Product
Cleansing is the unglamorous 80% of skincare, and CeraVe’s foaming formula does it properly: it shifts oil and sunscreen without the stripped, tight feeling that makes men abandon skincare in week one. Three ceramides and niacinamide keep the skin barrier intact.
Problem
Sensitive skin is mostly a barrier problem, and the fix is subtraction. Cut fragrance (the single most common trigger), cut daily exfoliation, and run a three-product routine — gentle cleanser, ceramide moisturiser, mineral SPF — for a full month before judging anything. Introduce new products one at a time, patch-tested behind the ear for three days.
Shaving is where sensitive skin suffers most: a clean, sharp blade or a quality foil shaver, warm water, and an alcohol-free balm remove most of the daily aggravation.
Guide
Price and performance correlate weakly in grooming — but not randomly. There are categories where the premium product is demonstrably better engineered (shavers, where motor and foil quality decide comfort), and categories where the £12 pharmacy option embarrasses the £60 one (cleansers, almost universally).
The rule we apply: pay up where the product touches you daily and the engineering is hard — shavers, mattresses, styling tools. Save where the chemistry is commoditised — cleansers, basic moisturisers, SPF. The products below are the ones that justify their premium under that test.
Daily-contact engineering: the shaver that decides how every morning starts, and the styler you touch every day for a year per tub.
Routine
Morning — four minutes. Rinse or gentle cleanse. Niacinamide moisturiser while skin is damp. SPF 30+ every day you will see daylight — this single step does more for how you age than everything else combined.
Evening — five minutes. Proper cleanse to remove the day. Treatment moisturiser. Twice a week, swap in targeted treatment for your concern — congestion, dullness, or the eye area.
The discipline. Eight weeks before judging results. No new products during that window. Photograph in the same light weekly if you want evidence instead of impressions.
Product
The Series 9 Pro is the shaver we reach for when the brief is “closest shave, least irritation.” Braun has spent a decade refining the foil-and-cutter geometry, and it shows.
Guide
We tested the field for closeness, comfort and how they hold up after a month. Two rose to the top.