Dapper

I switched to Double Edged shaving about 6 months ago.  I was sick of being a prisoner of the Gillette corporation. Its been a tough rollercoaster,  its a stuggle to find the right equipment and the right technique.  Yesterday I switch the razor I was using and the brush.  Let me just say NIGHT AND DAY! I switched to a badger hair brush and the foam simply exploded off the brush where before I had to furiously work to get light lather.  Do not except less than badger!  I also switched the razor I was using to a Gillette (ironically) I was given many years ago from a long passed relative.  It is far more aggressive than what I was working with prior and I'll track down exactly what model razor it is but it is well over 60 years old.

Let me just say I am very happy with the results and I couldn't wait to get home tonight to repeat yesterdays magic.

New Kicks

Everyone has shortcomings in their wardrobe.  One that I've needed to deal with is a pair of kick around shoes that don't look like they are owned by a hobo. I've been using 2 pairs of skateboarding shoes for many many years and they simply needed to be thrown out.  I have been keeping an eye out for a really cheap pair of shoes that I don't care what happens to them.  Well got these nice pair of New Balance for 20 something shipped online....  and promptly threw out the old shoes.

So fresh and so clean

On aspect of appearance that I often overlook is Saturday morning in general.  Most of my saturday mornings involve a couple quick errands, the post office and some car work.  Today I shook things up and got spruced up first thing in the morning.  Shower with Dove Men+Care Deep Clean bar and some cucumber face wash.  Followed by a 3 pass wet shave using my standard supplies but adding in Zirh's pre-shave oil.  Topped off with todays scent: Chanel Sycamore which is not my usual choice for day scents but today its definitely working for me.

Scent of the Day: Tom Ford Tuscan Leather

I am going to be covering men's cologne quite extensively, but I wanted to start off where I started.

Cologne is an aspect of my appearance I have long neglected.  It wasn't until 4 or 5 years ago that I even really owned any cologne.  I got a bottle of Aqua Di Gio as a gift, and I remember having a big smile on my face as it genuinely smelled really good.

And time goes on, and I start to notice other men wearing cologne.  And more often than not I noticed they were wearing the same thing as me, or something really similar.  And I quickly stopped wearing it all together because now it was like associating a sausage fest with a scent.

There is too much of a niche market out there to have to not have your own unique scent.  I started picking up a number of 10mL decants of cologne blindly.  One of the first scents I picked up lit me up like a christmas tree...  Tom Ford's Tuscan Leather.

Its a strong scent for sure, and its very linear meaning there is not a lot of subtly about it or lingering sub scents.  But what it is, is dead on right and it makes no apologies.  Its considered a reinterpretation of a traditional english leather.  Its stripped down, and a more sweet/sour of a traditional leather.  It strangely smells like cocaine, so right there you are building an allure around yourself.  The other nice part is it a one spray scent and it doesn't transform over time (the opening comes off the same as the basenote) and it lasts forever.

Now here is where it gets interesting,  Tuscan Leather is part of Tom Ford's Private Blend line which includes a dozen other scents.  The entire line is meant to be mixed and layered with each other to TRUELY give you your own unique scent.  The layering concept probably explains why the scents them selves are all quite linear (but they all do stand up on their own).

The most difficult part about the layering concept and well Tom Ford in general is that the price is incredibly high.  50mL in the Private Blend line will run you $195, or $260 for 100mL.  I picked up a 100mL because I know this is a scent I want to wear for a long time and will definitely state it is worth every penny.

Lets talk about Soap

So as a man, its easy to get into the routine that bar soap is bar soap and be content with whatever is on the shelf at the grocery store.

I switched over the Dove Men+Care about a year ago and while I was very happy with it,  it really only addressed skin cleanliness and not conditioning.  In that time I have been experimenting with random soap I've come across that have had sandlewood or sea salt.  And they did a fantastic job conditioning the skin but were short on the hygiene and cleanliness.

A week ago I picked up a Zirh body bar (can be found at Sephora).  I was initially hesitant as it does have a strong scent (the girlfriend thought it was odorless and I was crazy).  I was also hesitant at the price as its a $15 bar.

So its been a week (photo reflecting that week of use).  It appears I am going to get a solid 3-4 weeks of use out of it.  I do feel it does a fantastic job hygiene/cleanliness wise and it has been some of the best moisturizing my skin has had....  I guess I didn't realize just how dry my skin had been.

But back to scent:  you shower, you towel off, you sniff your skin and its quite neutral just a very light citric twist.  Strangely the citric twist only seems to grow as the day goes by.  If you don't wear scents/colognes,  its going to be very subtle and pleasant.  If you wear colognes you picked up at macy's like aqua di gio, you probably won't even notice the difference.  Now if you are into some more niche stuff, it really is a buzz kill and destroys longevity.  Yesterday's Tom Ford Tuscan Leather only held to my skin for 4 hours where normally it will stick for 16 and had a sickly twist.  Today's ELDO's Fat Electrician simply was not the experience it normally is and the vetiver just fell flat.  I am going to cycle through my cologne stock, and my continued use of the Zirh soap will depend entirely on if there is a batch of my scent collection that works with the soap.

Prisoner of the Gillette corperation

of which I am not.  Ditching the disposable blades has been a goal of mine for years.

My father has used a double edged razor for as long as I can remember.  Ironically he uses the original Gillette safety razor and its been in continual use in my family for a 100 years.  I remember trying to use it when I was a teenager and giving myself the worst shaving cut I've had in my life....  I have been hesitant to retry since.

I have been using a double edged razor exclusively for 6 months now and I am finally getting the hang of it.  It does take a few minutes longer than a normal shave but the difference is pretty negligible and I urge all men to at least give it a try.  I will be detailing more aspects of shaving and skin care in coming days.

For now I am just going to enjoy the baby bottom smoothness of the 5 pass shave I just had.  mmmmm.

Starting off on the right foot

actually that is quite the misnomer as this is a poor subject to kick off a men's fashion blog with, but its important to think of your appearance in terms of a lifestyle and not just that you clean up nicely for a black tie affair.

I will probably reference this a lot over the coming weeks but everything I ever needed to know about grooming and appearance I learned from my grandfather.  The man never owned a pair of gym shoes/jeans/tshirt in his life and I often reflect back on WWMGFW (what would my grand father wear).

Tonight I had to change out two tires on my car, and while I keep quite the clean car, this isn't a exactly a white glove chore.  I have found as of late my minimum car work dress code is a striped pair of DKNY shorts and a black polo.  I am happy to say that I swapped out the two tires in 25 minutes which isn't exactly NASCAR times but I completed the task cleanly.

I am working hard on building a wardrobe that has an appropriate outfit for any scenario and garage work is a big part of that.  Eventually I do want to get two mechanic jumpsuits,  but in the short term, I did pick up a beautiful denim chore jacket from Japan that is fleece lines which will be perfect once the fall hits.

Shoes Make the Man

While I am a firm believer that gym shoes are only appropriate for the Gym,  I made a brief reprise today and broke out a very special pair of shoes: My original issue Etnies MC Raps in red/black from 1990.  20 years later they still look very fresh and the leather creaks with every step.  I will make sure to post pictures on their next outing.