WMBW Reviews: Kiehl’s Skincare

 

As part of my attempt at providing broader and more useful content to all aspiring gentleman out there, i decided I would take a look at one of the details men often forget, grooming. Now, it wont be the first time I preach that the devil is in the details, but it should go beyond your lapel flower and tie clip all the way through to how you smell and what you stick on your face!

As usual, I’m pretty guilty of this myself, and as most of my friends are surprised to find out I have a terrible grooming routine. Look, I’m hardly a ‘shower once a week’ kinda guy, I mean, i’ve got the basics down (I think) and generally never leave the house without smelling good and at least putting something through my hair, even if its just my hand! But I’m talking about the details, the kinda stuff we need to do at 20, so that we don’t look 50 at 30 and mostly it’s just a daily skin routine to help keep us looking our best.

Now, weirdly enough, when I was in my 20’s I was much more fastidious and would scrub, wash, tone and cream daily, but for the most part, I think I was flexing my metrosexuality and it was more of a bragging right than anything else. Recently though, I’ve become a little lazy, and by recently I mean the last 10 years, until I got a talking too from my good friend Camilla over at All Dolled Up (its a beauty blog), something about how I need to take preventative measures and skin loosing elasticity, also something about UV rays and probably something about my lifestyle, I don’t know, I wasn’t really listening. At the end of it all I realised that although mom and dad had passed down the gift of a robust european skin to me, my days were limited and if I wanted to maintain my “youthful exuberance” it was time to grow up (Ironically)

Camillas suggestion, was Kiehl’s. Why? Well, quite simply she said, it was simple. Nothing fancy and technical, just really good simple stuff that works. I did some research, found out the company was 160 years old, it started in a pharmacy in New Yorks East village and has been passed down to 3 generations. They also only use naturally derived products and do lots of nice things for the planet! So I was sold!

So I popped down to Edgar’s in the V&A waterfront to visit the local Kiehl’s stand, they did a quick skin test on me to see what I needed and started chatting to me about my daily routine, which I told them didn’t exists. I did have one complaint though, and that was razor burn every time I shaved my neck.

So here lies my new 3 step skin routine, well, not so new I guess Ive been doing it for the last 2 months. I wasn’t about to recommend a product I hadn’t actually tested properly, what if I broke out in a rash, or it was just plane rubbish!?

So anyway, every other day (or so), while in the shower, I use the Energising Scrub to kinda remove dead skin cells and other gross stuff, its got caffeine in it so its pretty much like a coffee for your face! WAKE UP FACE! That gets followed up with the Energising Face Wash which as the name suggests, energisers your skin (must be the menthol), it super fresh so it leaves you that SUPER clean tingly feeling. I like it! It’s also great prep work for shaving, leaves your stubble and face much softer!

On to the shaving, I wasn’t entirely sold on this ‘brushless shaving cream’ concept, I’ve been using a brush and shaving soap for a good few years now and although I wasn’t getting the best results I was reluctant to break my routine. This stuff is pretty incredible, and I’m totally converted, not an inch of razor burn or irritation since I started using it, was really impressed with how well it worked!

 Lastly, and pretty much after I’ve done everything else (hair, teeth, etc) I put some of the facial fuel on, its pretty much just an everyday moisturiser so it keeps your skin hydrated with the end game being less wrinkles and stuff.

This stuff lasts a fair amount of time, like I said Ive been using it for 2 months and I’ve barely made a dent, apparently you’re supposed to use a pea size amount of everything, fair enough, looks like i’ll have this stuff for the next 1o years!

My routine is pretty basic, and really its more maintenance than anything else, but I would definitely suggest a visit with your local Khiel’s consultant, the process is super simple and its much less intimidating than you think. They also have a massive range for men,and aren’t shy to give out samples, so get some stuff and try it out if you’re in the market for keeping your skin dapper!

Okay. Stay fancy.

If you would like you can stay up to date with Kiehl’s locally on twitter