Do men really believe that having a face resembling a “dried raisin” is a result of “living life” thus outwardly expressing their true inner character? Or a result of all those years of joke telling at the pub, dutifully creating those incredible “laughter lines”. Or are we simply too scared to ‘fess up that we actually know bugger all about our own skin, thus through our own ignorance, try and convince both ourselves and others that it’s a natural sign of being a real “macho” man to look 10 years older than we actually are and to have skin that would make a crocodile proud.

This then leads to an interesting question. Do men really have different skin to females? Or is our weathered leather look a result of basically just not giving a rats arse about our skin compared to  women  have being doing so for as long as beers’ been brewed.

Here’s my take on the matter…basically all skin is the same, male, or female. However, it seems as boys become men, and again in later life, our skin (mainly face/neck/back areas) changes. Great!  Now what (feel free to pass this “Secret Men’s business” on down to any sons you have. You know, ‘father to son’ talk!)  Ok. Lets continue… As teenage males, apart from being attracted to warm apple pies, our newly developed male hormones also drastically affect our facial skin, resulting in facial hair growth and an increase of production of the skins natural oil or sebum. This is without doubt a real bummer timing for any young guy, especially just as the school’s cheerleader happens to move in next door! Anyway, this excess oil is the culprit responsible for that sudden appearance of acne & blackheads, cruelly stuffing up any chances “next door!” Most young guys “grow out of this hormone acne skin problems, however, a small minority unfortunately continue to experience this increase of oil production into early 20’s even 30’s.

Moving into adulthood, guy’s skin generally becomes slightly thicker than females due to having slightly more elastin and collagen. Then we need to add the environmental effects caused by the outdoors (sun, surf, and working outside) as surveys state that guys normally spend 40% more time outdoors than females. So this extra exposure causes the added skin damage and deeper wrinkles in men’s faces later in life (probably not laughing too much now I would presume).

Don’t despair! There is an upside as men enter mid life is, which is that our skin still continues to produce more oil (sebum) than females. Therefore we potentially can maintain younger looking skin than them at similar ages, however there’s one last catch! We men need to learn what women have learned and that’s how best to look after our skin, as early as possible. So forget the ‘Character lines’. You’re not an actor! Get in the know and get some good quality men’s skin care products on your face and stay looking the best you can for as long as you can!

P.S I am talking decent face scrubs, moisturisers, eye gels & anti-aging serums here, not make-up! You can leave that to them.