Amenity Blog

1. Use Gel Face Cleanser once or twice a day to cleanse face (and shoulder if you have acne there). Gentle, liquid or gel cleansers will not dry your skin out as many bar soaps do.
2. Always shower or wash face using lukewarm water, not hot. Hot water is drying.
3. Within 5 minutes of stepping out of shower or washing face, apply After Shave and Face Moisturizer to your skin. This will attract moisture all day long.
4. Apply After Shave and Face Moisturizer again at bedtime after splashing face with lukewarm water.
5. Invest in a humidifier to cut down on dryness in the air while you sleep. This could benefit your respiration as well as your skin (and you won’t wake up with such bad dry mouth).
6. For rough or cracked feet: apply Foot Spray to them in the morning. At night, apply The Balm and then cover with white, cotton socks. This will increase greater moisture absorption.

Fight the ravages of cold weather with this ultralight, award-winning, oil-free, high-performance gel moisturizer. After Shave and Face Moisturizer is specially formulated for men to help renew and restore the complexion while nurturing and protecting it. It utilizes Hyaluronic Acid, an advanced water-binding agent, to dramatically increase the moisture content of skin. After Shave and Face Moisturizer goes on invisible and absorbs immediately into skin, without a greasy residue, making it perfect for use anytime your skin feels dry (recommended by dermatologists to be used as part of a daily regimen).

Many men color their hair beginning in their mid-40’s (or earlier). The trick to doing this is that the hair should not look like it’s been colored. When it looks obvious (i.e, too dark or a light brown that looks orange), it’s embarrassing. The first time around, most men go for the full head dye job, that why it’s a dead give away. It’s preferable to spruce up graying temples at home (yes, I know the idea of home hair coloring is foreign to men). But it’s easy. Just buy a kit from a drugstore. But be careful, there are common pitfall. Select a color closest to your natural color (assuming you have some of that left). Limit application to graying areas only. The best trick I know is to use a cotton swab or toothbrush. Instead of leaving the color on for the prescribed 30 minutes, just wait 10 or 15 so some of the gray strands will remain for a more translucent effect (this also ensures that it won’t be too noticeable) . At the end, wash the hair and be careful to avoid stained hands (another give away of a die job). You can use petroleum jelly around your hair line to prevent the color from dripping into your face, ears, etc. If it goes awry, just get a haircut and try again.

If you’re smart, you look in the mirror while shaving. So why not shave in the shower. If you’re like me, you’re going to linger uselessly in the shower anyway, just standing there, so it makes sense to knock out your shaving during your daily standing time. Shaving while in or after your shower makes shaving easier too, because the hot water and steam open up your pores. You can buy a fog-free mirror to hang in the shower and enjoy the best of both worlds. And if you use Amenity Gel Face Cleanser, try wiping a little bit on the mirror for a totally fog-free, high definition shave!

Amenity’s customer service staff has been collecting consumer questions over the past several months. We have decided to answer them in this public blog forum. The majority of questions pertain to product claims of products that we do not manufacturer ourselves. Many of the products are hard-to-find and in some cases, impossible to find. Yet, all of the claims are curiously strong and beg the question: IS THIS PRODUCT FOR REAL?

Our first such question pertains to whether hair growth inhibiting products actually work to minimize beard volume. This question comes to us from a college student in Wisconsin who complains of having a ‘very heavy beard’ that he must often ’shave twice daily.’

While products such as “Jergen’s Shave Minimizing Lotion” don’t reduce the rate at which hair grows (nor do they have any effect on facial hair that already has grown out), our testing panel found that for some men, this type of product does make hair appear less noticeable. Our panel also noted that it may even make shaving easier and minimize the need to shave twice daily.

The Amenity Authority was then asked to analyze the product. The Jergen’s formula in particular contains a lot of heavy emollients (softeners) and a mild amount of an alkaline solution used to dissolve hair. This explains the results that some of our testers reported.

VERDICT: Do products like the Jergen’s lotion actually claim to help make hair softer, finer, and less noticeable. PARTIALLY TRUE.

Men’s skin is thicker and tends to be oilier. This extra oil is essential for beard growth and helps to counterbalance signs of aging, protecting the skin and acting as a natural wrinkle-reducer. Despite the benefits of longer youthful looks, having excess skin oil does have a downside: When the oil combines with dirt and dead cells, it can clog the pores and cause skin breakouts. So, men need to use a soap-free cleanser daily to minimize this risk.

Since razor burn usually results in micro-scabbing and raised skin, the best way to get rid of it is to allow it to heal before shaving again. There are of course, additional steps you can take to speed up the healing process:

Do:
* Use a mild exfoliant that contains salicylic acid daily. This will slough off old, dead surface skin that otherwise could clog up your pores and limit oxygen to the effected areas. Do not scrub razor-burned skin.
* Use aloe vera or a soothing after shave. They will speed up your recovery and soothe that raw feeling that accompanies razor burn.
* Shave carefully until it heals, switch to a razor with a single-blade or wire guard for a while. The shave won’t be close, but you won’t be slicing your skin up before it can heal either.
* If you continue shaving, combine these steps with the preventative steps in the next section.

Do not:
* Use products containing alcohol - it will dry out your skin and increase irritation.
* Scrub or scratch razor burned skin. It will increase irritation and the risk of infection.
* Apply colognes or perfumes to razor burned skin.

Losing the pounds and keeping them off is so difficult because it requires a lifestyle change. If you incorporate these healthy living tips into your life, you’ll drop the pounds and keep them off.

1. Eat up to six small meals throughout the day - this maintains your metabolic rate.
2. Drink more water - avoid caloric beverages.
3. Keep healthy snacks nearby - fruit and energy bars are better than chips and pizza.

These days, it seems like every men’s shaving company claims to treat ingrown hairs. Salicylic acid (or willow bark extract, the natural form of this ingredient) is the only active ingredient that can visibly improve razor bumps. It is a dermatological-grade ingredient that exfoliates, moisturizes, clears pores and can help prevent infection. Look for products that contain salicylic acid or willow bark extract to control and eliminate unsightly razor bumps.

Razor bumps are created when hairs which are cut too close to the skin layer (think five blade razor close) grow back after shaving and fail to grow out of the skin. Instead, they curl over and burrow into the follicles under the skin, resulting in an unsightly bump. The inflammation in the follicle then creates a red, sore spot on the skin.

Newer razor technology is resulting in extra-close shaves. While your significant other might adore the feel, she won’t like the resulting blemishes that it causes. If you’re prone to shaving problems like razor bumps, stick with a three blade razor. Shaving with the grain can often prevent cutting the beard hair too short also. Use a product with a small amount of salicylic acid to remove dead skin cells and to uproot ingrown hairs that have started to form (which lead to razor bumps).