No more macho men, 2007 has marked a big change in men’s skin care and how much time men put into facial skin care. A new report says that men are spending longer in the bathroom than women.

A new report from Datamonitor says men have gelled, scrubbed and exfoliated their way to the front of the bathroom competition, now spending an average of 3.1 hours per week looking into the mirror compared to women who spend just 2.5 hours on their appearance.

Of course while some guys may go all out and spend more than 100 bucks a month on eyebrow trims, tanning and even body waxes, some of us fall into the “Metro-light” category. That’s for those of us who own at least a couple of tubes, scrubs and scents among other men’s skin care products.

The increasing mention of men’s skin care products in men’s magazines has contributed in part to the growing success of the men’s skin care market in 2007. There are more men’s lifestyle magazines today than ever before, informing men about what their skin experiences, how to solve their particular skincare problems, and different grooming products. Not only in paper but also online men can find tips and solution to their skin care problems, such as our site and blog!

So if by now your still not a metrosexual or metrolight and just buy whatever is on sale on the men’s aisle this coming year you should give men’ skin care product a shot and start enjoying the results and benefits of good looking skin and lots of compliments and less razor bumps, skin irritation, acne etc.

This is a common question among men, and everyone seems to have their own opinions, so let’s see what are the facts:

• You need to clean your face from oil and dirt.
• Cleaning is an important part of shaving - it will remove dirt and make shaving easier.

As you see, it is important that you clean your face, but as with most things in life it shouldn’t be overdone. Your skin still needs natural oil and moisture that will help protect your skin. So the amount of times you need to clean your face is 2: When you wake up / before shaving and before going to sleep.

You don’t need more of this, unless, well the situation demands it. This simple routine will help you have a dirt free face and let nature do its work. As always, remember to find facial cleansing products that match your skin type, a normal soap can in fact damage sensitive skin, provoking reactions.

We’ve made a new article on the main site: The Top 5 Facial Moisturizers. In it you’ll find our top picks for facial moisturizers available in the market. As you know, we are already in winter, and the environment plays against our skin’s natural moisture.

These are the products that made it through are filters:

• ZIRH PROTECT
• Amenity After Shave & Moisturizer
• Murad Face Defense
• Jack Black Line Smoother Face Moisturizer
• Baxter of California Oil Free Moisturizer

I’m a reader of Zenhabits.net, so I was happily surprised when I found a post about shaving, so I decided to talk about ti here, the post is “The Zen of Shaving: How a Double-edge Razor Can Change Your Life“, and talks about wet shaving.

If you’ve been around here for a while you know we have talked about it before, and we think that it is hands down the most pleasureable method to shave.   It is also known as classic shaving, and involves no new technology, just the good ol’ way of shaving, just like our great grandparents did.

Read the article, it is pretty good,  and written by John Kunt< form the forum Badger & Blade, a classic shaving forum you should check out too if you like this kind of shaving.

It’s almost Christmas… and if you still have no idea what gift to give him we’ve narrowed down the perfect gift ideas for men, and not just the regular electronics, this Christmas give him something different, something he’ll use. Check out our page 2007 Christmas Gift Ideas for Men, where we’ve put down the best skin care gifts for men. Skin care for men has become greatly popular this year and what guy doesn’t want a razor burn, irritation free shave?