Fellas, fellas, fellas. If you're still wondering what the hell to give up, or if, as is more likely, you've already had a shifty fag, slept through a gym appointment or eaten some lard, worry not - I have the perfect replacement New Year's resolution for you. Make like we're getting married and repeat after me, "2004 is the year I will moisturise daily".
See how easy that was? In general, black men, like black women, are better at the moisturising lark than their white counterparts. This is not due to any racial predilection for being taken in by cosmetics firms, but because if black skin, male or female, isn't moisturised it goes all nasty quicker than you can say "flaky bits". And men's skin suffers more because they're constantly scraping off the top layer. Women, think of the state of your legs post-shave, pre-moisturiser. Now imagine that every day, and you get an idea of what we're dealing with.
Having handled the horrors of razor bumps a few weeks ago, it's time to deal with the basics. There has been an explosion of male beauty products as many of the big companies finally realise that there's money in them there hillbillies. There's even a growing market for men's "camouflage" products - that's make-up to you and me - though, typically, I've yet to find a concealer dark enough for any black man I know, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Perhaps not too surprisingly, the companies with ranges that work well on black women's skin tend to do well in their men's ranges, too. So have a scout in your girlfriend/sister/ mother's washbag, and take guidance from them. My personal favourites are ClarinsMen, Maxwell's Apothecary and Lancôme Homme. Go easy to start with, though - your face won't necessarily thank you for going from 0-60 in one move (ooh, look at that, a car metaphor). A good cleanser and moisturiser should suffice without challenging your precious masculinity too much. Though, obviously, once you've given it a go, you'll be in the gents banging on about how you couldn't survive on a desert island without your weekly facial.
