For Gentlemen

This is me, trying to be the gentleman my grandfather was.
Here are my products for the evening. I have a slightly uneven skin tone. That’s why I use 2 and 3 only once a week. 1. Shiseido Men Cleansing Foam (again) 2. Kiehl’s Blue Herbal Moisturizer 3. Avène TriAcnéal 4. Louis Widmer Crème Contour des Yeux 5. Shiseido Men Moisturizing Recovery Cream My absolute favourites (beside 1) are Avène’s TriAcnéal and Shiseido’s Recovery Cream. The former is great to even out your skin tone. An extensive review can be found here. Don’t let the different name confuse you, TriAcnéal is Diacnéal’s successor. I personally used both and whatever they claim the one new ingredient does, it still works the exact same way. The latter is, in my opinion, by far the best moisturizer for sensitive skin. It’s a very rich cream, so you only need a tiny amount each application. I use this in the evening because it has no SPF and I don’t like to apply an extra layer of sunblock every morning. Over night, however, Shiseido’s Recovery Cream works wonders for me. My skin looks balanced and bright and shaving is less irritating the next morning. This is not only for anyone with sensitive skin, but for everyone except those with oily skin. You’d be better of with a moisturizer especially designed to combat oily skin.

Here are my products for the evening. I have a slightly uneven skin tone. That’s why I use 2 and 3 only once a week.

1. Shiseido Men Cleansing Foam (again)

2. Kiehl’s Blue Herbal Moisturizer

3. Avène TriAcnéal

4. Louis Widmer Crème Contour des Yeux

5. Shiseido Men Moisturizing Recovery Cream

My absolute favourites (beside 1) are Avène’s TriAcnéal and Shiseido’s Recovery Cream.

The former is great to even out your skin tone. An extensive review can be found here. Don’t let the different name confuse you, TriAcnéal is Diacnéal’s successor. I personally used both and whatever they claim the one new ingredient does, it still works the exact same way.

The latter is, in my opinion, by far the best moisturizer for sensitive skin. It’s a very rich cream, so you only need a tiny amount each application. I use this in the evening because it has no SPF and I don’t like to apply an extra layer of sunblock every morning. Over night, however, Shiseido’s Recovery Cream works wonders for me. My skin looks balanced and bright and shaving is less irritating the next morning. This is not only for anyone with sensitive skin, but for everyone except those with oily skin. You’d be better of with a moisturizer especially designed to combat oily skin.

Grooming Routine - Evening

Now that I covered my morning grooming routine, it’s time to move onto the evening. As you might expect this one is going to be a lot shorter and less time consuming due to the fact that I neither shave nor shower again before I go to bed, unless I worked-out shortly before. Post-workout hygiene, however, will be covered in a post later on.

  1. Wash your hands. (Here is how to do it properly.)
  2. Wet your face with warm water.
  3. Apply cleanser and clean your face. (Again I do this twice.)
  4. Rinse thoroughly with warm water.
  5. Apply special treatment (e.g. for oily or aging skin).
  6. Brush your teeth and use mouthwash.
  7. Apply moisturizer.
  8. Apply eye treatment. (I don’t use anything under my eyes in the morning, only in the evening. It works quite well for me, but if you have very puffy eyes in the morning you might consider using a gel.)
  9. Brush out any build up that might still be in your hair. (I simply don’t want that stuff smudged into my pillow.)

And done… This shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes, depending on how much you had to drink.

Today is Christmas Eve so I’ll probably be hammered…

These are the products I currently use in the morning: 1. Shiseido Men Cleansing Foam 2. DR Harris Naturals Shaving Soap 3. Mühle Straight Razor 4. Geo F. Trumper Coral Skin Food Aftershave 5. LAB Series Antiperspirant Deodorant Stick 6. Kiehl’s Facial Fuel SPF 15 7. Baxter Of California Hydro Salve Lip Balm 1 and 4 are my absolute favourites. I’ve tried a lot over the years, but I always come back to these two. The Naturals Shaving Soap by Geo F. Trumper, however, is on its way to the top of my shaving soaps. We’ll see whether this stands after a few weeks of testing.

These are the products I currently use in the morning:

1. Shiseido Men Cleansing Foam

2. DR Harris Naturals Shaving Soap

3. Mühle Straight Razor

4. Geo F. Trumper Coral Skin Food Aftershave

5. LAB Series Antiperspirant Deodorant Stick

6. Kiehl’s Facial Fuel SPF 15

7. Baxter Of California Hydro Salve Lip Balm

1 and 4 are my absolute favourites. I’ve tried a lot over the years, but I always come back to these two. The Naturals Shaving Soap by Geo F. Trumper, however, is on its way to the top of my shaving soaps. We’ll see whether this stands after a few weeks of testing.

Grooming Routine - Morning

For whatever reason I haven’t been able to find a thoroughly and complete description of a man’s grooming routine in the morning. There are many great articles and websites floating around that go into detail but every “grooming ritual” leaves out some aspect or another. Therefore I’d like to give you all an overview of my morning routine. (It should be said that I use a straight razor to shave which prolongs my routine, but makes it more of a calming ritual although I try not to waste any time in the bathroom.) Here my guide to a complete grooming routine in the morning.

  1. Fill your sink with hot water and let your shaving brush soak in it.
  2. Step in a steamy shower.
  3. Wash your face twice using a cleanser for you skin type (twice because once to get rid of all the build-up and another time to clean your pores).
  4. Wash your hair every other day using a gentle shampoo (I found a gentle one works best with all hair types).
  5. Use a conditioner appropriate for your hair type. I actually do not use one but people with fine hair for example might need one.
  6. While you let your conditioner soak in, wash your body with a gentle shower gel.
  7. Rinse your hair thoroughly with cold water.
  8. (Use a pre-shave gel or oil.) I don’t and I found that if you lather up properly, there is really no need.
  9. Comb your hair and let it air dry.
  10. Lather up using your brush and favourite shaving cream or soap. Let it soak.
  11. Strop your razor. (Omit this step if you’re using a safety razor.)
  12. Shave the first time.
  13. Lather up again and let it soak.
  14. Apply deodorant.
  15. “Do” your hair. For me this consists of combing once more and applying a little pomade.
  16. Rinse your shaving brush.
  17. Shave again.
  18. Rinse once with warm water to get rid of any lather and again with cold water to close your pores.
  19. Apply your aftershave.
  20. Floss. (Yes, I do floss every morning and so should you.)
  21. Brush your teeth and use mouthwash.
  22. Apply moisturizer with SPF of at least 15.
  23. Apply lip balm.
  24. Apply eye treatment (if needed).
  25. Clean your razor and put everything back where it belongs.
  26. Done.

This shouldn’t take you more than 25 minutes, unless your an unexperienced straight shaver (no need for cuts every morning).