5 winter grooming tips for men.

Winter is here, and it can be tough on guys. Shorter daylight hours can discourage us from getting to the gym. The colder hours make it easy to spend too much time inside. Socialization tends to get neglected. So do fresh air and exercise.

Alongside all of that, winter months are hard on your skin and hair, too. It’s like Old Man Winter just likes to pile it all on.

We can’t solve everything for you, but we’re always here to help. And, in that spirit, we want to share some advice for advanced skin care and grooming. If you take better care of yourself, then the downsides of the winter months might not be as bad this year.

Showers can help or hurt your skin

It’s tricky.

Showers are supposed to be the essential step to good hygiene. You definitely need to wash yourself on a regular basis, and that’s important for skincare, right?

That’s all correct, but nothing in life is ever actually that simple. Showers are indispensable, but they come with trade-offs. While they do help you stay clean and allow you to do important aspects of skin care (like exfoliating), they can also hurt your skin if done incorrectly and too often.

If your shower is too hot, it’s going to dry out your skin. In fact, if you’ve ever noticed that your skin seems drier in the winter than in the summer, it’s because you probably take hotter showers in the winter. That dryness is bad for your skin (and your hair), and it can be a problem.

So, the first thing you need to know is that showers can be warm, but they should never be hot.

Here’s the real catch, though. Even if you keep your shower temperatures just right, they’re still hard on your skin.

That’s because tap water has chemicals in it that will dry you out regardless. It’s worse in areas with harder water, but any exposure to tap water ultimately adds to dry skin issues.

The weird trick to it all is that you have to limit your time in the shower. 

By all means, you need to shower regularly. That’s still important. But, you want to try to avoid multiple showers in a day when you can. And, you want to keep the length of your showers down however you can. Wash a little faster. Try not to soak and enjoy the steam (even though it feels great). Any amount that you can reduce your time in the shower is going to help. You don’t need to get all showers down to five minutes. If you can cut a minute or two out here and there, then you’re going to reap the benefits.

Bonus tip: Use the right body wash

Even if you’re the most efficient showerer in the whole world, the water is still hard on your skin. You can nullify the impacts of tap water with a good body wash. UltraPremium™ Body Wash, by MANSCAPED®, has natural moisturizers that can pretty easily counteract the impacts of tap water—provided you aren’t living in your shower 24/7.

We have it in two scents too: Refined® and Persevere™.

Washing can also help or hurt your hair

Showers can hurt your skin. They can hurt your hair, too, although tap water is a lot nicer to hair than it is to skin. The drying effects still help, but for most people, hair is less sensitive to tap water. Again, if you have very hard water, that can be a problem. Otherwise, the primary concerns for your hair have less to do with tap water itself.

Heat is still an issue. If you’re taking very hot showers, the temperatures can embrittle and damage your hair, but that’s easily solved.

The issue that really might surprise you is that washing your hair a bunch is actually bad for it.

We know. We’re shattering world views here, but this is important.

Shampoos are designed to cut grease, help remove debris, and generally make your hair clean. A good shampoo will also have nutrients and things that are good for your hair, but the act of cutting grease and cleaning hair is harsh.

It’s kind of like how washing your favorite t-shirt eventually causes it to fade. The act of washing can be rough.

It’s still important. Your hair will be worse for wear if you never wash it, but if you wash your hair multiple times a day, you’ll probably see negative results.

Stick to washing your hair once a day (five times a week is actually sufficient for most people). That will prevent excessive washing from causing damage, and your hair will remain nice and healthy.

Bonus tip: Condition your hair

Shampoo is important for cleanliness. Conditioner is essential for hair health. A good conditioner will moisturize your hair and scalp. It will also infuse your hair with nutrients that are essential for great hair health.

Fortunately for you, MANSCAPED® is making this easy. Our shampoo comes with a conditioner in the same bottle. So, every time you wash, you also condition. It’s a good way to optimize hair health. 

Never stop moisturizing

Hopefully, you already know this, but moisturizing is essential for skincare. It’s also extremely important for hair care.

Generally speaking, you don't worry as much about moisturizing the hair itself as the skin under the hair, so keep that in mind as we go through all of this.

There are a lot of reasons why you need to moisturize, but we’re going to focus on the simplest. Moisturizing your skin keeps it from getting dry. Dry skin can get itchy and irritated. It can turn red or even flakey, and it does these things, it doesn’t stay super healthy. Dry skin will get you to scratch yourself. It also takes damage more easily, as it loses elasticity that could prevent some scrapes from turning into scratches and overtly damaged skin.

Clearly, moisturizing is important, but we want to harp on a few ideas.

First, moisturize after you shower. You just learned how showers can be hard on you. If you moisturize after every shower, it will greatly diminish any harm that comes from your shower.

Second, you can’t moisturize too much. It’s never going to hurt your skin. Anytime that you think your skin is a little dry, itchy, or otherwise in need of moisturizer, go for it. 

Bonus tip: Try a body spray

Typically, moisturizing is all about lotion, and you should definitely use lotion on a regular basis. But, you might be overlooking body sprays. MANSCAPED® makes a hydrating body spray that is designed to supplement the effects of lotion. If you dry out a little during the day, you can spray yourself. It will freshen your scent, and it will apply moisture in an easy fashion. You can use lotion at the start and end of the day, and your body spray will take care of you the rest of the time.

That goes for your beard, too

Granted, there are some parts of your body where applying lotion doesn’t make a lot of sense. Those parts include your scalp and your face (assuming you have a nice, bushy beard). 

For the most part, you moisturize your scalp with hydrating shampoo and conditioner. It tends to get the job done.

When it comes to your beard, oil and balm are the easy solutions. You can apply them after you style your beard, and they will hydrate your facial hair and the skin underneath.

Generally, you should use balm and/or oil a few times a week. If you notice your face is drier than usual, you can use it daily. More than once a day is rarely necessary. These are powerful moisturizers.

Bonus tip: MANSCAPED® makes beard oil and balm

If you’re not sure where to find a good beard oil or balm, have no fear. We recently launched a line of beard products, and you’ll find both on our website.

Don’t forget your lips

The last bit of advice we have for you is to remember your lips. A lot of guys do fine with this, but some of you overlook your lips.

If you put all of this effort into skincare, hair care, and grooming, why would you throw it all away by neglecting your lips? 

Lips get dry pretty easily, and if you’re walking around with flakey, nasty lips, no one is going to notice any of the things you’re doing right. That’s especially true for anyone you’re trying to date. You have to have nice lips first. Everything else can follow from there.

So, use whatever product you prefer, and make sure your lips are never a source of embarrassment.

Bonus tip: Try MANSCAPED™ Lip Balm

We have all of the other products you need. We didn’t overlook your lips. Try our Lip Balm and see how it keeps your lips soft, hydrated, and inviting. If any of this effort is intended to boost your romantic game, lip balm is the best thing we have for you. And that’s no exaggeration.