Are You Guilty of the #1 Men's Grooming Mistake?

If you’re still using soap to wash your face instead of a face wash for men, then you’re committing a barbaric act. Soap is the absolute worst thing you can put on your face, and we’ll tell you why below.

Soap Will Severely Dry Out Your Skin

Soap strips your skin of its natural oils, causing it to feel dry and tight (learn a men's skin care routine for guys with dry or sensitive skin). Nothing makes skin look worse or age faster than drying it out. If you have dry or sensitive skin, you already know how terrible this feels. But what if you have oily skin? You may think “great, a less oily look”. This couldn’t be further from the truth. When you dry out your face, you disturb its pH balance, causing your glands to go into oil production mode, creating excess oil to replace what was stripped. Use a men’s face wash for oily skin instead, to wash away surface oils, but keep the face’s skin pH balanced.

Soap Affects Your Face’s pH Balance

You probably thought you could stop worrying about pH levels back in high school biology, but it’s an important concept to understand when it comes to keeping your face looking good. Your skin’s surface is a barrier of acid with a ph level of 4 -6.5, meaning it is neutral to slightly acidic. Anything above 7 on the pH scale is alkaline and anything below is considered acidic. Soap is extremely high on the pH scale, thus very alkaline. This causes soap to destroy your skin’s pH balance, causing everything from irritation, pimples, dry skin and excess oil production. Your face needs to be cleansed with a men’s face wash as they’re made to have pH levels that are similar to your face. Think of it in this blunt way: Putting soap on your face is akin to rubbing it with household bleach. Does that sound like a good idea to you?

Using Soap = More Facial Impurities

As mentioned above, your face is meant to be slightly acidic. This logically makes sense because an acidic state helps destroy bacteria and free radicals. Washing your face makes it extremely alkaline, meaning there is no acid to destroy bacteria, making it a bacterial breeding ground. Bacteria on the face causes facial impurities, zips, bumps and irritation. Not only is this bad skin care basics, this also affects your shave.

Using Soap Is Ruining Your Shave

Wash your face with soap before a shave? If so, you’re ruining your ability to get an amazing shave. Not only will the soap dry out your face, causing major post shave irritation, it’s also jacking up the probability that bacteria will grow on your face post shave causing those ugly bumps. Your face needs to be slightly acidic to kill bacteria, but soap will cause it to be in an alkaline state, making it nearly impossible to fight off bacteria. Bumps and pimples post shave are caused by bacteria infecting the skin from your blade or environmental toxins.

What to Use on Your Face

First, figure out your skin type using our handy guide. Then use the best face wash for your skin type and use it in the morning and before you go to bed. If you have oily skin or combo type skin, find a face wash for men with oily skin. If you have dry or sensitive skin, find a face wash for men with sensitive skin. Not only will your face thank you, you’ll enjoy a better looking complexion and a better shave.