How to build a men's skincare routine that actually does something

The short answer is four things, in order: cleanse, treat, protect and tend to the eyes. A cleanser, a hydrating serum, a moisturiser and an eye serum, morning and night, in two to three minutes. Most products sold beyond those four steps add little.

Two things tend to sink a routine. The first is buying products drawn up for someone else's face. Men's skin is its own proposition: thicker and denser in collagen², oilier, and running at a different pH and hydration level to women's¹, and put under daily strain by the razor. The second is over-complication. A twelve-step regimen is difficult to sustain, and a routine only works if it is kept up.

Why Most Men's Routines Fail

Most routines fail because they are abandoned. Skin responds to repetition more than to the number of products used, so the real measure of a routine is whether it is sustained over months rather than how advanced it is. A short routine is easier to keep up through busy periods, which gives the results time to accumulate. A complex routine is more likely to be dropped within weeks.

Where Cleansing Fits

At the top. Cleansing is the groundwork the rest of the routine stands on, lifting the sweat, sunscreen and city grime that would otherwise sit between your skin and everything you apply next. It counts double for men, whose oilier skin¹ collects more of that residue through the day. The brief is simple: clean skin that does not feel tight afterwards. A cleanser that leaves you squeaky has stripped the barrier, and a stripped barrier leaks water and works against the hydration steps that follow³. A YCODE cleanser, built for precisely this job, arrives soon.

The Treat and Protect Steps

• Treat A serum on clean skin travels furthest and carries the actives with it. Skin feels less tight after shaving and is less prone to mid-afternoon shine.
• Protect A moisturiser holds that hydration and keeps oil in check, sealing water in and slowing the rate it escapes³. The result is comfortable, matte skin that stays hydrated through the day on a single morning application⁴.
• Eyes The thinnest skin on the face, and the first to show a late night. A dedicated step leaves the eyes looking brighter and less tired, the concern men raise most.

Skin responds to repetition more than to the number of products used. A routine only delivers if it is simple enough to sustain.

What Results to Expect, and When

In an independent 4-week consumer trial of the YCODE regime, the hydrating serum and moisturiser used together (panel of 50 men), 94 per cent agreed their skin felt well-hydrated and comfortable throughout the day, and 84 per cent that it looked healthier and clearer when they used both products together. The mechanism is straightforward. A properly formulated cream raises skin hydration by a measurable margin⁵, and steady hydration settles the barrier and smooths texture over time. Expect comfort and less shine in the first week, more even tone by the second or third, and the structural gains around the month.

Built to Travel

A short routine of products that each do more than one job also packs down to very little, which makes it straightforward to travel with. Fewer bottles means less to carry and less to leave behind.

Every YCODE product is sized to sit within the 100ml carry-on limit, so nothing has to be surrendered at airport security or decanted into a travel bottle. The result is a routine that behaves the same in a hotel bathroom as it does at home.

Written by

Freddie Sheridan

I started YCODE because most skincare was never designed for men’s skin. What I write here is what the formulators taught me, and what the trials actually found.

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