Start Here: The Only Three Products You Need

So you've taken our skin quiz, or maybe you've just decided it's time to finally do something about your skin. Here's the practical part: what actually matters first, and which bottle to put in the cart.

The short version: cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen. Twice a day, in that order. Around $45 to start and roughly $20 a month after that. Give it three months before you judge it. Everything below is the detail.

Start simple, the same way you'd start in the gym

Nobody walks into a gym on day one and runs a six-day split with accessory work. You'd burn out in a week. Skincare works the same way. A ten-step routine looks impressive on someone else's shelf, but if you can't keep it up every morning and every night, it does nothing for you.

Three products. Cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen — in that order, because each one sets up the next. You clean the slate, you keep it hydrated, and you protect it from the thing doing most of the damage in the first place.

1. Cleanser

Most of you already own one, so this is the easiest swap to make.

I used supermarket cleansers for years, whichever was on offer. I switched to a proper skincare brand and my face noticed the difference.

What I use: Remedy Lightweight Gel Cleanser. Three months in.

It cleans without stripping your face dry. If your skin feels tight and squeaky afterwards, that's not "clean" — that's your skin telling you the cleanser was too harsh. Use it twice a day. Once before you head out, once before bed.

I picked this one for a specific reason: my pores. A basic face wash cleans the surface. This one gets down into the pore and clears out what's sitting in it. Three months on, my skin is cleaner, there's less oil through the day, and the pores around my nose are noticeably less obvious. Not gone — nothing makes a pore smaller, and anything promising otherwise is selling you a story — but no longer the first thing I see in the mirror.

Because it's doing that extra work, it suits oily and breakout-prone skin best. If your skin runs dry or gets angry easily, start with a plain gentle wash instead.

2. Moisturizer

Here's where I'll save you money: this is not the step to pay premium prices for. A decent moisturizer and an expensive one are far more alike than the price gap suggests.

What I use: Torriden DIVE-IN Soothing Cream. Ten months, no complaints.

It absorbs well and doesn't leave a sticky film — which is the main reason guys quit moisturizer in the first place. If it feels good going on, you'll keep using it. Twice a day, always after your cleanser.

And yes, oily skin still needs this. Skipping moisturizer because you're already shiny is the most common mistake in this whole routine. Strip your face of moisture and it makes more oil, not less.

3. Sunscreen

If you only take one thing from this article, take this one. Sunscreen is the highest-return product in your routine, full stop.

The usual objections are that it's greasy, heavy, and leaves you looking chalky. Fair — a lot of them do.

What I use: Bio-Essence Bio-Water Sunscreen. Also ten months.

It's light, it doesn't leave my face oily, and it doesn't leave a white cast. That last part is the dealbreaker for most of us. Apply it before you leave the house. It's always the last step.

How to actually use them

Nobody explains this part, and it's where beginners quietly go wrong.

Two fingers is your measuring stick. Squeeze a line along your index and middle fingers. That's roughly right for your face and neck, and it's more than most people use. Under-applying sunscreen is the same as buying a weaker one.

Moisturize on slightly damp skin, straight after washing. You're trapping water that's already there rather than adding it from a bottle.

Give each layer a minute to sink in before the next. Don't stack them all on at once.

Sunscreen goes on before you leave, not when you arrive. Outdoors for hours? It needs reapplying around midday — a stick or spray is the practical answer over a face you can't wash.

Mine is genuinely every day, morning and night. That consistency has done more than any single product in the routine.

What this costs

Real numbers, because nobody publishes them.

About $43 at my prices, or $45 – $65 buying in the US. The cleanser and sunscreen last me two to three months each, the moisturizer longer. Call it $15 – $25 a month for everything — less than one takeaway a week, and considerably less than the single miracle serum you were about to buy instead.

Can you get them? I'm in Singapore, so: the cleanser is a US brand and easier for American readers to buy than for me. The moisturizer is Korean and sells widely on Amazon. The sunscreen is the awkward one — it's on Amazon and the K-beauty resellers but not in your local pharmacy. If it's a hassle, Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun (about $19) and Biore UV Aqua Rich (about $13) are far easier to find and do the same job. I haven't run either for months the way I have mine, so I won't pretend otherwise — but either beats skipping sunscreen because you couldn't find mine.

What to skip for now

Everything else. Genuinely.

Toner isn't useless, but it's a refinement on a routine that already works, not a foundation. Serums are where the money goes and where beginners get lost — there's one for every concern, which means one for every impulse purchase. The strong stuff, the ingredients with the long names, does real work and causes real problems when you pile it on too early. And anything with ten steps in the name — you're not going to do ten steps. I don't do ten steps.

These three products aren't a starter version of a real routine. For most men they are the routine, and everything else is optional forever.

What to expect, and when

Managing this is the difference between a routine that sticks and one you abandon in week three.

The cleanser you'll notice fastest — within days your face stops feeling tight after washing. That immediate feedback is why it's the easiest habit to keep.

The moisturizer takes a couple of weeks. Less flaking, less tightness by lunchtime.

The sunscreen shows you almost nothing, and that's the point. There's no glow-up week. What I noticed months in was less redness and irritation after being out in the sun. The rest of what it's doing is invisible — it's the aging and the dark marks that don't happen. You're paying now to avoid a problem later, which is exactly why it's the step everyone quits.

Three months is a fair point to judge any of this. Skin turns over slowly, and almost everyone gives up right before it starts working.

One more thing worth saying: nothing has ever gone wrong for me — no product has broken me out or had to be returned. That's luck, not skill, so don't take my clean run as the expected outcome. If your face reacts to things, add one product at a time and give each a week or two on its own. If something goes wrong you'll know exactly which bottle did it.

That's it. Don't rush the rest.

Run these three consistently for a few months before you even think about adding anything else. Consistency with three products beats enthusiasm with ten, every single time.

If I could tell my past self one thing, it's this: have a goal in mind. Don't buy products for the sake of buying products. Work out what your skin actually needs to fix, then buy the thing that fixes it.

Mine was the pores around my nose — that's the entire reason I bought a cleanser that clears pores rather than the gentlest thing on the shelf. One decision, made once, for one reason. Narrow it down to what actually bothers you and the shopping gets very simple.

See you gents in the next post.