1) This is a quick thread on moisturizing and gender, inspired by the tweet below & the fact that I hate going to the pharmacy and looking for face lotion that isn't branded as something like 'FACE ARMOUR!!!' or 'eye creme FOR REAL MEN' or whatever. https://twitter.com/LenMandy/status/1200248116902912002

2) Skin type varies; mine gets really dry and will crack in winter, so I moisturize. Shaving irritates the face; it's smart to moisturize. Exfoliating the face feels really good. I'm also prone to waking up with dark circles under the eyes bc I'm allergic to dust mites.

3) If I don't put lotion on my arms and legs, especially in the winter (I live 6-7 months / year in Maine) then my dry skin will flake off on the inside of my clothes (I also wear black about 75% of the time, so).

4) Bc my skin (face and body) gets dry, I've always taken skincare seriously. But I do think a lot of adult men are missing out just because it's not meant to be a thing for a man to take care of his skin. I'm making this assumption based on marketing of 'men's' skincare stuff.

5) In the UK major pharmacies (Boots, Superdrug) it's especially bad. There are 'men's' sections with aggressively marketed and scented stuff (US readers think Axe body spray, but about 10 whole product lines of that), with comically aggressive names and packaging.

6) And I feel like: I'm a grown-ass man, I'm not buying a toy truck here, but you're kinda treating me like I am right now. So then I need to locate the good stuff, which is in an aggressively gendered 'women's section' where makeup blends into lotion.

7) True story: a sales associate at the Aveda counter in Cambridge stared at me in confusion for a full 10 seconds when I approached her with a handful of skincare products and asked a couple of questions. 'For you or?' 'Oh, right, yes, for me.'

8) So yeah, I complain about this stuff because I find the corny gendering of all these products really patronizing. But the flip side of what I'm complaining about is that for women, of course, all of this shit is assumed oppressively mandatory. So it's not good either way.

9) Nor is it equally not good. But my point is that the fact we can't get over ourselves enough to take care of our skin without being made to feel masculine in so doing is pretty sad. /end

Addendum: Can't believe I forgot this, but the sun is bad for your skin. Regardless of where you live or how much you go outside, I recommend (following my dermatologist) daily face lotion *with SPF*.