How do you take care of your skin and face? FOR MEN

[Iman_]

Hi there, 

Share your facial and skin care routine and diet. 

Thanks, 

[The0Self]

Varied diet. At least 80g protein a day. Fruits, vegetables, Greek yogurt, beef, chicken, potatoes, rice, etc. Generally, nice restaurant food at least once a week, and fast food at least once a week as well. Generally skip breakfast but not always. Barebones barbell training at the moment; trying not to push it very hard at all -- mainly chin ups, overhead press, side laterals, and deadlifts.

Two supplements have reliably caused breakouts for me: taurine and synthetic vitamin E (dl-alpha tocopherol).

The previous is less relevant compared to the following:

I used to have at least one zit/blemish at any given time. I changed two things at once around seven years ago, after which point, to this day, I rarely ever have breakouts/blemishes -- more specifically, if I had to guess I'd say maybe an inconsequential breakout of one or two zits, once every 1-2 months. What were those two things?

1. Started using Nivea for Men Face Wash ( don't worry, I've stopped this for several days at a time and have determined the primary factor is #2)

2. At the end of every shower, every morning, turn the water on as cold as the thing will allow, and cool down entire body with contact with the water (actually cool down every surface; takes at least a minute total), especially the scalp (and face and back, but also everywhere), then when totally cold, shake off and get out and dry off immediately.

I've tested #2 by going back to ending on warm/hot/cool, rather than cold. Holy fuck, guys and gals -- never get out of the shower without turning the water on cold first. The difference is insane -- at least in my experience. (If you don't have breakouts, then of course none of this applies -- just keep doing what you're doing.)

It seems to me the mechanism for why this is effective is the closing of pores. Some of this is obvious, but the takeaway here should be: if any surface of the body is warm, there will be an associated tendency for pores to open globally/throughout, so it's important to get the whole body cool if pores are to be maximally closed. And if you have a lot of hair, it does indeed seem to take extra time to cool the scalp.

[Iman_]

7 hours ago, The0Self said:

Two supplements have reliably caused breakouts for me: taurine and synthetic vitamin E (dl-alpha tocopherol).

 

Most blogs about skin care recommends to take vitamin E. I nearly buy for one as part of my supplementation for my skin. 
 

7 hours ago, The0Self said:

Varied diet. At least 80g protein a day. Fruits, vegetables, Greek yogurt, beef, chicken, potatoes, rice, etc. Generally, nice restaurant food at least once a week, and fast food at least once a week as well.

I ate 5 meals a day to build muscle, I think protein is the cause of my breakouts and pimples. 

I'm currently taking moisturizer and sunscreen. Thanks for sharing!

Edited June 11, 2022 by Iman_
I just add "thanks for sharing"

[The0Self]

3 hours ago, Iman_ said:

Most blogs about skin care recommends to take vitamin E. I nearly buy for one as part of my supplementation for my skin. 

D-alpha tocopherol (natural vitamin E) is fine. It’s the dl-alpha tocopherol that caused breakouts for me. And taurine. It seems that is not a common side effects for those supplements but that was my experience.

3 hours ago, Iman_ said:

I ate 5 meals a day to build muscle, I think protein is the cause of my breakouts and pimples. 

I'm currently taking moisturizer and sunscreen. Thanks for sharing!

IGF-1 and dairy can often be associated with breakouts. All I can say is protein is not an issue in my case — often well over 120g a day. The main thing, that eclipsed everything else, in my experience, was turning the shower temp on max-cold to close my pores, before immediately getting out and drying off (all this after a nice warm shower of course).

? 

Edited June 11, 2022 by The0Self

[RendHeaven]

20 hours ago, Iman_ said:

I think protein is the cause of my breakouts and pimples. 

The means by which to eliminate pimples is pretty well documented. "Protein" is not the culprit.

Of course the impact of each item on this list varies by person, but overwhelmingly, here are the acne triggers that you should eliminate:

Wheat, dairy, sugar, processed foods, stress, insufficient sleep, and finally just age. If you're a teenager, you could just be doomed to acne no matter what you do. That's how it was for me haha. Skin care products that purport to treat acne tend to be useless.

Edited June 11, 2022 by RendHeaven

[flowboy]

Your skin is just a reflection of your overall health.

Skin products are the last place you should look if you want healthy skin.

I'm not of the belief that we need to put all this shit on our face every day.

I don't have a skin care routine. I wash my face with water.

My skin is fine, unless I take too much of something, like coffee or unhealthy food.

My skin broke out a lot when I was in Spain, where there's a lot of chlorine in the tap water.

My diet is mostly fresh-made salads with vegetables and fruit. Some nuts. Some bread here and there but not daily.

I don't eat sugar. I don't eat any oils besides lots of olive and coconut oil.

I don't eat cow milk products.

Edited June 23, 2022 by flowboy

[Clabber Girl]

I agree - I think healthy skin is from the inside out. Women will put all sorts of lotions and potions on their faces in order to diminish fine lines/wrinkles but that only helps maybe 10% of the issue. 90% of skin health depends on hydration, adequate nutrition, sleep, exercise, and lowering stressors.

[integral]

I sweat every day.

[Leo Gura]

If you consume powdered food or protein, yeah, that will cause massive acne in my experience.

Protein from organic whole meat does not.

The best thing I did for my skin was to cook all my own food.

Once you get your diet right no other routine should be necessary.

[Jannes]

3 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

If you consume powdered food or protein, yeah, that will cause massive acne in my experience.

Do you include products that are made out of flower like pasta or bread no matter what kind ?

[Leo Gura]

10 minutes ago, Jannes said:

Do you include products that are made out of flower like pasta or bread no matter what kind ?

In my experience quality flour products do not cause acne. So no.

What you should be concerned about is powdered veggies and powdered protein like whey. And any products that contain them, like protein bars.

[Jannes]

8 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

What you should be concerned about is powdered veggies and powdered protein like whey. And any products that contain them, like protein bars.

It’s just that protein powder can make you diet SO much easier when you are into fitness (and also vegetarian). So I wonder if that is true for all protein powders because there are so many different ones (whey, casein, pea&rice, soy, eaas, high quality ones with digestive enzymes, eggwhite protein powder, …)

its time for artificial meat to come out ?

[bazera]

@Leo Gura Do you recommend eating quality flour products prepared at home? Like, almond flour or coconut flour stuff.

Edited July 18, 2022 by bazera

[caelanb]

I have used salicylic acid cream to help clear out my (moderate) acne. I did not clear out everything, but it was good enough. I tried using a routine with a skin cleanser, exfoliate, acne cream and moisturizer. Unfortunately, my skin didn't like it very much. It could have been due to the wrong creams, but I don't know.

I've heard people say you should at least moisturize your skin. I've tried doing this, but my skin has never responded well to any store-bought moisturizer I used.

But, if all else fails, in my experience, something that worked like magic was the Tiege Hanley acne treatment system. It cleared up my skin very well. I still have some because I did not go through the whole container, even though they are small containers. That said, it's not cheap because you have to pay a monthly subscription.

But now, back to the main point, I don't use any skin care products apart from the salicylic acid I mentioned above, which I only use once in a while (this could obviously change). However, it seems to have reached a point where it does not do much. It's not much of an issue because my skin is fairly clear, but unfortunately, it is not perfect.

[UnbornTao]

@flowboy You don't eat sugar?

What were the first weeks like after quitting?

[flowboy]

@UnbornTao  At that time I went keto at the same time, so I had a mild 'keto flu' which means a few days of body aches and low energy.

These days I eat sugar sometimes, but on most days I don't, so there's no dependency there.

Trained myself to buy healthy ingredients, so sugar is the exception rather than the rule and I'm content with that.

[preventingdiabetes]

On 19/07/2022 at 0:50 AM, Leo Gura said:

What you should be concerned about is powdered veggies and powdered protein like whey. And any products that contain them, like protein bars.

@Leo Gura What's wrong with Whey Protein? I've been considering getting Whey Protein Isolate.