Skin fasting is a relatively new phenomenon that people are talking about and adhering to for its perceived benefits. Skin fasting refers to leaving your skin free of various moisturizers, lotions and anything else that you typically apply to it. Basically it’s a break from skincare products that you typically use, to give your skin a chance to return to its natural state.
Is there a benefit, and can skin fasting for guys be something that we should incorporate into our skincare routine?
If you’re a guy who doesn’t currently use any skincare products, congrats! You’re already there. But you might be surprised at the number of men who use skincare products in an increasing fashion.
Male Use Of Skincare Products Is Growing
Grandview Research published results showing that the global men’s skincare products market was worth $11.6 million USD in 2019 and is expected to increase by a compounded annual growth rate of 6.2% from 2020-27.
While shaving and related products are still the largest single segment for men, creams & moisturizers, sunscreen products, cleansers & face washes along with other products are growing in popularity. Men are becoming more aware of the importance of such products and appear to becoming more familiar with them.
And manufacturers are becoming more aware of the specific needs that men have when compared to women. Men tend to have oilier, thicker skin and face other health issues more frequently than women ie. hair loss, face eczema, etc.
And where is this newfound interest and knowledge coming from? As the research company itself states:
The increased exposure to social media has been contributing to the healthy demand for men’s skincare solutions. In this respect, men are becoming increasingly aware of the need for body image, hygiene, and self-grooming.
Grandview Research
How Is Skin Fasting Defined?
Problem number one is determining exactly what skin fasting even means:
- Does skin fasting refer to temporarily quitting moisturizers, aftershave lotions, and other products that men may use from time to time or possibly on an ongoing basis?
- Does skin fasting take it one step further and entail also not using soap, body wash, deodorants and things that the average guy typically uses on a daily basis?
- Or does skin fasting really mean eliminating one or more specific ingredients that you are actively using in your skincare products ie. retinol, alcohol (in aftershave), aloe vera, tea tree oil, etc?
There doesn’t seem to be 100% agreement on which one is considered skin fasting. Some people believe that it just means eliminating moisturizers and lotions and other products applied to your skin. Others believe that it’s a 100% temporary (for how long though?) elimination of all products applied to the skin.
This latter stance of 100% elimination seems less doable given the possible side effects of eliminating deodorant, shaving products and things of that nature…it might cause you some problems at work and in your personal life.
Can Skin Fasting For Guys Help?
Does skin fasting offer benefits that intermittent fasting is believed to offer, where we starve our body of food for a period of time ie. 12-18 hours perhaps?
The belief is that by eliminating all skincare products for several weeks, your skin can return to its baseline so that it doesn’t rely on products to maintain itself. Sometimes we can do things to our skin that actually cause us more harm than good. If you have oily skin, washing your face seems like a no brainer. But in some cases, we wash our face with washes and cleansers that do such a good job, it tricks our skin into producing more oil when it notices there is no oil left on our skin.
Skin fasting seems positive when you say it out loud but when you delve into the topic a bit more, you wonder if there is a benefit, specifically for men.
As we know, the average guy can’t be accused of spending too much money and effort on skincare products as it is. It’s not like men need to be encouraged to decrease the time and effort spent on skincare.
Quite the opposite in fact.
We also know that things can have different results for different people. Dieting doesn’t work for everyone. Alcohol has differing effects on people. Medication works for some people but not for others.
As with many things in life, the true answer might be somewhere in the middle: Everything in moderation.
In other words, don’t go overboard one way or the other. A better idea for men might be to take stock of the products you are using, familiarize yourself with the ingredients and eliminate products with questionable or potentially dangerous additives.
And “dangerous” doesn’t necessarily mean chemicals harmful to our body. It can also mean ingredients that sound healthy but might actually cause your type of skin trouble or lead you to face more problems than they solve.
If for example you’re not familiar with comedogenic and non comedogenic products, check this out.
Conclusion
- Skin fasting refers to eliminating skincare products for a period of time to give your skin a chance to return to its baseline without benefit of commercially produced additives.
- Whether skin fasting helps men or not is really yet to be determined. As with many things in life, moderation is probably a more fruitful endeavor.
- While skincare product use amongst men is growing, many males don’t use skincare products outside washing, shaving and deodorants as it is.
- Men are probably better off taking stock of what skincare products they currently use and consider eliminating ones that have questionable ingredients that may do more harm than good.
Do you use skincare products regularly or are you already skin fasting naturally by not using anything? Let us know in the comments below!