Skin Lightening For Men

Photo Credit: IndiaMart

Skin care for men in general has never been a hot trend. Fortunatley a lot of men now are starting to take better care of their skin, so many companies are providing moisturizers, anti-aging serums, sunscreens, acne treatments and skin lighteners geared towards men.

A man's skin is different to a woman's in several ways. Firstly the hormonal metabolism rate is very different - men have more testosterone which gives them increased sebum production and sweat rate. There are also minor variations in surface pH balance and fat accumulation. The actual epidermal layer of male skin is thicker than a female's, which means it also has a lot more elastin and collagen.

Having thicker skin doesn't always equal non sensitive or non reactive skin. Many men have sensitive skin just like some women do, but generally their skin can withstand more (i.e. shaving thick facial hair daily).

Now specifically with skin lightening, men may have a more difficult time with it for more than just physiological reasons.

In the last couple of years, a lot of skin lighteners and skin brighteners have come out just for men. I'm not sure if you are familiar with it, but there is a popular fairness cream for men called Fair & Handsome. Though the marketing for it is pretty ridiculous (I suggest watching a video of it on a streaming video site like Youtube, and you'll know what I mean) I think it's a decent product that men may feel comfortable using. It's a basic skin fairness cream (or brightening cream, I gave my thoughts on the whole Fairness Cream & Skin Lightening interpretation a couple of months ago) that has some peptides in it, licorice extract and some UVA and UVB protection. It's also quite matifying with the amount of silica in it so it can help with oil-control.

I mentioned that skin lightening may be more tough for men beyond physiological reasons because there is a stigma with beauty and skin care that affects all men. It's silly and unnecessary but it is real. From the several messages and comments I have gotten from the men that frequent my blog, a lot of them suprisingly don't have an issue with using products that are blatantly marketed for women (i.e. a bottle with flower designs, or a female model on the cover). I find that such a great thing, since I do get the occasional e-mail from a male reader who tells me he wants something that doesn't look like something a chick would use.

The truth is, skin lighteners are for everyone. The thing to note is, 'skin lighteners' aren't the only things out there that can correct pigmentation issues. There's vitamin c serums, niacinamide products, alpha hydroxy acid products as well as sunscreen. All these compliment one another and can also help to fulfill your skin lightening goals.

I think for men, using a product that not only lightens but has penetration enhancers would probably be most ideal. Penetration enhancers are anything that exfoliate your skin, like manual scrubs, alpha hydroxy acids, salicylic acid or rx retinoids. I use this method and I find it really strengthens the efficacy of everything else in my regimen (I can tolerate sunscreens without fear of clogged pores, I know my lightener is absorbing into my stratum corneum (deeper layer)).

Not all skin lighteners or radiance products have penetration enhancers, but you can definitley get a seperate product, scrub or peel to help do the job.

With the thicker skin, and the ability to endure more harsh treatments it can really be beneficial to introduce some type of exfoliant before you use your skin lightening agent.

I wanted to point out that there could be some really pesky irritation issues involving Vitamin C (pure L-ascorbic acid form) and shaving. Vitamin C in the beginning can be very tough to tolerate for anyone, especially at high concentrations. Using a vitamin c serum after shaving in the morning can be done, but please be careful. Expect some instant stinging, some mild flushing and redness that should diminish within a couple of minutes in the region where you shave.

Browsing the internet, I must say I was a little disappointed with the amount of skin lighteners targeted towards men. There are only a couple. The ones I managed to find are:

Fair & Handsome and Lightenex Cream For Men

Both of those are not the cream of the crops per se, but out of the two Fair & Handsome at least offers matifying sun protection. Lightenex Cream has too many oils in it for any skin type that is not super resilient or dry to tolerate.

My suggestion to men is to use the products in the market. There are a lot of great things out there. OTC lighteners like DDF Holistic Lightener and a vitamin c serum in the day time underneath your sunscreen can definitley give some beenfits. Using peels or masks are great too, despite them being like spa treatments, they can help even out your skin tone, smooth rough spots and even lighten on their own to an extent.

If you have resilient skin, look into rx treatments like Finacea Gel (Azealic acid) at night as that can also help with decreasing melanin production and smoothing out your skin.

The key is to not believe stigmas. Like what I mentioned in Motivation & Skin Lightening, this is something you're doing for yourself.

Resources:

Comparing alternative methods of measuring skin color and damage

Gender linked differences in human skin