There Is No Cure for Aging, But These 20 Products Can Help Slow It Down (2024)

WHEN MEN AGE, a crinkle of crow’s feet or a sprinkle of lines may make us look “distinguished” or “rugged,” but that doesn’t mean you’re required to just accept it when you start noticing signs of aging. There are things you can do to help slow their progression, like maintaining an anti-aging skincare routine with essentials like anti-aging creams for men and face serums. At a minimum, every anti-aging routine should include three things: sunscreen, antioxidants and retinol. They’re the most studied ingredients proven to reduce and slow signs of aging.

“While it is true that the earlier you start, the better the result, it’s never too late to start caring for your skin,” says dermatologist Corey L. Hartman, MD. The best way to do it is to start simple. After cleansing, apply an antioxidant serum, a moisturizer, and sunscreen (or a combo like a moisturizer with SPF) in the morning, and a retinol serum at night. Other anti-aging products, like eye creams, are just icing on the cake.

What to Consider

There are plenty of anti-aging products for men on the market right now, so deciding which is best for you can be a tough task dependent on a lot of trial and error. To minimize what options make it to the test run stage, there are a couple of things to remember.

Ingredients

Size

When dealing with skincare, especially in relation to anti-aging, the size of any given container can vary drastically from product to product. Depending on your budget and how much product you tend to use (or how often), you’ll want to look for the right-sized options before investing.

How We Selected

For the past two years, we consulted with Men's Health's Grooming editors and writers on the top anti-aging products for men. These experts, including our Grooming Editor Garrett Munce, have tried dozens of anti-aging creams, serums and masks to evaluate not only how effective they were for reducing wrinkles, but for also their texture, finish and long-term usuage.

Rub on some of this retinol-packed eye cream at night to help smooth the look of fine lines and wrinkles around your eye area (goodbye crow’s feet). The retinaldehyde (a form of retinol) is specifically formulated to be used on the area’s especially delicate skin.

Kiehl's is a favorite of ours when it comes to skincare so it's no surprise that the brand has a second product popping up on this list, especially for retinol newbies. When you first start using retinol, dermatologists advise starting slow and applying it only a few times a week because it can cause irritation. This version helps that beginner stage along thanks to a lower concentration of retinol to make the transition easier as well as ceramides and peptides to help strengthen and protect skin.

This extremely gentle cleanser helps remove dirt and grime from your skin, while still protecting it. It contains prebiotic sugars to help bolster the skin’s microbiome while it cleanses because a healthy barrier and microbiome equals healthier skin that ages better.

The combination of lactic acid and Vitamin C in this eye cream addresses essentially every eye issue you could hope for—puffiness, dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles, and sagging. It’s lightweight and fast-absorbing enough to wear during the day, too.

Niacinamide, another antioxidant, helps improve the look of dark spots and blotchy skin tone, both common signs of aging. The serum contains ten percent of the stuff (that’s a lot) and visibly improves skin tone and brightens spots with lightning speed.

This lightweight and fast absorbing moisturizer is packed with antioxidants like niacinamide and licorice root extract to protect your skin all day, but won’t leave it feeling greasy or filmy.

Exfoliation helps to clear away dead skin cells that can stick around on the surface of your skin, giving it a dull appearance and sometimes making wrinkles look worse. These pads use glycolic acid to gently slough them away and a blend of niacinamide, tranexamic acid and lotus seed extract to even skin tone and brighten dark spots.

You’ve likely heard of the benefits of getting a microneedling procedure, but these Peace Out overnight patches are far less invasive. Just pop them on a wrinkly area of concern and let the 450 hyaluronic acid microneedles take care of the rest.

A great night cream is essential to any effective anti-aging skincare routine, whether you’re focused on anti-aging or not. This cream is packed with skin-hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid and soothing aloe for all-day (and night) hydration.

Think of a sheet mask as a boost for your skincare routine—pop it on whenever your skin needs a little extra help. This anti-aging mask is packed with concentrated niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, aloe and a variety of botanical extracts to help hydrate and protect your skin.

“This sunscreen contains both zinc oxide and titanium dioxide in an elegant, moisturizing cream that won’t clog pores, feel heavy or cause a white cast even on darker skin tones,” says Dr. Hartman.

Many retinol products can cause irritation, especially when you first start using them. Dr. Hartman recommends this one because it’s a “prescription strength retinoid that is available over the counter and is mild enough to not cause irritation, but strong enough to deliver results strong enough for a man.”

Prefer to go au naturel with your grooming regimen? Add this face oil from Jack Henry, which features easy-to-pronounce ingredients like tea tree oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil. Together they help even skin tone and boost collagen production.

In the interest of simplicity, this nighttime moisturizer contains both retinol and potent antioxidant vitamin C. Just make sure to use it only at night, since retinol can make your skin more sensitive to sunlight (and always wear sunscreen during the day).

This new retinol anti-aging night cream contains more retinol than the original version (which is one of our favorites) but still has a rich, creamy fragrance-free formula that moisturizes skin and could help cut down on any potential irritation.

For those who prefer to avoid heavy or thick creams, this lightweight anti-aging gel is a perfect alternative. The gel abords quickly into skin, without leaving a film, all the while giving your face the hydration it needs to smooth out the look of fine lines,