5 Easy Ways to Fight Oily Skin

Oily skin: the bane of many guy’s existence. Often seemingly impossible to control, oily skin problems can range from a moderate (but embarrassing) light sheen at the end of the day to skin that looks like an oil slick by noon. Oily, shiny skin can especially be a problem for guys, who aren’t encouraged by society to keep a regular skin care routine.

The truth is that there’s plenty guys can do to combat shiny face syndrome – and no, it doesn’t have to mean washing your face every two hours. In fact, overwashing your face or washing with the wrong cleanser can actually make the problem worse. Whether your problem is a minor inconvenience of a major one, we recommend following these simple 5 steps to reduce or eliminate oily skin – so you can get on with business!

Find the right facial wash – and use it every day. To be clear: when it comes to facial wash, NOT any old soap or cleanser will do. Every person’s skin requires a different moisture balance in order to keep a healthy, oil-free tone, and not all cleansers are made equal. Some cleansers may dry out your skin too much, causing flaking and, eventually, even worse oiliness as your skin combats excessive dryness by overproducing oil. Other cleansers, such as oil-based cleansers, on the other hand, can be too oily for your particular skin, making shiny skin and acne problems worse.

It goes without saying that regular bar soap is right out!

The best thing to do is to first understand your skin’s composition. Is it excessively dry? Excessively greasy? A combination of both? Keep in mind that just because your face can be shiny and oily doesn’t mean it isn’t “dry”; too much dryness can lead to excessive oil production. Once you know your skin, look for facial cleansers that specifically address your skin’s needs. Buy the smallest bottles or sample sizes available and try several out, using each type for at least a week. Take note of the results, and stick with the one that helps your skin achieve the best balance.

As far as frequency goes, it IS possible to wash your face too often! Your skin needs a certain amount of natural oil to maintain a good tone, and washing too often can strip your skin of much-needed natural oils, causing it to overproduce even more oil. Try washing once in the morning and once at night, and if you notice this causes excessive dryness, switch to washing at night and use a simple, gentle toner in the morning.

Moisturize properly. Like facial cleansers, not all moisturizers are made equally. Use the same process we recommended for choosing a cleanser when picking out the right moisturizer for your skin. Keep in mind that some moisturizers are oil-based, and unless your skin is excessively dry, you should steer clear of these. Oil-based moisturizers tend to clog pores and cause more oiliness.

Again, regular hand or body lotion WON’T cut it when it comes to your face!

You should moisturize after every time you cleanse. In dry winter months in cold climates, you might consider keeping a little tube of moisturizer on hand to apply to dryness-prone areas of your face throughout the day.

Use skin toner. Skin toner is one of the skin care industry’s best kept secrets. Most skin toners contain witch hazel, a gentle antiseptic, as their main ingredient. The purpose of a skin toner is to cleanse your face’s pores without stripping its natural oils. Swabbing with facial toner is a perfect way to freshen up quickly in the morning or throughout the day, and if you struggle with excessively oily skin, it’s a great way to swab up excess oil without making your skin overly dry.

If you feel that washing your face every few hours is the only way to combat an excessive oil problem, try using toner instead of cleanser – it’s gentler for frequent use.

While there are plenty of great skin toners out there, nearly all of them use witch hazel as their active ingredient. If you’re opposed to spending $8 on a bottle of skin toner, pick up a bottle of straight up witch hazel for $1.49 instead and achieve the same results.

Change your diet. You’ve heard it before, but it’s still true. A diet that contains excessive amounts of fatty, acidit and sweet foods – pizza, potato chips, fries, soda, takeout – is a big contributor to excessive oil production in your skin. Do your skin (and your body) a favor, and replace these types of foods with veggies, whole grains and home cooked meals.

Cover up! Even the best skin care regimen and diet can still leave your skin oily from time to time. When you need to look your best, a little concealer and matte finish can go a long way in glossing over that face shine – and boosting your confidence. Apply a small amount of concealer such as our own Men Pen, to your face’s affected areas (after washing and moisturizing, of course) and blend thoroughly. Apply a very light layer all over if you struggle with all over sheen, or spot-apply if it only affects certain areas of your skin. If you’ve chosen the right color concealer, blending these spots in seamlessly should be easy.

For a little extra help with extra oily skin, try brushing on a light matte powder after applying concealer.

Great Fall Style Finds for Men on Etsy

Keeping a fresh, modern wardrobe can be a challenge, especially for guys. Replacing worn and outdated clothes with the season’s latest can be time consuming – and, for the style conscious, plenty expensive as well. Etsy.com has been a favorite shopping place for crafters and indie fashionistas for a while now, but what men may not know is that Etsy’s large vintage and handmade coffers have a lot to offer a guy’s wardrobe as well.

According to GQ Magazine, knapsacks have been replaced this fall by leather briefcases and satchels; similarly, vintage-style tweeds and scarves are some of this season’s best looks. New leather briefcases and tweed sportcoats can be pricey, especially when shopping designer. One of the great things about Etsy is that it tends to offer the best picks from estate sales and indie clothing shops, but at a lower cost than one might find from most savvy brick and mortar retailers. Thanks to Etsy’s low overhead, most Etsy sellers are able to sell their wares for less than you would find them in boutiques or department stores.

These are our top picks from Etsy for this fall season.

Every guy needs a great leather wallet. Handmade from Vaketta leather, this Etsy pick fits perfectly into a back pocket and ships for a mere $45.

Pristinely designed and locally handmade, this steampunk-style leather briefcase is the perfect blend of style and function – and only $67.

Genuine Florencia silica tanned leather and exquisite craftsmanship make this gorgeous briefcase the ideal businessman’s accessory.

This 1980′s Sasson charcoal grey chalkstripe matching vest and blazer has been refurbished and tailored. Its authentic vintage style is the perfect fit for this season. Finding this suit’s equal in a department store would be pricey, and in a resale shop nearly impossible – but it’s available on Etsy for just $44.

A great find for a guy ready to add a vintage edge to his wardrobe – 1960′s Black Watch tartan lightweight wool sport coat is made by Brewster, complete with sewn-in tag. At $55, even with the added cost of custom tailoring, it’s a steal.

Brown corduroy is great for fall. This authentic pinwhale newsboy cap is a great casual accessory.

At $22, this vintage grey tweed Dorfman Pacific fedora is one authentic accessory you can’t find at the mall.

Scarves are essential for cold winter climates – but they can also be a great fashion statement. We’re fans of this men’s infinity style grey crocheted scarf – only $32.50.

Ready to get hooked on Etsy for this fall season? Search for what you’re looking for in the search bar – or use general terms and sort items by vintage or handmade.

Calling All Pinoy Salon Owners & Artists: Be a Men Pen Distributor!

If you’ve liked us on Facebook (which you really should, if you haven’t already – lots of cool stuff going on with Rockapalooza), you’ve probably noticed that the Men Pen has churned up a lot of interest in the Filipino community. We’re taking more and more orders from customers living in the Philippines every day – and, according to the feedback on our Facebook wall – a lot of guys are loving it!

Maybe masculinity in the Philippines has taken progressive leaps and bounds over more traditional “macho” stereotypes, or maybe guys in Southeast Asia just like to look their best. Whatever the reason, Filipino men seem to be a bit more hip to the idea of male grooming than guys in other parts of the world, and we’re happy to see the Men Pen making a difference for the Pinoy community.

The only problem is…we currently have no distributors in the Philippines! Despite quickly growing demand, no salons or cosmetics distributors have volunteered to pick up the Men Pen to sell from inside the country’s borders. This poses a problem for Filipino guys looking to buy the product, since shipping packages to the Philippines can be costly, take a very long time and, despite our shipping carriers’ best efforts, can easily get lost in transit. While we certainly offer shipping to most countries around the world, getting our product to the Philippines can be an exercise in frustration, both for us – the supplier – and for our Pinoy customers.

The best solution would be for a local salon or cosmetics company based in the Philippines to become a distributor. We could then connect our many sales inquiries to the distributor directly, who could provide faster, less expensive shipment of the product. Who knows? Maybe some men would even travel from their island to visit a salon that carries the Men Pen.

So, how would a distributor partnership work?

Distributors purchasing the Men Pen wholesale receive a 35%-51% discount on bulk orders. Keep in mind, however, that we are in desperate need of Philippine-based distributors, so depending on the volume a potential distributor would plan to order, we may be able to work out an even more favorable deal for interested parties.

If you or someone you know (your favorite salon owner, perhaps) might be interested in becoming a Philippine-based distributor for the Men Pen, email us at sales@themenpen.com. You can visit our website for more details as well.

Not sure if the Men Pen would be the right product for your cosmetics company or salon? These are some questions we recommend asking yourself before investing in a male cosmetic line.

The Men Pen Partners with Backstage Artist Lounge

At the Men Pen, we’re always looking for ways to be more engaged in pop culture. Being featured in a recent segment of the Rachel Ray show was a nice boost, but we’ve been on the hunt for a more guerilla approach to getting the word out about male grooming to more celebrities, bands and scenes. Last month, we found the perfect fit!

Backstage Artist Lounge is a unique marketing company that teams up with some of the  biggest music events in the country to a) provide much-needed sponsorship for music artists, and b) provide the kind of rock concert product exposure companies like the Men Pen can’t get anywhere else. Under the direction of PR expert Christina Martin, Backstage Artist Lounge tours with some of the biggest (and most up-and-coming) rock concerts in the US, introducing products – like the Men Pen – to big name musical artists and concert goers.

We’ve signed on to sponsor BAL for their tour May through July, with a special emphasis on the tour’s Rockapalooza event on June 25th in Jackson, Michigan.

With the help of Backstage Artist Lounge, The Men Pen has provided sponsorship – and, of course, great looking skin tone – to bands such as Yellow Card, Korn, Papa Roach, Pop Evil, The Airborn Toxic Event and Finger Eleven. At Rockapalooza, the Men Pen will be on center stage with Hawthorne Heights, Sleeping with Sirens, Silverstein and many other bands.

So far, it looks like the Men Pen has received a great response from band members on the tour.

To see a full list of bands the Men Pen will be sponsoring on BAL’s tour, take a look at the Backstage Artist Lounge’s tour date schedule (reminder: we’re sponsoring events May-July).

If you happen to be at any of these events – especially Rockapalooza – keep an eye out for the Men Pen! And be sure to take an extra careful look at the band members’ smooth, even skin tone. Proof positive that concealer isn’t only for women – it’s also for guys who know how to rock.

Celebrity Male Makeup Roundup Part 2

Last fall, we wrote about six popular male celebrities who have been known to wear the occasional – or everyday – facial cosmetic product. Some of the names were no surprise (Pete Wentz and Adam Lambert, we’re looking at you), but others, like Robert Downy Jr. and John Travolta were quite surprising. Yes, even Iron Man dons some under eye concealer and matte, from time to time.

These aren’t the only six men in Hollywood seen to be routinely sporting makeup (or “facial enhancers”, according to celebrity makeup artist John Stapleton). More and more men have been seen using a little cosmetic help before stepping into the limelight, from Hollywood’s pretty boys to some of its most iconic masculine figures.

Of course, we’d like to encourage guys to think outside of the box when it comes to skin care and grooming, which means considering using concealer and other blemish control products. But rather than writing yet another article on how men’s make up is becoming more socially acceptable and commonplace, we figured we’d let these male celebrities say it for us.

This is one billionaire who’s not afraid of matte makeup and foundation. We do wish he’d picked a tone that’s slightly less orange, however…

Tom Cruise looks completely natural – and youthful – in wrinkle and blemish concealing base foundation (much like our own Men Pen). And is that a hint of lip rouge?

Conan O’Brien isn’t taking any chances against glaring cameras; full foundation and matte powder keep his iconic look shine-free.

We’re not at all surprised to see Steve Taylor in wrinkle and blemish concealer. We’re just shocked he’s not wearing guyliner too.

How could Robert Pattinson achieve his classic look without a touch of oh-so-pale foundation and rouge?

Ed Westwick achieves a smooth, shine-free look with foundation and matte powder.

Yes, Matthew McConaughey is looking old, but he’d look a lot older without wrinkle concealer.

Chase Crawford maintains a perfectly rugged look with full, groomed eyebrows and a hint of foundation.

We’re pretty sure that without under eye concealer, Daniel Radcliffe would look like a raccoon.

Last but not least, the latest 007 sports a mustache, piercing blue eyes and subtly applied wrinkle and blemish concealer.

How to Get Rid of Last-Minute Pimples

We’ve all been there! Homecoming is two days away, you have a big date tomorrow, your wedding is on Friday, you have a big job interview in the morning…acne never comes at a convenient time. While a last minute pimple may seem impossible to deal with, there are plenty of ways to make your ill-timed acne breakout less noticeable, or even invisible entirely. Sure, it’s usually not possible to make pimples go away completely overnight, but with a little calm, careful action and faith, you can take control of the situation and keep last minute pimples from ruining your big event – whatever event it is.

Take a Breath

First of all, you know that stress is likely what caused your pimple in the first place, right? Stress has a tendency to cause breakouts – and make them worse if you’re already having one. The last thing you need is five pimples instead of three, so remind yourself to take a deep breath and just. Calm. Down. You can solve this problem. It’s not the end of the world!

Cleaning Your Face

There are plenty of ways to cleanse your face and open its pores, but when an important event is just around the corner, you need to be careful not to over do it, or you could end up with an even worse mess – a face that’s red, blotchy and dry from over cleansing.

So, to keep things simple, do one or all of the following, depending on the extremity of your last minute acne breakout:

1) First, wash your face thoroughly with your routine facial cleanser. Now is NOT the time to experiment on a new cleanser, so if you don’t have one, either go to the pharmacy and buy one specifically designated for sensitive skin or skip this altogether. Make sure the water isn’t too hot!

2) Next, rinse your face with warm (not hot) saltwater.

3) Apply a gentle facial cleansing mask, once again, making sure the water isn’t too hot, as this will irritate your face. Once again, if you don’t have one you’re already used to using, now isn’t the time to experiment with a new one. Skip to step 4.

4) Grate apple and mix it with a small amount of honey and a few drops of lemon juice, then apply it to the affected areas of your face for 20 minutes. Rinse the honey with warm water, then rinse your face with cold water. Honey is a natural antibiotic, so it will help to minimize swelling around the pimples and acne.

5) If you’re adventurous, try oil cleansing using extra virgin olive oil. Using a warm towel, massage a small amount of olive oil into your skin. Be careful not to irritate the pimples themselves, but be sure to clean them thoroughly, all around them and across your entire face. Rinse the washcloth with cool water and wipe the excess oil from your face.

6) Finally – even if you’ve skipped some of the previous steps – wipe your face down with witch hazel using a cool washcloth. This will mop up any residual dirt without robbing your face of its essential oils.

Overnight Treatments

Toothpaste! It’s an age old remedy, but it works. Take a clean cotton swab and evenly apply tooth paste (note: paste, not gel) directly onto and all around each affected area. The toothpaste will dry the pimples out and help the swelling and redness go down overnight. This works especially well on cysts, which may be inflamed and uncomfortable as well as unsightly. In the morning, rinse the toothpaste off using cool water and cleanse your face with your regular cleanser or witch hazel.

Covering Up

Now that you’ve done EVERYTHING you can to minimize your last minute acne, it’s time to look at option B – using cover up. Sometimes it’s just not possible to make pimples go away completely overnight, which is just one of the many reasons we’ve created the Men Pen. Using a sponge applicator or cotton swab, gently apply a small amount of the Men Pen concealer to your pimples, working the concealer into the area around the pimples until it’s completely blended with the rest of your skin. This works great for spot treatment, but it can work on a larger scale if you have a more widespread acne problem.

One Man’s Secret Weapon for Covering Acne Scars: a Case Study

We’re always thrilled to hear guys share their stories of how the Men Pen has improved their lives in one way or another. Every week, guys drop us a line through email or our Facebook page letting us know how our simple concealer stick has made a difference in their professional appearance, social life or image in general, and it’s comments like these that keep us motivated to do what we do. To us, what we do is about more than selling a product – it’s about transforming self-image in a positive way!

But don’t take our word for it. Brian, a recent Men Pen convert, has volunteered to share his story of how the Men Pen helped him change his image by covering up old acne scars.

The Men Pen:

So, Brian, tell us what made you decide to start using the Men Pen?

Brian:

In high school, I struggled with pretty bad acne, and that left me with a lot of pockmarks on my face, which I’ve always been kind of embarrassed about. Also, when I was a kid, I fell and hit my forehead on a slide and that’s left a scar that’s still red to this day. When I was in college and out at the bar, sometimes all girls wanted to talk about was how I got the scar. Even when they were nice and didn’t mention it, I could tell they were distracted by my scar and my pockmarks, which pretty much sucked. That’s not what I wanted them to notice me for!

So last year, one of my guy friends told me about the Men Pen. I was a little skeptical at first, but once I started using it, I was hooked.

 

The Men Pen:

How did you feel about using concealer at first? Did any of your guy friends tease you for it?

Brian:

Well, to be honest, sure, at first I was like, “dude…makeup is for girls!” But then I read an article about how celebs like

Robert Downy Jr. are using concealer to hide wrinkles and stuff, and I figured if they can do it, why can’t I? After all, I need it way more than they do, and I was getting tired of people treating me different because of my scars. My friends didn’t even know – they saw me one night, when we were going out, when I’d used the Men Pen without telling them and they wanted to know why my face looked so much better. When I showed them the pen, they were really surprised,

but they didn’t tease me or anything because it looked so good!

The Men Pen:

So, when do you use the Men Pen? Do you use it every day, or just for special occasions?

Brian:

I don’t feel like I need to use it every day, although I have been using it more and more at work. When I have a big meeting at the office or am giving a presentation, I always use it. It gives me a more professional look, and I feel like people are listening to what I’m saying instead of just looking at my acne scars. I keep an extra pen in my desk at work, so just in case I have a surprise meeting I can freshen up and look my best. And I always use it when I’m going out to the club, or when I’m meeting a girl for the first time.

The Men Pen:

What kind of a difference do you think it’s made for you? Do people at work take you more seriously? Has it made a difference in how girls interact with you?

Brian:

For sure. I mean, at work, appearances aren’t supposed to matter, but they always do. I definitely feel like people at work take me more seriously, and it gives me that extra professional edge – kind of like putting on a tie. Girls don’t feel sorry for me anymore, either – we can hang out and have a good time without having to answer all kinds of questions about my scars. I mean, if I date a girl for a while, she eventually finds out about them and doesn’t mind once we get to know each other, it’s just makes those first dates less awkward.

The Men Pen:

Well, thanks for sharing your story with us, Brian! Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

Brian:

Just not to be so worried about makeup being “girly”, I guess. Sure, girls wear makeup, but they do it to improve their looks – and it works – so why can’t guys use a little concealer to make a better first impression? It’s all about having the self confidence to feel good in your own skin.