The Finer Points of Grooming: Eight Quick Tips for the New Year

Do you feel like you’ve tried every trick out there to improve your appearance? Have you considered giving yourself a bit of man-makeover but you don’t know what to do first? Instead of making a huge vow for New Year’s, you can look better fast—without much effort after all.

1. Tweak Your Shaving Routine
Wait approximately 30 minutes after getting up in the A.M. to shave. Your facial muscles will firm up after sagging during sleep, and you will have a much easier time cutting through your whiskers when they stand up straighter from your skin.

2. Move!
If there’s one thing that you can do to improve your physical appearance right away, it’s stretch. You’ll look healthier and with better posture, you’ll look thinner, too. I’ve found some great stretches at Men’s Health.

3. Treat Your Hair Right
If you’ve been styling your hair the same way for over a year, consider pulling a trick that’s a heck of a lot more common amongst the female folk: book an appointment in the most expensive men’s salon and get a cut that adapts to your current hair situation (this is especially important if your hair has been thinning or graying). With a few updated style hints, you’ll be amazed at how better you look, and you can also get introduced to cutting-edge products.

4. Work on Your Brows
This doesn’t necessarily involve pulling out the tweezers, either. If your brows are sparse or just plain weird looking, did you ever consider wearing your glasses instead of contacts? They can draw eyes away from eyebrows that you may find distracting or annoying, and a pair of sexy frames is a lady killer.

5. Give Yourself a Cheap Hot Lather Shave
Dying for a hot lather shave but short on cash? Ring in the new year with a smooth face compliments of DIY hot lather. Spray shaving cream (just the foam type) and microwave it in a safe dish at medium for thirty seconds. Ta-da! Dip your brush in and shave away.

6. Brighten Up Your Smile
Whitening your teeth could be one of the most dramatic and easiest processes to look younger and hotter. If you can’t afford a professional Zoom-quality treatment at the dentist’s, don’t worry. Stocking up on Crest Whitestrips is much more affordable.

7. Invest in Better Skin
Do you have skin issues that you still want to—ahem—clear up? If you’re sick of messing around with random scrubs and washes, buying a basic kit that comes complete with a wash, scrub, mask, and moisturizer—in the right formulation for you. Try Proactiv, Murad, and Clinique, just to name a few, to see what works best.

8. Fight “Bacne”
Switch up your cotton shirts and grab some synthetic ones to rid yourself of back acne. While plenty of people champion natural fiber, if you’re still fighting bumps on your back, switch it up. Cotton can absorb and hold oil and grime and rub it into your back.

You’ve still got time to knock these out and start the year off fresh. . . without any resolutions at all.