Sure, lots of skin care manufacturers say their products are “for men too” or that they’re “unisex,” but how true is that really? Scientists have also confirmed men’s skin has much less nerves than women’s skin. Is a girlfriend’s facial scrub going to have the same effect on your face as hers?

The best men’s face wash for men

So, my manly friend, it’s up to you to seek out and get yourself a face wash formulated specifically for you! No longer do you have to “make do” with skin care made for everyone else [meaning for skin care’s biggest consumer: women]. It’s time to rise up and get something that really nourishes your face and prevents acne and doesn’t exacerbate razor burn.

In a recent interview of board certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Brian Zelickson, he lays out the very real differences.

"Men's skin is about 25% thicker with more collagen, more and larger hair follicles and more sebum production, all of which is mostly due to increased testosterone production. These structural differences make men's skin less sensitive and able to handle stronger ingredients. However, it also makes them a bit more acne-prone, so they don't need as heavy cream-based products"

Add to that the fact that men get skin cancer at way higher rates than women and you see that just buying any old face wash is asking for trouble.

You need something formulated for your manly face.

What you should look for in the best men’s face wash

Man faces have much thicker skin than woman faces. Add all those hair follicles to grow your beard and you’re just asking for ingrown hairs, acne, and razor burn if you wash your face with just any old facial scrub. Your face wash absolutely needs to moisturize your face to promote easy and smooth shaving. The problem with many of the products for women is that they are optimized for a different pH that will dry out a face causing skin irritation and closing up your pores which promotes acne especially if you already have oily skin.

It’s also helpful if your facial scrub exfoliates also. Whether you shave or not, any hair on your face is like a lightning rod to trap oils and those oils trap dirt. The best way to get rid of that is to exfoliate. Not only does it help to scrub out your dirt and oil, it also massages the follicle to prevent the hair getting caught in the follicle creating ingrown hairs.

For the sake of your handsome face, you should exfoliate your skin at least once a week, but if you get a mild enough exfoliating face wash, you can use it every day and make it part of your clean up ritual.

The best face wash for guys

There are tons of options when it comes to matching up your skin type with the perfect face wash (although not as many choices as women get to choose from). When it comes right down to it, pretty much all the low end soaps and washes are interchangeable; they’re better than washing with nothing at all, but besides fragrance, they all pretty much do nothing good for your skin.

So you need the BEST face wash for men. As will all skin care products, this might take a little trial and error to uncover your ultimate favorite face wash. Here are some of our favorites:

Best Men’s Face Wash for Dry Skin

Brickell Men’s Purifying Charcoal Face Wash for Men

Now this face wash is pretty awesome for just about any type of skin. But if you have dry skin, it’s like locking in moisture! This really cool formulation uses activated charcoal to deeply clean into your pores. If you’re wondering what that means, consider this: if you’ve ever had a fish tank, the filter is made with activated charcoal.

The same ingredient that keeps the water sparkling clear in your fish tank, is now scrubbing all the gunk off your face removing dead skin cells and clearing your pores. This stuff is awesome especially if you are outdoors a lot gathering the grime and pollution of the city on your face.

Best men’s face wash for oily skin

Aveeno Active Naturals Men's Face Wash

This lovely little gem is one of the better exfoliating face washes. With Aveeno’s signature oatmeal scent, it soothes your face especially after shaving and it does wonders to gently calm any razor irritation.

Since the exfoliant is so gentle, you can use it every day to make your skin soft and it also does wonders to get rid of blackheads. If your skin is sensitive but you still want to get it scrubbed clean, this facial scrub will do wonders.

Aramis Lab Series for Men Oil Control Face Wash Facial Cleansing Gels

Just about anything Aramis Lab creates is phenomenal for your skin! This face wash is the best thing you can use to control the production of oil on your face. Your favorite part of using this product is that it won’t leave your skin feeling dry and tight and raw all day long after using it. It also helps knock down acne in its early stages which is, as far as I know, pretty amazing.

Before I started using this product, once that little red bump appeared, there was nothing stopping it from turning into a great big zit. Now when I have any little irritations on my face, I scrub my face with this face wash a few times and it clears up before things get way too out of hand.

Best men’s face wash for acne

Urth Face Wash with White Tea & Ginseng Invigorating Daily Cleanser

“Non-greasy textured wash is designed to restore tone, balance and moisture to the skin.” Not sure what that means? All you need to know is that this white tea and ginseng formulated wonder will make your acne go away in no time at all! If you use this one daily, it will not only help get rid of your acne, it also helps smooth out fine lines making you look younger.

Some lovers of this product have also commented that it helps reduce your pores making your face look more even and rejuvenated. It’s totally worth splurging on this one and since just a little bit lathers up really nicely, you will be able to use this product for a very long time.

Best facial scrubs for men

Jack Black Face Buff Energizing Scrub

I’m not sure what they’re doing over there, but they put pure magic into this face scrub! Touted as a “pre-shave cleanser,” you won’t believe what this will do to make your shaving experience other-worldly. Even if you are using the best men’s shaving cream you can find, adding this product to the ritual will make you wonder why you’ve spent your whole life with your face aching from razor burn.

The small scrubbing particles in this facial scrub strips your skin of dead skin cells and dirt clearing the way for your razor to glide smoothly across your skin with no drag or irritating burn. If you have skin problems like seborrheic dermatitis or eczema, adding this gentle face scrub into your daily routine will clear up your problems and make your face gorgeous!

Now since this product is pretty much all exfoliating material kinda like fine wet sand, I wouldn’t recommend using it every day (unless you have the face of a lumberjack). It also might take a few tries for more sensitive skin to get used to it. Definitely keep at it though. The results are totally worth the break-in period.

Thoughts on the best face wash for men

Keeping your face clean, clear and civilized doesn’t have to be a dreaded daily occurrence. Women spend YEARS of their lives trying to hold on to their youth and beauty for as long as they possibly can. You’re lucky! Your skin is thicker and you shave away your wrinkles just about every day.

That doesn’t mean you get to skate completely. You still need to take care of the only thing you have to make a first impression—your face! What this means for you is that you can’t simply go to the store, buy a 24-pack of crappy bars of soap and expect to stay looking young and handsome well into your 60’s. You have to do something NOW to slow the effects of aging and to take care of your precious skin.

You could actually BE in your 60’s and if you started a facial skin care regimen now, you could still take years off your skin. Think of it this way, we all pretty much want to date someone younger and hotter than ourselves. If you DON’T start taking care of your face now by using the best men’s face wash you can find, you’ll be way to old and gross looking to ever even think of scoring with young hotties… unless you become a billionaire.

And if you’re old enough to read this and you’re not already a millionaire, you’ve already lost your chance. So that brings us back to taking care of your skin. Stay handsome. Stay civilized. Go get yourself the best face wash for men.

The post The Best Face Wash for Men – Reviews for 2017 appeared first on Civilized Skin Care.

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The Best Lotion for Dry Skin – Reviews for 2017

Pretty much anyone and everyone puts out a body lotion for dry skin. The problem is that there is perilously little regulation for anything that you don’t ingest. Essentially, there is nothing stopping a “skincare manufacturer” from slapping one or two “healthy” ingredients into a mush of toxins and then selling it all over the country as the next best skin savior.

The Best Lotions for Dry Skin

Decleor Aroma Confort Moisturizing Body Milk

Aveda Replenishing Body Moisturizer

Curel Hydra Therapy Body Lotion

Skinceuticals Hydrating B5 Moisture-Enhancing Gel

Complex 15 Therapeutic Moisturizing Lotion

Moisturizers For Very Dry Skin Are Now In Your Reach

People with dry skin are much more in danger of these shady products. Your skin in thirsty! It tends to soak up lotion faster than people with normal skin. If any toxins show up in your skin care, you skin is dangerously more likely to absorb it.

It isn’t fair, but you can choose to see this as a blessing! You also can receive way more nutrients through your skin than your friends. That’s right, your face and body lotion can actually provide you with countless vitamins and minerals that will not only make your skin feel baby-bottom soft, you can actually get healthier during your daily skin care rituals!

In your quest to uncover the best lotion for dry skin, there are many factors you should consider. First of all, did you know that a large percentage of skin lotions, soaps, creams, moisturizers, cleansers and just about anything you can rub on your skin can be purchased “private label?”

What is Private Label skin care?

Essentially, a manufacturer (often in China) creates a skin care product for a business. That business might have some pretty good intentions and request that certain ingredients are included and certain others are excluded. The manufacturer creates the product to specifications and delivers it the business to sell. Anyone with skin can tell you there are about a billion “skin care companies” out there. Not all of them survive. Now the manufacturer has thousands of gallons of a product it needs to get rid of.

ANYONE can come in and buy all the product and have the manufacturer slap their private label on it. So now you have something “specially formulated” for this new company that really doesn’t know much about the lotion but is selling it with all these lofty claims about its efficacy that it has no right to make.

The point here is that you should never believe claims from a company you have never heard of. There’s a good possibility this company just bought a bunch of overstock and labeled it as their own creation. Stick with skin care companies you know have a research department and you’ll never get duped by opportunists who could care less what you use to treat your dry skin.

So now that we got the scary stuff out of the way, let’s look at all the best ingredients that you want in your dry skin moisturizer:

Sunscreen. What’s the one thing that that will actively dry out your skin everyday when you are exposed to it? The sun! Even if you can’t find the best lotion for extremely dry skin with sunscreen in it, you should still manage to wear something with at least an SPF 30+ even if you are just wearing regular olf sunscreen.

Skin replenishers. There are tons of things you can put on your skin that actively helps your skin to create more healthy skin cells. Things like salicylic acid, glycerin, glycerol, hyaluronic acid, ceramides, sodium PCA, silicones, petrolatum, and alpha hydroxy acids all boosts your body’s ability to keep creating good skin. Not all of these need to be in your lotion, but the more there are, the better the lotion.

Antioxidants. As damage accumulates in your skin from exposure to sun and harsh environmental conditions, your skin slowly loses its ability to replenish itself. Antioxidants counter act this damage and encourage your dry skin to fix itself. There are also a bunch of really great antioxidants fthat you should look for in your skin creams: vitamin C, vitamin E, epigallocatechin-3 gallate, green tea extract, grape extract, resveratrol, willow herb extract, feverfew extract, licorice extract, superoxide dismutase, ferulic acid, and quercetin all rejuvenate your dry , itchy skin.

Emollients. Emollients are fatty, lubricating moisturizers that keep your skin from losing moisture. Any body lotion with one or several of these ingredients like, shea butter, cocoa butter, linoleic acid, oleic acid, fatty acids, borage oil, sunflower oil, mango butter and especially coconut oil is bound to do wonders to help your dry skin symptoms.

The Best Body Lotion for Dry Skin

Here are a few of our ultimate favorites on how to get rid of dry skin fast. As with all skin care products, try as many as possible to see how well it reacts with your sensitive skin. Once you find a winner, buy a whole crate of it and rub it on generously!

Decleor Aroma Confort Moisturizing Body Milk

This salon sized bottle of body milk used to only be available in a salon (at a ridiculous markup!) Now that you can buy it online, your dry skin will rejoice at its good fortune. Decleor really made something special when they created this body lotion and it’s like a miracle on your dry skin.

Best of all, it doesn’t have a strong scent so both men and women can enjoy this without smelling “funny.” This will be one of those things you thought twice about buying but then it becomes one of those things you could never consider living without.

Aveda Replenishing Body Moisturizer

Aveda is one of those companies that really make unbelievably effective skin care treatments. This body moisturizer will not let you down. In fact, this really is the best lotion for extremely dry skin. It goes on luxuriously, penetrates your skin deeply and leaves your skin feeling soft and moist even hours after putting it on.

Of all the body lotions, this seems to be the one that people end up with as their favorites. If you are plagued with dry skin or live in a place where the winter is constantly attacking and drying out your skin, this replenishing body moisturizer will become a second skin to you.

Curel Hydra Therapy Body Lotion

Definitely read the directions for this one! Since this lotion is water activated, you need to put it on after your shower but before you towel off. It is kind of a pain in the butt to stay wet for a long time after your shower, but what it does for your skin is nothing short of a miracle!

You’ll be impressed with how quickly it absorbs into your skin and how your skin feels baby smooth all day without any greasy residue. If your skin has gotten to the point where it’s starting to crack or peel off, this is going to be the one thing that saves it. You’re going to love this! It really is the best lotion for dry itchy skin.

Skinceuticals Hydrating B5 Moisture-Enhancing Gel

This skin care miracle is packed full of hydrating vitamin B5 gel as well as hyaluronic acid to deeply moisturize your dry skin. This is the same stuff doctors recommend to their pregnant patients whose skin tends to get bone dry during pregnancy.

This very mild lotion works on all skin types and especially recommended for people with sensitive skin. Wanna keep your face looking decades younger? This will become a life saver to you!

Complex 15 Therapeutic Moisturizing Lotion

I personally know of two people who almost commit suicide when they discovered this dry skin lotion was no longer sold in the United States! But don’t you worry. You can still buy it online! This formulation is packed full of phospholipids which is like a knock-out punch for dry skin!

Not only have women used it for decades to keep their skin smooth, men who work with toxic chemicals that dry out their skin swear by Complex 15. This is the all-purpose moisturizer for very dry skin that will repair your damaged hands, feel, elbows and just about every other part of your dry skin!

Our Thoughts on the Top Dry Skin Body Lotions

There’s a lot of good stuff out there, but the people who do nothing but create moisturizing lotions and creams really know how to do it right. Don’t trust your delicate dry skin on just anything you can find at your grocery store. You might not just be doing damage to your skin by covering it with inferior skin care products, you might also end up clogging your pores and making your skin condition worse.

You should definitely moisturize your skin every single day and especially after you wash away vital skin oils in the shower. Ever wonder how celebrities look so incredible well into their 70’s? The secret is right here! Find the best body lotion for dry skin and use it religiously every day of your life. Your skin will thank you and you’ll stay sexy and look good naked for a very long time! You owe it to yourself to make this a daily ritual. It is the civilized thing to do…

The post The Best Lotion for Dry Skin – Reviews for 2017 appeared first on Civilized Skin Care.

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The Best Razor for Men – Smooth Shaving in 2017

How many times do you wake up, shave and shower, put on your clothes, go to work, and then you’re suddenly aware of how it feels like your face is on fire. Let’s face it guys, shaving sucks! About 15% of men won’t shave their faces due to the day-long pain they experience from shaving. The rashes, the break-outs, your collar scraping against your raw neck all day…

It doesn’t have to be this way!

The 4 best razors for men

A.P. Donovan - Professional 7/8" straight Razor with Strop and Wax

Merkur Heavy Duty Long Handled Barber Pole Safety Razor

Gillette Fusion Proshield Chill Bundle

The Art of Shaving Lexington Power Razor

The shaving razor you choose makes all the difference

Nearly all shaving pains and problems are caused by using a crappy razor. Not only that, we tend to use razors way beyond their useful life expectancy. How long do you think a razor is good for? The advice on the internet varies wildly from 3 shaves to 5 weeks. The reality is—and your experience will back this up—a razor loses its fine edge after about 10 shaves. After that, it starts to drag across your skin creating the typical razor burn, shaving induced acne and those ever-present cuts and nicks.

So in order to be good to your face, you might consider switching out razors after a little more than a week. On top of that, if your razors only come with two blades made out of cheap white plastic, you are pretty much destroying your skin. Think of it this way: these are the exact same shaving razors they hand out in prison… to convicted criminals! You are not a prisoner. You are better than that. Start taking care of your face and you will stay handsome well into your old age.

The types of razors for men

There are 4 typical types of razors for men. There are straight razors, safety razors, razors with disposable heads and razors that are completely disposable. There are others, but none you can easily find. Let’s look at the benefits of each type:

The straight razor. Bar none, this is the coolest way to shave your face. Seriously guys, if you ever want someone to fall in love with you, let them watch you shave with one of these sexy bad boys. The problem with these razors is that you have to go slow and be precise with your shaving technique. There is a learning curve and you will cut yourself especially right under the nose when you first start out. However, as you gain proficiency with these men’s razors, you will experience the best shave of your life. And if you take good care of it, it will pretty much last you forever.

The safety razor. Another old-timey shaving device that creates a phenomenal shave, makes you look cool, but takes a little skill to get used to. For those of you who don’t know what the safety razor is, it’s the one with the replaceable flat double-sided blades. The ones made with today’s technology are a lot less likely to cut you if you get careless.

Disposable head razors. You might actually have one of these in your home right now. Many of the razor companies send the nice handle with your first head to you as a promotion. You get hooked and now you buy the disposable heads to refill. These are excellent razor heads and some have so many blades that it’s kind of like shaving with a car radiator. The first dozen shaves you get with each head is world class. The shave quality drops off significantly after that.

Disposable razors. I don’t know. It seems like you are creating a ton of garbage when you buy these. These mass produced razors are probably why you face feels so raw right now. They’re great for when you’re traveling or for doing other forms of “manscaping” in areas that would be very painful to cut, but I probably wouldn’t get them anywhere near my face.

The 4 best razors for men

This could easily be the 20 best razors for men, but in the interest of creating an easy to understand list, we’ve picked our top favorites (plus we allow in a couple disposable razors just because we know sometimes it’s hard to start a new hobby).

A.P. Donovan - Professional 7/8" straight Razor with Strop and Wax

Did you ever want to look like the biggest badass in the world when shaving? This exquisite beauty is exactly what you need. Now you can buy a straight razor that costs upwards of $300 so this one is a good place to start. Not only is it built to last forever with a Japanese carbon steel wedge, this is a professional piece of shaving equipment. It has an amazing feel in your hand and just the right weight to do the job right.

Keep in mind, there are no straight razors that come “shave ready” they all should be properly stropped every time you use them. Sure there are better straight razors on the market, but for the price and the quality (and the gorgeous box it comes in), this one is the best razor for men.

Merkur Heavy Duty Long Handled Barber Pole Safety Razor

If this is your first trip in using a safety razor, this one is an excellent choice. Safety razors are measured on how “aggressive” they are. Some leave a very small space between the blade and the head (less aggressive). This one is right in the middle. It has a big handle so you feel like you’re in complete control and has a two piece assembly so changing out razor blades is much easier than with some other devices.

Keep in mind, if you feel that this razor is a little too aggressive (meaning it shaves too much leaving your skin sore), you can put in feather light blades to get an easier shave. Our favorites are the Wilkinson Sword razor blades to go easy on your sensitive skin.

Gillette Fusion Proshield Chill Bundle

So you’re a disposable razor guy? I don’t blame you. It’s super easy and the chances of you slicing your face with one of these is pretty slim. But if you gotta go with disposable, go with the ones with disposable heads and not the “throw the whole thing away” kind. Why? Because having a big heavy handle actually helps you have more control over the razor and this helps you get a better shave.

I think you’ll agree that Gillette makes all of the best disposable razors for men, but the Proshield Chill really is the one you should get excited about. This disposable cartridge razor as pretty much all the bells and whistles they could pack into a shaving device. As with all of the best razors for men, this one takes a little getting used to especially if what you’re using now is really lousy. Your first shave with this razor might feel a little aggressive to you, but you won’t be able to imagine how you lived without this razor after the second shave (and just about everyone after).

The Art of Shaving Lexington Power Razor

Now you’re talking! If you really must shave with disposable razors, you might as well get a seriously civilized handle to shave with. This beautiful razor works with the Gillette Fusion POWER disposable shave cartridges. Essentially, it vibrates. Now you might be sitting there wondering how a vibrating razor could do a better job than the non-vibratey kind and I really can’t even begin to tell you, but this really works!

I love my straight razor on those days where I have time and patience to do the job right, but when I’m in a hurry (or late for a date), this really is one of the best manual razors for men. The gentle vibrations seem to make for a much closer shave. I’m not sitting there swiping at my face over and over again just to get smooth. I’ve never cut myself or razor burned myself with this razor either. This handle is pretty expensive, but in my opinion and given how much I shave, it’s worth every penny to have something as cool as this in my daily routine. Those guys at the Art of Shaving really know what they’re doing.

How to make a razor last longer

Let’s face it, if you want to do it right, shaving is a very expensive daily chore. And given that razors really don’t last as long as you would hope for given how much you just paid for one, there just has to be a better way to make them stay sharper longer.

Well my friends, there is! Up above, when I listed the best straight razor for men, there was a word in there called STROP. A strop is that usually leather strap that you run your straight razor back and forth over to put an amazingly sharp edge on your blade. This is why investing in a straight razor is so awesome. You are sharpening it before every shave so it lasts forever. So how does this help you if you are using disposable razors? The same science works no matter what kind of a blade you are using.

Safety blades and disposable razors can be stropped too.

Check out the ShaveFace Strop Deluxe Leather and Denim Razor Blade Sharpener for Disposable Razors. It’s not the leather kind you’ve seen on old movies because disposable razors don’t require such an abrasive surface. What you do is hang this cool looking device on a towel rack and push your razor against it in an upwards motion. This would be the opposite direction that you shave with. Do this a bout 5 or 10 times before every shave and this puts a fine edge on your best razor for men, realigns all of the blades and cleans any debris from between the razors. The result is that you have a disposable razor that lasts three times long than what you are used to. This strop is worth every penny and will be one of those things in your life that will constantly impress you with how much money it saves you.

Thoughts on the best razor for men

Excluding those who don’t shave for religious reasons, about 90% of men shave weekly. Most do it every day and they shave for the rest of their lives. The remaining 10% either don’t shave because they hate the discomfort of shaving or they’re in a cool biker gang.

Do you really want to go through the rest of your life feeling like your face is burning off every time you use that lousy manual razor? Sure, each of the products listed cost as much as a whole box of 200 prisoner razors, but they give you control over something you just assumed you’d have to live with the rest of your life. A wise person said that you should always spend a lot of money on your shoes and your mattress because if you’re not in one, then you’re in the other. I would add a really high quality shaving razor for men to that list because none of us deserve to go through life with a never-ending pain on our faces and necks.

Spend a little money now on one of our best razors for men and you will not only feel like a badass every time you shave, you face will feel amazing after every shave. It’s the civilized thing to do…

The post The Best Razor for Men – Smooth Shaving in 2017 appeared first on Civilized Skin Care.

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Best Body Wash for Men – More Than Just Soap – 2017 Reviews

Gone are the days when you go down to the grocery store and buy a rack of this gross Dial “Gold” bars of soap and scrub yourself down like a coal miner. Men are starting to realize that what they use to clean their skin matters not only in maintaining healthy skin, but also in smelling like a civilized man.

Best men’s body wash for dry skin

Cetaphil Restoraderm, Eczema Calming Body Wash

Best smelling body wash for men

L'Occitane CADE Reinvigorating Shower Gel for Men

Best natural body wash for men

Dirty Springwash Shower Gel by Lush

Best moisturizing body wash for men

HoneySkin Organics Gentle Moisturizing Organic Face & Body Wash

Best all-in-one body wash for men

Lab Series Skincare for Men Pro LS All-in-One Body Wash

Best overall body wash for men

TOM Ford OUD Wood Shower GEL

Your men’s body wash is more than just soap

ANYTHING that touches your skin has to power to dry it out, make you break out in acne or make you smell like and entire room of fat-tie wearing, polyester-covered Legionnaires. If that reference is a little old for ya, let’s just say bad soap makes you smell like your 65 year old uncle Stu who still lives with your grandma.

It’s time to take your soap seriously, gents. Here at Civilized Skincare, we believe that nothing should get near your body unless it’s good for your skin, makes you smell irresistible to your lover(s), and is full good, natural ingredients.

The best body wash for men’s skin

So what are some of the ingredients that need to go into your body wash? Your body is no dummy! For years, it seems the skincare manufacturing industry has been trying to see how many chemicals they can wedge into your products making them cheaper to manufacture and allowing them to sit on the shelf for years and years. The problem is that your body has no idea what to do with all of these possible toxins so it just does what it normally does. It absorbs! Can you imagine how many crazy substances your body comes into contact every day? Don’t actively ADD to this chemical storm by using bad body wash.

Let’s talk about a few things your body wash should have in it and try to find out what’s best for you from there. Basically, the closer to the nature the ingredients in your skin care are, the more your skin will know what to do with these amazing ingredients in order to improve your skin’s health.

Here are a bunch of things that you want in your skin care products:

Coconut Oil. With all its antibacterial and anti-oxidation properties, coconut in anything is like a full-course meal for your skin. It also boosts your immune system and makes you smell like a sexy surfer. It’s also loaded with healthy fats, strengthens epidermal tissue, and is great at removing dead skin cells.

Apple Cider Vinegar. This is an amazing natural cleanser that kills bacteria, prevents acne and functions as an antifungal dynamo when it hits your skin.

Sea Salt. When sea salt is added to your body wash as an exfoliant, it helps your skin so much! Sea salt soothes skin, removes dead cells, helps with breakouts by balancing the natural oils in your skin and help the skin stay moist.

Avocado. This fatty wonderfruit is packed with vitamins your skin loves. Not only should you eat avocados daily, you get an extra boost when they show up in you men’s body wash.

Aloe Vera. You rub it on your skin for sunburns. If it can fix that, imagine what glorious goodness it give to healthy skin

Shea Butter. If you have dry skin, this stuff is the best!

Now these are only a handful of ingredients you’d like to see in your body products, but there are tons more that do wonders for cleaning and preparing your skin. Things like castor oil, jojoba oil, raw honey, lemon essential oil, tea tree oil, argan oil, almond oil, and lavender essential oil all make you skin smile. Any skin products with these ingredients are going to hook up your skin perfectly.

What about the things to avoid in the best body wash for men?

Inorganic compounds

Petroleum gels (clogs pores)

Parabens (preservative)

Toluene (thinner)

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (kidney damage)

Synthetic colors

Getting these chemicals on your skin, not only messes with your skin, it messes with your immune system, your respiratory system, and can really damage internal organs if you expose yourself to them enough.

So what’s the best men’s body wash?

Here are a few of our favorite body washes that pretty much all guys can get behind. We split them into categories so you can find exactly what you are looking for.

Best men’s body wash for dry skin

Cetaphil Restoraderm, Eczema Calming Body Wash

OK so the label says it’s for eczema, but make no mistake, this provides some serious dry skin relief no matter if you just dry out a little or you have a full-blown skin condition. This formulation features their patented Filaggrin and ceramide technology that simply spells out the most perfect dry skin relief you’ve ever felt. Not only that, they take out all the harsh chemicals, fragrances, and paraben that make you break out and dry out your skin even further. This stuff is safe for all types of skin, allergies and even little babies and is one of the most dermatologist recommended body washes you find out there.

Best smelling body wash for men

L'Occitane CADE Reinvigorating Shower Gel for Men

Oh my God, The SMELL! L’Occitane is mostly known for its women’s skincare products, but their CADE line of products are bound to make anyone who gets close enough to you to swoon like a teenager in love. If you want sexy people to always be angling to get closer to you, this is the best body wash for men who want to smell like an international spy/intrepid astronaut/sexy lumberjack. There is nothing better, fellas. I dare you to find a more desirable smell!

Best natural body wash for men

Dirty Springwash Shower Gel by Lush

You’re gonna love Lush’s products. They load up their products with natural ingredients and everything they make is worth a try. We love this one because it’s like waking up to a tingle party! The spearmint in this body wash leaves you skin feeling cool and invigorated. These ingredients are totally VEGAN so you know all the fluffy bunnies were left alone in the making of this product. The great thing about Lush’s body wash is that they use very little water to make them so you don’t need to use a huge handful to get the kind of lather you want out of your shower gels.

Best moisturizing body wash for men

HoneySkin Organics Gentle Moisturizing Organic Face & Body Wash

This all organic formula does just about everything you can imagine. Not only is it effective in clearing up seborrhea, eczema, psoriasis, acne, and rosacea, if you have normal skin, it moistens it ‘til it’s plump and supple! Aloe Vera is the main ingredient that goes into this cleanser and you will feel it every time you hop out of the shower! It’s also made with medical grade Manuka honey that’s a powerful anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral, clarifying your skin. This will be the last moisturizing body wash you will ever use in your life. Nothing else will even come close..

Best all-in-one body wash for men

Lab Series Skincare for Men Pro LS All-in-One Body Wash

As they say on the label, you can use this on your body and your face, you can wash your hair, you can even shave with it. It works fantastically for all of them. I think it’s best as a body wash, but it’s a perfect wash to bring to the gym or for traveling.

Best overall body wash for men

TOM Ford OUD Wood Shower GEL

Some might freak out at the $90 price tag, but once you’ve taken a shower with this body wash, you will be impressed with how actually happy you feel! That is no joke! The smell is gorgeous and whatever they put in this stuff will actually make you walk up to a complete stranger and ask them to feel how smooth your skin is. This is crazy good.

Thoughts on the best body wash for men’s skin

We are all different creatures with different skincare needs. Some of us have skin allergies. Some of us have skin conditions. Some of us have acne or rashes or any number of things we would like to fix about our skin. Great body wash is about looking good (and smelling good) in our own skins. You’re only born with the skin you’re in so you seriously have to take care of it.

No longer can you use mass produced skin care products that make you dry or oily or make you smell like everyone else on the bus. You have an amazing chance to stand out in the crowd by taking expert care of your skin and wearing a scent that might actually make you seem more intelligent and more mysterious that you might truly be.

Don’t skimp when it comes to your body cleanser and you will never have a reason to feel self-conscious whenever you spend some time with completely naked sexy lover wearing nothing but desire on their face. Oooooh baby! The best body wash for men will make you eager to be right there…

The post Best Body Wash for Men – More Than Just Soap – 2017 Reviews appeared first on Civilized Skin Care.

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The Best Shaving Cream on the Market in 2017

It is estimated that a typical man with shave at least 20 thousand times in his life! So figuring out the best shaving cream and the best razor for men is really important. In fact, most shaving accidents are caused by either dull blades or by not properly preparing your skin before you shave. Before we examine your choice in razor, let’s first prepare your skin for an amazing shave.

The Best Shaving Cream for Men

Penhaligon's London Blenheim Bouquet Men’s Shaving Cream

Truefitt & Hill 1805 Shave Cream

L'Occitane Cade Rich Shaving Cream for Men

Burt's Bees Natural Skin Care For Men Shaving Cream

HAVANA Shaving Cream for Men

Ingredients in the best shaving cream.

There are dozens of ingredients that go into a high quality shaving cream. Some of them are very important. Others are there to help with the whole foaming process, add a smoother glide, or help preserve the cream from separating or going bad.

In most typical shaving creams, most of the following ingredients are present: water, stearic acid, myristic acid, potassium hydroxide, coconut acid, glycerin, triethanolamine, some kind of pleasant fragrance and sodium hydroxide. The function of most of these items is to create fatty acids that provide that smooth feel when shaving. The worst thing that can happen during shaving is that “scratchy” feel that’s actually damaging your skin. So these ingredients combined provide an inorganic base that suspends the fatty acids and triglycerides to create a chemical reaction that softens your skin for shaving and helps your razor glide over the surface without tearing or slicing the skin.

There are very specific reasons for each one of these ingredients to show up in shaving cream for men, but for now, all you need to be concerned with is the purity of each product. Obviously, lower quality ingredients provide for a lower quality (and possibly dangerous) shave. If you’ve ever been in a place without shave cream and used bar soap instead, you can definitely remember feeling your face and neck burning all day as a result. Low quality shaving lotions and creams can provide the exact same painful results or allergic reactions so it is vital you get the best men’s shaving cream you can afford.

Best shaving cream for your type of skin

It is important to be aware that some shave creams and gels are made for a very specific type of skin. Before ordering any products, you should understand your skin. This is particularly important since the best shaving cream for oily skin will definitely not be the best shaving cream for sensitive skin. Men will tell you that sensitive skin men’s shaving cream will possibly make oily skin break out with acne due to the extra fat in the formulation to make the razor glide smoother. Men will also tell you shaving cream for oily skin will dry out sensitive skin pretty quickly making matters even worse.

If you have acne prone skin, some of the more luxurious shaving creams might only make your skin break out more frequently. And if you have sensitive skin, the cheap creams and gels will damage your sore skin even further. A good measure to tell if a shaving cream will hurt your sensitive skin is to ask yourself one question, “Did my grandfather use this same shave cream?” None of the “old formulation” (or old school!) shaving creams have the technology to help your sensitive skin. If you’re still rocking the Barbasol, of course your face feels like it’s been shredded by badgers. Stop it!

You might also be allergic to one or several ingredients in your current shaving cream. Think about it. You put warm water on your face to open the pores to get a closer shave. All shave creams are formulated to penetrate into your pores and soften the whiskers. If you’re allergic to any of these ingredients, you are essentially irritating your face even further. Then you shave exposing a more sensitive layer of unprotected skin. No wonder your face feels like it’s surviving a second degree burn all day long!

So if you suffer from shaving every day, the best shaving cream for sensitive skin men need most should be free of many of the following harsh chemicals and ingredients:

Triethanolamine (foaming agent)

Fragrance

Palmitic Acid (an emulsifier to keep the product uniform)

Isopentane (solvent to dry skin)

Glycols (chemicals that allow liquids to spread evenly)

Sulfates (corrosive products to cleanse and foaming agent)

Polytetrafluoroethylene (a toxic and pretty useless chemical)

BHT or butylated hydroxytoluene (possibly carcinogenic preservative)

Keep in mind, you might only experience a reaction to one or two of the agents on this list—the most obvious one being the fragrance. But when it comes down to it, why take the risk? Why expose yourself to ingredients you can’t even pronounce that might be getting soaked up into your skin?

Generally, the first 5 ingredients listed on the back of the product make up the majority of the ingredients. The best shaving cream for men won’t have any strange chemicals in their main ingredients. If anything creepy shows up at the beginning, it’s probably not good for your skin. Some manufacturers will say “sulfate-free” or “something-free” on the label. This is also a good place to start.

The Best Shaving Cream for Men

The following is a comparison of the 5 best men’s shaving creams in order from our most to least favorite. Just about any of these shave creams, cakes and gels will make your skin squeal with delight. We recommend trying the one most suitable for your skin first and when that runs out, pick another one on this list. The average man will spend 60 hours shaving each year (and about a third of the year in pain if he chooses the wrong shaving cream!). Find the perfect shaving cream for your face and you will live a happy life. And for the love of all that is holy… don’t grow a beard! How uncivilized!

Penhaligon's London Blenheim Bouquet Men’s Shaving Cream

Have you ever had a shave so close and so refreshing that you felt like crying?!! This stuff is like lathering liquid gold onto your face. And even if you’re not using the sharpest razor, it still glides across your skin like an ice skater.

If you are really looking for an other-worldly shaving experience, this is the best shaving cream men who are sick of acne breakouts and razor burns recommend the most. And out of all these creams, Blenheim Bouquet has the best scent. Your significant other will definitely want to get closer to your baby smooth face.

Truefitt & Hill 1805 Shave Cream

This men’s shaving cream goes against everything written previously. For one, Truefitt & Hill has been around forever. It’s likely your civilized GREAT grandfather used this shaving cake on his face (and loved it!). Plus it does have Triethanolamine so guys with sensitive faces beware. But who cares! This shaving cream is the one most people choose as their favorite brand once they have tried all the others.

Keep in mind this is a shave cake so you will need a really nice badger brush for shaving to get the most creamy foam out of this. This is that product that will literally make you say, “I will never go back to lousy shave creams again.” It really is that good. The fragrance is subtle and clean and much more understated than Blenheim Bouquet. If you plan on staying with the store bought razors, this one will be the shave cream you will use for the rest of your life. Prepare to love shaving again…

L'Occitane Cade Rich Shaving Cream for Men

Another shave cake but so much different from the other two. This is a glycerin-based product that really moisturizes your skin deeply. If shaving dries out your face, this is the product you should look for.

The best thing about this shaving cream is that you only need a tiny amount to get rich slippery foam so you might end up loving this for a very long time. It’s also the best shaving cream for sensitive skin out of all of these.

Burt's Bees Natural Skin Care For Men Shaving Cream

It would be impossible to create a list of excellent shaving creams without a Burt’s Bees product. These guys rarely (possibly never?) put any toxic chemicals in their products. Plus this one has Calendula extract which works beautifully on your skin.

Does your face ache after shaving? The Calendula in this shaving cream serves as an anti-inflammatory agent that soothes any itching and pain. As with most Burt’s Bees skin care items, the scent is very mild if you can smell it at all.

HAVANA Shaving Cream for Men

OK, so the rest of these shave creams feature all the slippery goodness you need to have a luxurious shave that keeps your face feeling refreshed and clean all day long. Now we need one that really makes you smell like a civilized man! Havana by Barberry Coast Shave Company has all those voluptuous scents that will make your lover’s knees buckle! Listen to this: “an intoxicating blend of opulent tobacco leaf, and crushed cocoa beans that are reminiscent of old Havana charm and glamour.

Creamy island vanilla laced with natural oils of patchouli and Peruvian clove.” I know, some of you just read the word “patchouli” and instantly thought, “No way! I don’t want to smell like a hippy.” Let me tell you, it really works in this blend. It’s very subtle and guides you nose on a little tour of a quaint little rum bar on the coast of Cuba. You’ll love the shave you get from Havana too. This really is a fantastic product (although the packaging is a little cheap).

Thoughts on men’s shaving cream

As you can see from this list there are no great shaving creams that squirt out of a can! Besides making you look completely clueless and common, these creams require tons of chemicals so that the ingredients don’t react with the can, so that it will stay foamy for YEARS, and to squirt out the cream. Basically, if it comes out of a can, you are shaving toxic chemicals into your skin every day for the rest of your life. Beyond that, they pretty much all make you smell like your grandfather and leave your face feeling like it was melted by acid.

In order to take part in civilized skin care, you must keep one mantra in your mind always:

1. Only use the best products on your skin

2. Limit your exposure to chemicals

3. Get a really high-end razor and either switch out the razors weekly or sharpen it before every shave

4. Get a good skin conditioner to put on after you shave

Seriously, kids, a man spends 3,300 hours or 138 days of his life shaving his whiskers. If you take care of these easy items, you will stay looking young well into your 60’s and beyond. Don’t think it’s important? If you look like your 60 in you sixties, you will never be able to date 30-year-olds! Let that sink in, sir!

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