31st State – Style & An Abundance of Substance
Ah, the teenage years, oily skin, bad hair days and pimple breakouts galore, sadly all three of these can follow us into our adult lives, and for that reason, I decided to review 31st State, a skincare range explicitly produced for young men.
31st State skin, body and hair products combine active naturally derived ingredients such as Manuka and Witch Hazel. While there has been a recent surge in popularity, in truth, dermatologists have been recommending the ingredients above for centuries due to their restorative skincare properties. Despite this, you’ll often find products on the market are jam-packed with additives, over perfumed and packed with preservatives, not something you want to use on sensitive or any other skin type for that matter. Seeing all the unnaturally infused products on the shelves inspired the founder of 31st State, Stephanie Capuano to formulate her range of products for her teenage sons to use, and that’s what we’re testing out in today’s ‘FAULT Brand highlight’.
I started with the 2-in1 Hair and Body Wash, at the most basic of evaluations, it’s a pleasant body wash. The body wash doesn’t have an overpowering scent like the many other products aimed at young men on the market (or the chemical cyan hue). It’s a delicate product and doesn’t leave your face feeling like you’d been slapped by a cactus the way we’ve seen with other high-end cleansers. A look at the ingredients shows that it’s still able to fight off bacteria without the harsher chemicals too. Containing silver and zinc, the former works to fight spots and bacteria while the latter works to control body odour and soothe irritated skin; I find it’s great for an all-round body wash.
RRP £8.99
Moving on to the Foaming Face Wash, like I said the Hair and Body Wash was more of an all-rounder, but sometimes you want a more in-depth cleanse to start your day. For those times, I used their Foaming Face Wash, designed to cleanse the skin of dirt, oil and bacteria thoroughly. The face wash is excellent for anyone prone to oily skin (as most teenage boys are!). To combat redness and irritation tea tree releases into the skin slowly over the course of the day which is exceptional for soothing the skin post-shaving. Manuka works to cleanse and rid the skin of oils which could lead to spot. I’d recommend using this product once every couple of days, as I would for most cleansers as the trick is to remove excess oils which have built up over time and not to completely remove the skins naturally occurring oils all healthy skins has.
RRP £12.99
The Overnight Clearing Pads were a great addition to my nighttime routine, mainly because it was so easy to do – making them a small ask for any young man to add to his nighttime routine. The pads are rich in Lactic Acid Manuka and Tea Tree which helps to shrink pores and remove the surface dirt and oil from a tough long day. An excellent addition to the Christmas list, it’s low maintained and easy to use but will make such a big difference to anyone’s skin!
RRP £15.99
Of course, there’s more to appearance than only the face, so to combat those bad hair days, I reviewed the Easy Hold Styling Gel. Well I didn’t, my housemate did, my “having hair days” are far behind me! Filled not only with Tamanu but also shea gives a natural hold and definition to the hair without the clumps and stickiness of other products on the market. Now you’d of heard a lot about shea this year, with she butter being one of the beauty industries runaway ingredients, Tamanu oil adds hair shine and UV protection. My housemate mentioned that it has a great hold, he wasn’t having to reapply throughout the day, and it washes out exceptionally quickly compared to other products he had tried.
RRP £6.99
All in all, we’re highly impressed by 31st State! It goes without mentioning a lot of the time, but they have also carved out the perfect branding approach for a product such as theirs. It’s cool; a Californian surfer-dude aesthetic is so fitting for their user base. It’s the quintessential product for any young man’s Christmas list – a brand with both style and substance made for men who personify the very same qualities.
Shop the product – www.31st-state.com