Are Natural Soaps Safe for my Face?
(RODNAE Productions/Pexels)
While men aren’t known for their skin care, one of the most common questions Packer’s Pine receives is whether our products are safe for use on beards and faces. The answer is a resounding yes! Check out our reasons why:
You should be using beard soap
Did you know that each day your face excretes sweat and oil? As you walk around with these oils on your face/beard, it collects dust, pollen, mold spores, and whatever other nastiness is lingering in the air around you.
If left uncleaned, your beard becomes a breeding ground for all kinds of bacteria. It’s unlikely that you’ll get seriously ill from the microfauna wildlife preserve on your face, but it can cause a host of negative effects. You may develop acne, itching, dandruff, and unpleasant odors.
This may not be an issue if you enjoy those things, but for the rest of us, we need to do a little beard maintenance. This is where beard soaps and shampoos come in.
Packer’s Pine’s natural, gentle soap is perfect for use on sensitive facial skin. Unlike products with harsh chemical additives like sulfates, pine tar soap is soothing and provides a gentle relief from itchy facial hair, without sacrificing cleanliness. Even better, pine tar soap leaves behind a fresh, masculine, forest-like scent. Instead of smelling like sweat and mildew when you kiss your girlfriend, you’ll smell like a lumberjack (be careful, this is how children get made).
What makes natural soap different from commercial soaps?
In a word: Ingredients! Commercial soaps often lack naturally hydrating ingredients like glycerin or natural oils. In their place they use harsher chemicals like sulfates and detergents that can dry out the skin or cause irritation. This is especially true for people with sensitive skin or dermatological conditions like eczema.
Switching to a natural soap will maintain your skin’s hydration level and prevent exacerbations of skin conditions. This makes Packer’s Pine an ideal soap for individuals with eczema, psoriasis, or sensitive skin.
How often should I wash my face/beard?
Daily is probably safe for most people. Because everyone is a little different, people with particularly oily faces may need to wash in the morning and before going to bed. Others with drier skin may need to only wash once a day.
If you are only going to wash once, the evening is a better time. This eliminates the oils and dirt built up during the day and prevents them from sticking to your pillow. For many people, sleeping on an unwashed face and unwashed pillow case will result in acne breakouts. (Oh yeah, don’t forget to wash your pillow at least once a week.)
You can use natural soaps just as you’d use any other. Work a small amount into your hand, lather up a bit, and gently work the soap around your face (avoiding the eyes). While you may feel the temptation to scrub as vigorously as possible, try to relax. Not only is it unnecessary to scour the face, it may be counterproductive. Damaging the skin will cause tiny breaks in the skin’s surface, leaving it irritated, red, and more vulnerable to acne. Over time, it can also age you prematurely. If you feel like you have to scrub, try to limit it to no more than once a week and call it “exfoliating.”
Is there anything else I should do to my face?
If you’re not using sunscreen, it’s time for you to grow up and protect your skin. Not only does using sunscreen keep you looking young and virile as you age, but it’s the best way to prevent skin cancer, which kills thousands of Americans each year.
You don’t need to lather up with SPF 500, but using a few dabs of a sunscreen that’s specifically made for your face will keep your skin hydrated and protected, especially if you work outside. Be sure to hit the areas around your eyes and down on your neck.
If you’re a bearded person, you might consider using a product to soften and condition your beard. Beard oils and beard balms are a major game changer when it comes to maintaining a beard that actually looks good and not just like the front and back of your head got switched around.
After showering (and washing your beard with Packer’s Pine) you can apply a small amount of oil to your hands, rub them together, then work it through your entire beard. After that, comb and style your beard as you would normally. These oils will keep your beard hair soft, pliable, and easy to groom. It will also keep your skin from drying out beneath the beard, preventing itchy, flaky skin.
Balms work similarly, but have a little more hold. Many may come semi-solid and only soften into an oily consistency as you work your hands together and warm them via friction. These are a great choice for people with longer beards that require a little more hold/grooming.
It’s time for men to start caring for their skin and beards. Using products like natural pine tar soap and healing shampoo to keep your skin fresh and clean is half the battle.
