The Skin He's In

Is your other half always stealing your products? Turns out, he may be short-changing his skin by treating it as unisex.

- Fiona Embleton

Now that your favourite fragrance is likely to be an aromatic cross-dresser, which smells just as amazing on you as it does on him, should we also be stepping outside the box of male and female skincare? Your other half, who piles on your La Mer moisturiser like a face mask when you’re not looking, would say no. As would the other 64 per cent of men who don’t consider maleonly skincare important, according to market researcher Mintel. In the opposite camp is the grooming industry. It has spent millions peddling the benefits of ‘his and hers’ bathroom shelves and the idea that a mysterious alchemy makes male skincare different from a woman’s. But does skin have a gender? Word in the derm office is yes. ‘It’s very sensitive to male and female hormones,’ says cosmetic doctor Dr Maurice Dray. ‘Men have much higher levels of testosterone, which makes their skin 25 per cent thicker and behave differently to a woman’s.’ So, without the right high-performance ingredients, he may not be doing as much to help his complexion as he should. Here’s why…

HORMONES

HIS SKIN ‘Adult men produce about ten times as much testosterone as women, which makes their skin oilier,’ says Dr Dray. ‘Men also typically have larger pores and pump out more sebum that’s thicker, in turn causing congestion.’ If he’s a die-hard soap fan, Baxter Of California Deep Cleansing Bar Charcoal Clay, £16 (1), absorbs impurities. ‘It’s also harder for oily skin to shed dead cells,’ says Dr Anjali Mahto from London’s Cadogan Clinic, who recommends a cleanser spiked with salicylic acid to dissolve the paste-like mixture of oil and dead cells in pores. Try Lab Series Oil Control Clay Cleanser + Mask, £23 (2).