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From pollution ruining your skin to making your beard look good, we asked Jonathan from ‘Queer Eye’ to tackle your grooming issues
London’s pollution is ruining my skin. Have you got any tips to deal with it?
‘When I think pollution I think gentle detoxes and gentle exfoliant. If you have a hand-held facial steamer at home, you can use a detoxifying mask and then apply steam to it so that it can really open up the pores and let the product do its work. I think one key thing to handle things internally is making sure that you’re really drinking enough water to help your skin flush it out. That’s major.’
I cycle to work and get helmet hair – how can I deal with that?
‘Pack some dry shampoo and a tiny hair dryer in your bag and then when you get to work, just put on some dry shampoo and blow-dry that helmet hair out of there for a few seconds. Or what if you wrapped your hair in a silk scarf and put the helmet over that? I have no idea if that would work, I’m not a biker. I do silk wraps after a blow-dry when I go to sleep, so maybe you could apply that same thing. Disclaimer, I don’t know if you’d, like, sweat yourself to death by doing that... so try it at your own peril, honey.’
I have no time in the morning before work – what can I do in five minutes?
‘Put your hair up, brush and floss and then wash your face. Use moisturiser, face oil, eye cream, SPF, lil’ bit of chapstick, lil’ bit of eyebrow gel. Take your hair down, dry shampoo it everywhere and then either do a low slung bun, a high pony or a braid. And if you’re a guy, same thing for your face and then if your hair is short, just run a comb under the water and re-brush your hair and apply whatever oil you like while it air dries.’
Any tips for doing your make-up on the go?
‘Yeah, I always have a little kit in my bag. One major tip is don’t have extraneous stuff in it and don’t put dirty stuff in your bag, like your phone and your credit card – it’s so germy and all that stuff is going on your face. I go out of my way to keep that bag clean. I also always have sanitising wet wipes with me. Don’t overstuff the bag, just bring what you have to have. I had a beard oil in my bag that I didn’t use and I dropped my whole bag and it exploded and totally messed everything up.’
I’ve always wanted to get a tattoo but I’m very indecisive. Should I wait or just get something I love right now?
‘Wait! I don’t believe “impulsive” and “tattoo” go together. I’m sure people have done impulsive tattoos and ending up loving it for the rest of their lives, but the chances are low.’
I’m going on a first date – how should I prep my skin/hair? What should my getting-ready routine be?
‘Don’t do something that’s totally outside of the realm of what you would normally do. If you never wear make-up don’t do a full face of contouring. Keep it simple and true to who you normally are. Do whatever you need to do to feel good.’
I’ve been working late loads and I’ve got dark circles under my eyes. What should I do?
‘Prepping under eyes is really good for lack of sleep. Having an eye roller to apply your eye cream or even just doing lymphatic massage when you’re applying your eye cream – take your ring finger and gently go from the inside around your tear ducts to where your eyebrow ends. Just outwardly massage whatever eye cream you have. That’s going to help to reduce puffiness. When I’m covering up darkness on my under eye, I try not to do my entire under eye because then I look a bit raccoon-ish. Sometimes I make a BB cream by combining moisturiser and concealer and put that all over my face to diffuse everything and blend it together. I like my freckles to still show through. I’m like Meghan Markle in that sense.’
I’m going to be out all day in the sun and going out after. Which three things should I bring to deal with the inevitable sweatiness?
‘You’re definitely going to need a face sun cream and a body sunscreen so that’s two things right there. Honestly, you also need a visor or an umbrella, water and chapstick with SPF. Girl, don’t go out drinking all day with only three products! You need a gorgeous fragrance in your bag. Don’t go out with three products, you know better, reader. Don’t do that.’
How do I look after my beard?
Using an exfoliant in the shower is important. The biggest thing is when you get out of the shower, you want to hit your beard with some beard oil. I use a beard brush to brush that oil into my beard and get it laying right. And then I’ll hit my beard with a blow dryer and go back in with that beard oil and moisturise it even more. I do my own beard trims, but if you are not keen or good at doing your own, find a barber to get it trimmed up right. A good beard trim makes all the difference. Get a good relationship with your barber going.’
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