- You're just kind of saucy, you know what I mean,
everything is nice and moisturized,
everything is looking real good.
(upbeat music)
I think there's a really damaging,
and inhibiting stereotype when it comes to skincare
around men, and black men.
- When you do see a black man
that's often considered to be,
you know, just wanting to check his skincare and stuff,
they're often ridiculed,
and people often attempt to try and emasculate them.
- I think that that stereotype is changing somewhat,
but I definitely feel still like
it's quite pervasive in society at the same time.
Me as guy, I'm gonna take care of my skin,
it's the only face I have,
so I don't mind at all.
- I think more so for black men,
there's just a complete lack of representation
within that industry,
and it is rather alarming.
- I don't feel represented by the industry
when it comes to skincare as a black man,
I have never seen a black man promoting skincare products,
skincare routines, skincare tips.
Now, there's no shame in it,
I think the perception that society tends to have
around black men specifically as thugs, as dangerous,
that also is an inhibiting factor
in the idea of a black man using skincare.
- I tend to feel a lot cleaner, fresher faced,
it's just quite refreshing,
it's a bit therapeutic as well.
So, sometimes I'll just set aside like an hour or two
to do the whole process,
not that it takes an hour,
but just because I have music playing,
or something like that, so I'm just chilled.
- I often try a lot of new products.
- There's some things that I have never tried,
like the things that get rid of bags under your eyes,
and brown circles and stuff,
I mean, I'm just a brown boy
so I'm not really fussed about all that.
- It's been very much trial and error.
I also go onto YouTube and stuff like that,
or just a quick Google search
to see what works,
especially for black skin,
especially 'cause I also have a beard as well.
But without further ado,
I'm gonna take you guys through my process.
(upbeat music)
(light scrubbing)
- I use this face wash
just when I'm taking a shower,
rub it in, get it everywhere.
So the first thing that I would do
is use Body Shop Shea body butter.
So I just take just a little bit,
just to kind of start me off,
and apply it to my face.
And I know it's not counted,
but I definitely count my neck as part of my face,
so anything that I'm doing to my face,
I'm doing to my neck.
For me, it's all very sensitive,
so I have to make sure that I'm taking care of both.
After that, I would use tea tree oil,
so I have Body Shop tea tree oil,
and I would use that as a spot treatment,
so I just kind of get a little bit on my fingers,
I've got a little spot going on on my neck right now,
so I just try and get those.
In terms of just like my beard,
so the first thing that I would use
is tea tree and witch hazel.
So it's diluted, and it says for body,
but I've been using it for my beard,
this is more so for the skin underneath my beard.
And it's a similar thing
to me using the tea tree oil directly on the spot,
so it's just working against redness and inflammation,
so all of my ingrown hairs that I tend to get,
that is what I would use to combat that.
Cedar and sage, just go for it,
just go right through the hairs,
try and rub it in as much as possible,
get my mustache as well,
and then just (laughing) around the eyebrows.
I don't know what it was,
there was just this giant emergence of coconut oil,
so I think any coconut oil works,
the one I currently have right now is Tropical Sun.
I just wanna make sure that my beard is super moisturized,
which is why I use this,
and I can't complain with the results,
I think I have quite a nice beard.
When I don't moisturize,
when I don't use the conditioning oil,
when I don't use the coconut oil,
combing my beard is impossible.
To finish off my face,
I just grab just a little dot of coconut oil as well,
just give it a nice once over,
get the neck, behind the ears.
This works for me because I have dry skin,
it's important that before I leave the house
my face is moisturized,
moisturized as much as possible.
That's the face sorted,
next thing I have is some black Jamaican castor oil,
this one is Sunny Isles, extra dark,
because I'm extra dark.
Just a little dab,
and rub it in your hands,
and that's for the hair on my head.
Once again, back to the coconut oil,
not too much, just another dab,
and then I can go about my day.
You're just kind of saucy, you know what I mean,
everything is nice and moisturized,
everything is looking real good.
So that's it.
(upbeat music and water running)
- I use a face mask like this,
and I found the charcoal peel-off works best for me.
I found that this one,
I prefer it when I can just apply it,
and then just sit, wait for it to dry,
and then just peel it off,
and I feel like it really gets into my pores,
and really de-clogs your pores.
I do this normally once a week,
I mean, on the packet it says do them once a week,
and I haven't really strayed too far
from those instructions,
so I tend to only do this once a week,
for I think five days minimum,
but generally, I just started
to try and take care of myself more,
'cause I've always been going to the gym,
I've always been quite active,
I should also be taking care of my skin,
and obviously taking care of my hair,
and beard and stuff like that,
so, your face is the first thing that people see.
And, it's funny that since I've started doing this,
I've really noticed a difference
in just how clear my skin has been,
and how healthy it looks.
I feel like once I saw that quality change,
it was very hard to not wanna keep up with it.
So, I will be back when this is dry.
Okay, it's more or less dry.
Now, it's time to just.
(water splashing)
I then wash my face with cold water
to get any remnants that might have been left over.
And then I've cycled through
quite a few different face moisturizers,
it's a green tea and lemon mattifying moisturizer,
hydratant, mattifiant,
I mean, that's very long-winded but.
Making sure my face is dry,
then I just try and spread it evenly.
Yeah, there you have it.
(upbeat music)
- I'm gonna talk you through my night time routine.
So it starts off with a double cleanse,
and a double cleanse essentially refers to
using two different types of cleansers.
To start off with, this is an oil cleanser,
which I will be using,
and they're actually great for dissolving oil.
You know, the formulation that is good
for helping you build a good skin barrier,
and you really just wanna get it everywhere.
Now you're probably wondering,
if this is an oil, how do you get it off?
What you start doing,
is starting to add small bits of water
to emulsify the oil,
it starts to go into this milky, white color.
Cool, so when it's all nice and white,
and you've got it everywhere,
you just go and rinse it off.
So this is the Baxter of California face wash,
it has aloe vera, allantoin,
and it's quite good for soothing your skin.
And after 60 seconds,
you just rinse it off.
I think a lot of people rub their face,
and you really just wanna pat it,
because, again, that's just excess friction.
Toner's primary function
is to get rid of the excess dirt,
restore your skin's pH balance,
as well as it can actually be quite beneficial
if you're someone who has large pores.
(toner spraying)
And you just really wanna swipe it all over your face.
I think a lot of people always forget their neck,
and this is why sometimes your neck and your faces
are looking like they've never met each other before.
Good, all done.
This is the COSRX snail power essence,
which I absolutely love.
Boom.
After an essence, I use a serum,
essentially it helps with skin dryness,
but more importantly,
it just helps lock in moisture into your skin.
Cool, so next on the routine is a moisturizer.
So, I use the Oki Kwame oil from Okiki,
and last step is oil.
So this is rosehip oil from The Inkey.
If you think about oil, it's extremely hard to penetrate,
so in a sense that if you are putting oil on your face
before you're putting on moisturizer, serum,
those products are gonna find it really hard
to reach your skin if you've put oil first.
And that's everything,
so, guys, thank you for joining me,
that was my night time routine,
and I hope you enjoyed it.
- The advice I have
for other men trying to get into skincare
is, go for it.
Just go grab a face mask,
get a good moisturizer for afterwards,
and tell me that you don't feel luxurious
just having the face mask on.
Having a skincare routine as a dude,
there's nothing wrong with taking care of your skin,
taking care of your body,
like I said earlier, it's the only one that you have,
so, go for it, thank you, peace.
(upbeat music)