Nobody wants to look tired. But, unless you’re blessed with supernaturally good skin, it’s an unfortunate inevitability at one point or another. From overworking yourself to enjoying one too many drinks the night before, the symptoms of burning the candle at both ends are obvious: eye bags, sunken skin and unkempt hair. Fortunately, most of them can be quickly and easily remedied. Like with these six grooming tricks that basically replace sleep (although you should get some of that, too.)

Wake Up Right

When it comes to hauling yourself out from under the duvet each morning, you need all the help you can get. While you might have previously put it down as another marketing trick, the right shower gel can make you feel (and therefore look) more alert. Plant Apothecary’s aptly named Wakey Wakey body wash includes essential oils of rosemary and lemongrass, both of which are proven energy boosting agents. 

Buff Away Bleariness

Not logging enough ZZZs decreases the moisture levels of your skin, causing it to look dull and unhealthy. Exfoliating your face can help bring it back to life by buffing away any built-up dry or dead cells. Use Recipe For Men’s Facial Scrub twice a week, which, along with exfoliating microspheres, pulls on ginger and cinnamon to tackle enlarged pores, another hallmark of tired skin. 

Send Bags Packing

The skin that surrounds your peepers is so delicate and thin that they’re the first thing to show a setback in your sleeping schedule. If the windows to your soul currently look into the bottom of that sixth tequila, skip the usual eye cream and apply an eye mask instead. The prolonged contact allows concentrated anti-fatigue ingredients like caffeine and hydrolysed collagen to be absorbed quicker. Bonus tip: store them in the fridge - the cold temperature will both feel great and help decrease puffiness.

Become A Night Owl

Moisturising last thing before bed is always a good idea because your skin tends to absorb creams better at night when it switches to repair mode. This is especially important if you know you’re not going to get eight hours and you need to supercharge the effects of products like Dr Barbara Sturm’s Clarifying face cream. Fortunately, you can sleep easy knowing that ingredients like balloon vine and bistorta root extract are taking care of everything from oil production to blemishes.

Maximise Hydration 

We hope at this point you’re already using a daily moisturiser, otherwise you may be sleepwalking into signs of early ageing. For especially tired-looking skin, consider adding a serum into the mix as a pre-step, which will deliver more targeted ingredients deeper into the dermis. Look for one formulated with hyaluronic acid, part of a category of skincare ingredients known as humectants that act like a magnet for moisture. 

Fix Your Hair

Given that the same stuff that makes up your hair (called 'keratin') also forms the cells of your skin, it shouldn’t come as a surprised that a lack of sleep is also bad news for your barnet – drying it out and making it appear thinner and flatter. Hey, we don’t make the rules. A reparative conditioner, like this one from Patricks, counteracts all of that, strengthening and revitalising each strand while ensuring your scalp gets some love too.