The five-product grooming routine

Most men's grooming content assumes an enthusiasm that does not exist. Here is the shortest routine that actually does something, in the order you would use it.

1. A face wash that is not soap

Bar soap is alkaline; skin is acidic. Washing with soap strips the barrier, which is why your face feels tight afterwards and oily by lunchtime. A gel cleanser costs about the same and fixes both.

2. A moisturiser, even if you are oily

Especially if you are oily. Dehydrated skin compensates by producing more oil. A light lotion breaks the cycle. Thirty seconds, once a day.

3. Sunscreen

The single highest-return product in this list, and the one most men skip because early formulas were greasy and white. Modern fluids are neither.

4. Shave cream, not canned foam

Canned foam is mostly air and propellant. A proper cream gives the blade something to glide on, which is where razor burn comes from.

5. An alcohol-free post-shave

The sting from a traditional aftershave is alcohol, and it is not doing anything useful. An alcohol-free balm calms the skin instead of punishing it.

If you have a beard

Add a beard oil, and use it from week one. The itch in the first fortnight is dry skin under the hair, not the hair itself — and it is the reason most beards get shaved off before they establish.

What you can skip

Toner, essence, eye cream and anything described as a "system". None of them are bad. None of them are where you start.