“Skincare” is a misnomer: Usually, when we talk about skincare, we’re just discussing the skin on our faces. That’s probably because we attach self-confidence to our complexions — how youthful we look, how alert our eyes seem, how small and clear our pores look. But what about everything else? What about your hands and your feet and your shoulders and your knees? Skincare is so much more than your face.
There are lots of hydrators out there, and you should stock up on more than just a standard-fare moisturizer if you want younger, healthy, hydrated skin all over. Here are the nine types of products you should consider, and the best one in each field.
Clinique for Men Broad Spectrum SPF 21 Moisturizer
Best for Your Face: A good moisturizer should absorb quickly and feel light on the skin; it should also have SPF to protect you from harmful UV rays. Clinique’s broad-spectrum SPF 21 hydrating cream checks both boxes, and even comes in a travel-friendly, 3.4-oz. container. It’s hard not to use it on other parts of your body — as a sunscreen outright — since it offers the benefits of sunblock, minus the goopiness.
Byredo Vetyver Hand Cream
Best for Your Hands: Byredo has a good idea on its hands: The fragrance brand incorporates many of its scents into scented hand creams (and travel-friendly ones at that). The best of the bunch is Vetyver, with a well-rounded blend of sweet angelica seeds, tart pomelo, floral jasmine and violet, and anchored by woody vetiver and cashmeran. You can get the creams in 12 different scents, and in two sizes (50ml or 100ml).
Mayron’s Goods Clover & Cucumber Foot Cream
Best for Your Feet: Fewer things bring me as much joy as lathering on Mayron’s foot cream, then encasing each foot in a wool sock and hopping into bed for a great night’s sleep. The cream hydrates with a shea butter and beeswax formula, but it’s the add-ons that carry it the extra mile: Calendula, chamomile, rosemary, and oils of avocado and sunflower give you the tingles while the scent of cucumber and clover permeates the air. It absorbs quickly, so that you maximize the benefits well before you transfer the product to your apartment floor (or the wool socks).
Doctor Rogers RESTORE Healing Balm
Best for Your Lips: Skip the petroleum and keep this multi-use balm at the ready. It both heals and shields the skin, and is good on chapped lips and small cuts, and even works as a soothing layer atop a new tattoo. Glycerin promotes healing, while castor seed oil and wax help shield and plump the skin (in the good way, since they also decrease inflammation). By using this balm before any chapping and cracking, you’ll avoid the problem altogether this winter.
Rugged & Dapper Age + Damage Defense
Best for After Shaving: After you shave, your skin is susceptible to irritation and exposure to the elements. (Put another way, its defense against heat, wind, dry air and even bacteria is compromised.) So you need a dense moisturizer or balm to lather over freshly shaved skin. Rugged & Dapper’s post-shave lotion packs a ton of reparative, anti-aging ingredients to shield and fortify the dermis: aloe vera, palm oil, green tea, jojoba oil, Vitamin B5, shea butter and a silk protein amino acid blend, to name a few.
Curology Custom Night Cream Superbottle
Best for Nighttime: When you sign up for Curology, you get a product that is unique to you: Its AI-fueled software asks about your skincare priorities and problems, then a real-life, board-certified dermatologist prescribes a night cream that helps address these concerns. You can opt just to receive this customized night cream each month, or add a standard moisturizer and cleanser to the shipment, too. So why is a night cream the brand’s bread and butter? Because while you sleep, your skin cells regenerate much faster than during the daytime, and a nourishing, corrective and proactive night cream accelerates the process.
Lab Series 3-in-1 Shave & Beard Oil
Best for Your Beard: While taking care of your beard isn’t exactly skincare, it is a key part of your appearance, and should be kept hydrated and healthy. A great beard oil is the best way to do it. The only thing better than using this oil is looking at it: The blend of three nourishing ingredients separates at a standstill into a tri-colored tower of sea buckthorn, jojoba and sweet almond oils. You can use it as a pre-shave softener or even a paper-thin shave agent, but it shines most as a beard hydrator. It minimizes scratching and flyaways while giving you added styling control. Just be sure to shake it before use — and enjoy the mesmerizing separation that occurs once it’s shelved.
Dr. Barbara Sturm Eye Cream
Best for Under Eyes: Grooming experts as we may be, Dr. Sturm outsmarts us with this eye cream (and her entire assortment of science-backed, age-reversing products). All we know is that it works famously, thanks to oddball ingredients like purslane and skullcap (which soothe the sensitive skin around the eyes), as well as a blend of golden root, sugar beet and yeast, which reduce swelling. Lastly, it’s packed with lipids which preserve the skin’s moisture levels and keep it looking supple.
Jao Brand Goe Oil
Best for the Rest of You: In the hydration game, there’s so much focus put on your face and extremities, but little on the rest of you — which makes up the majority of your skin. Jao’s Goe Oil is the post-shower full-body hydrator that you’ll look forward to applying. It employs 28 different oils and butters from plants, flowers and fruits, and envelops your body like a warm blanket. You can even apply it to clean hair, feet, hands — and your face, too. Technically, it’s more wax-like than oily, but it’s light enough to seep into the skin and reverse signs of aging while restoring moisture.
