Male specific skin care is a segment of the skin care market has continued to show impressive growth over the past number of years. This may be partly because of a change in the attitude by men themselves to caring for their skin beyond just shaving and a dash of aftershave. The other reason is because the skin care industry themselves have started marketing directly to men offering them products that provide solutions for their specific skincare needs.
Whilst skin is skin, physiologically there are some distinct differences between male skin and female skin.
- Men have thicker skin – men’s skin is 25% thicker than women’s skin, which means they do not age as quickly or as easily. This also contributes to slower and less cellular renewal and differentiation. They also have a higher concentration of hyaluronic acid.
- Men have more collagen, which contributes to keeping their skin firmer and looking younger.
- Men have more and bigger pores than women which leads to a higher incidence of follicular plugging with the likelihood of inflammation caused by acne.
- Men have more sebaceous glands and therefore produce greater amounts of sebum.
- Male skin is more acidic than female skin and during ageing male skin pH is lower (more acidic).
- Men tend to sweat more than women which results in a higher lactate content, further decreasing the pH.
But aside from genetics what causes these differences? The answer is quite simple – hormones, in particular testosterone.
Testosterone affects the thickness of the skin and how much sebum is produced by the sebaceous glands. Men naturally have a lot more testosterone and as a result, their skin tends to be thicker and oilier than women’s.
So, while men age slower than women, they also tend to be more prone to spots and blackheads due to high sebum production.
Keeping these differences in mind, ingredient manufacturers have developed skincare ingredients which specifically target the challenges faced by male skin.
Chemyunion’s 4MAN is a multifunctional active for male skin care that reduces excessive oiliness, provides soothing effect while reducing the signs of ageing and promoting moisturisation. 4MAN contains a synergistic combination of hops, liquorice, red algae extract, French rose, panthenol and menthol.
4MAN improves the firmness and elasticity of the skin; stimulates cellular renewal which improves the appearance of the skin micro-relief and the potential of skin healing; soothes the skin, reduces and controls oiliness; improves and maintains moisture levels in the skin.
For more information on 4MAN and similar ingredients suitable for male skincare contact Chemgrit.
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