I first discovered this hand soap when I was visiting my buddy and he had it in his guest bathroom. The smell is amazing – strong, masculine notes – and I dig the bottle and design. I asked him where he got it, expecting some $30 brand but was excited to hear it’s from Target and only $7. That means for the same price as the goofy-bottled watermelon what-have-you, you get something that smells great and already matches the classy brown bottle aesthetic I’ve got going on in the bathroom.
A caveat though, I dug the smell so much, I ordered the body wash in the same scent (it’s not sold in stores locally) and I was disappointed by its lack of lather as well as the intense aroma projection of the hand soap.
I’m a bougie-on-a-budget kind of guy. I really like a lot of Aesop’s line, particularly their hand soap and fragrances, but for anything you work through quickly it feels expensive. Case in point: I was given the Aesop spray deodorant as a gift but when I ran out I didn’t want to drop $35 to replace it. The Dove Men+Care Eucalyptus + Birch spray deodorant has a different but similarly herbal/woodiness to it.
I’ve been wearing Gucci’s Gucci Guilty Black eau de toilette for a year, give or take. It is a vibrant and provocative scent blending notes of green coriander, lavender, orange flower, and patchouli but doesn’t have overwhelming projection. For men who want to wear a scent but need the whole room to know it, this is a modern, subtle option.
I bought mine at Sephora and I always recommend buying more expensive fragrances locally at big box stores if possible because of the big issue of fakes from third party sellers that still permeates online marketplaces.
As I said, I like paying more for grooming and self-care products if they seem to work better, smell better, or provide an overall enjoyable experience, and hair products are where that all started for me. Buying my first puck of $12 American Crew Forming Cream in 10th grade was a splurge, and it didn’t end there.
But I was on a road trip a few months ago and needed to pick up some hair product while at a Wal-mart, and knowing I had stuff I use at home, didn’t want to spend too much money. I grabbed Axe’s Texturizing Cream because it is a lightweight product and doesn’t have too much hold or shine.
It’s been great on my fine, medium length hair: It doesn’t weigh it down or leave me “feeling” like I’ve used it after a long day, and I’ve continued using it since I’ve been back home.
If you’ve still got itchy winter skin, try the Advanced Care Dry Repair body wash from Dove Men+Care. I stumbled across this at CVS on sale and picked it up to see if I was just having itchy skin from the normal seasonal culprits or if it was a reaction to something else. It’s designed with a focus on hydration, incorporating a significant amount of a hydration balm and shea butter in its formula with a light, woody aroma.
Fortunately, everything went back to normal relatively quickly so it was probably just seasonal, but as a body wash it works great. It’s a thick gel that lathers well and has a subtle and masculine scent.
Shaving and taking care of facial hair is a lot like doing our taxes: It’s one of those things we have to do but we’re never really educated on how to do it. Some of us might have been lucky to get some preliminary instructions from a father figure, but even then, if your facial hair growth or style is any different from his, you’ve had to figure it out for yourself.
What on the surface seems like it should be simple – hair on face too long, make shorter – actually has quite a bit of nuance.
1. Don’t Trust Your Bathroom Lighting Alone
Take my word for it: If you do all your grooming in the same bathroom, in front of the same mirror, with the same lighting every day, you may not be getting the full picture.
About 10 years ago, I was chilling with one of my closest friends at home and he politely told me I had a hair growing out the side of my nose, coincidentally (and perfectly timed) with our conversation about our frustrations with the LA dating scene. Not out of my nose – out the side of my nose. I went to the bathroom, and even doing that thing where I’m inches from the mirror, I couldn’t see what the heck he was talking about.
I didn’t even know hair could grow on the side of noses
I pulled out my cell phone flash light and moved it across my face, and sure enough, there it was, a hair that must have been a third of an inch long just straight up growing out the side of my nose. Its length made clear it had been there for some time and I could never see it because it just happened to fall in this awkward blind spot that my bathroom set up caused.
To get a better picture of what’s going on, especially for potentially embarrassing things you’d prefer to avoid like nose and ear hair, but also for catching beard strays, occasionally give your face a sweep with lighting that breaks up your normal perspective.
2. Achieve a Naturally Rounded Upper Cheek Line by Pulling Your Cheek Up Then Shave a Straight Line
Your face isn’t flat, and neither should the top of your cheek line. An upper beard cheek line that has a natural contour allows you to neaten up your facial hair appearance without looking like you just squared off the bushes with a hedge trimmer. The trick to cleaning up your cheeks while giving it a natural look lies in a simple but effective technique:
Start by pulling the skin of your cheek upward
Then, with your skin still taut, shave or trim in a straight line where you want your cheek line to be.
The magic happens when you release your skin; the straight line you’ve just created will naturally adopt a slightly rounded appearance that follows the natural shape of your face.
This method does more than just create a visually pleasing line; it also helps in defining the cheekbones and framing your face in a way that enhances your facial structure.
3. Cut Into Your Mustache, Don’t Cut It Straight Across
While much of facial hair grooming comes down to improving presentation, trimming the ends of your mustache hairs is a more practical, “GET OUT OF MY MOUTH” operation.
It’s easy to think of it the same way you do your sideburns or the way the barber trims the bottom of your hair on your neck: Straight across with the trimmer.
But for a more natural edge, treat the mustache more like bangs instead, and cut into the ends of the hairs with your trimmer or scissors to reduce length in a more organic way instead of giving your ‘stache the equivalent of a bowl cut.
4. My Preferred Easy Clean Up Technique
The clean up is one of the most annoying parts of shaving and trimming. Whether you’re living with a partner, roommates, or simply cherish a clean bathroom like an adult, those tiny hairs seem to have a talent for finding their way into every nook and cranny, clinging stubbornly to sinks and countertops.
One thing I’ve found that makes things easier when using a trimmer is to place a damp paper towel in the bottom of the sink. The wet surface acts like a magnet for facial hair clippings, making them stick to the towel rather than flying off into the unknown.
There are also dedicated sink covers for those inclined, but they seem kind of expensive for what are essentially the same as toilet seat covers. For men with routines dealing with a lot more density, a dedicated product like the various beard bibs available, while looking silly, offer a larger and reusable solution.
When it comes to what really matters in a trimmer, there are a few non-negotiables: it needs enough power to glide through your hair without snagging and pulling, blades sharp enough to minimize the number of passes you have to make, construction that prevents it from getting too hot on your face and in your hand, and perhaps most crucially, a battery that won’t betray you by dying halfway through a trim, which always seems to be right before a big event.
Frustratingly, just about any trimmer you come across locally isn’t going to have any of that.
Ceramic blades, like those on the Beardscape V2, are a rarity in the world of trimmers, where metal blades are standard. The advantage of ceramic over metal is significant: they stay sharper for longer, resist heat build-up, and are quieter during operation.
This is in stark contrast to the more common metal blades, which can dull quicker, get uncomfortably hot with prolonged use, and often create more noise. The use of ceramic blades in the Beardscape V2 ensures a trimming experience that is not only more comfortable but also more efficient, reducing the need for multiple passes over the same area and thereby lessening the risk of skin irritation.
Buying a trimmer comes down to investing in a tool that you can rely on for years, and the Beardscape V2 is precisely that. It’s what you upgrade to when you’re tired of burning through plastic-y, off-the-shelf trimmers that share the same motor as the electric toothbrush in the next aisle and instead are ready for a serious tool designed with longevity and performance in mind. Its unique features set it apart from the more commonly available trimmers that might offer a lower upfront cost but fall short in durability and efficiency. The Beardscape V2 is a tool that not only meets your grooming needs today but continues to perform for years to come.
5. Nail Where Your Beard Hair Should Stop On Your Neck Every Time With This Guide
More so than how to grow facial hair, or choosing which style to go with, or what products to use, it seems like the absolute one thing most men are never taught and is not inherently obvious is: Where on your neck should your beard or scruff stop?
Go too low and you start looking like a werewolf. Go too high and you run the risk of drawing attention to the underside of your chin, like this TV show poster I came across in the grocery store:
Left: A beard shaved too high on the neck Right: Photoshopped to show how leaving the hair on your chin draws the eye up
Here’s an easy guide to get it right:
Your facial hair should not extend passed or below the back corner of your jaw. The hair should wrap around the corner, but not extend further.
From there, use your comb (or eyeball it if you’re adventurous) to visualize a line from the corner of your jaw to just above your Adam’s apple.
Adjusting the line slightly based on your facial structure can further optimize your beard’s appearance. For those with rounder faces, a slightly higher line can elongate the face, while individuals with longer faces might benefit from a lower line to add fullness.
For men who lack a defined separation between their jaw line and their neck, my recommendation would be to follow the same guide but taper the hair below the jaw line to create the illusion of contour.
The key is to ensure that the end point complements your natural features, rather than adhering rigidly to a one-size-fits-all approach.
Keeping your shavers, trimmers, and razors clean isn’t just for professionals and the OCD among us: It’s a critical part of avoiding skin irritations and infections. Every time you shave or trim, your tools come into contact with bacteria that can proliferate if left unchecked.
A simple and effective method is to use isopropyl alcohol. After each use, take a moment to wipe down your razors or trimmer blades and any other non-electric parts with a cloth dampened with alcohol. This kills off bacteria and keeps your tools in ready condition. For electric trimmers, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions for safe cleaning practices, as direct application of liquids can damage some models.
→ Pro-tip: Put your solution in a small mister bottle so that cleaning is a breeze
For guys with a clean shave, using isopropyl alcohol on the blades can sanitize and help displace water. Replace razor cartridges or blades often – at least every 5-7 shaves for most men. Dull blades are harder to keep bacteria-free.
Whether it’s sticking with what his father used or grabbing whatever was available when he first needed one, it’s easy for a guy to just kind of fall into using a specific grooming tool, not realizing that some work better for certain men than others.
It should be based on the type and style of your facial hair – as well as your preference for an experience or convenience.
Electric Rotary Shaver:
Best for close shaves cutting through curly or thicker facial hair
Technique: circular, rotating motions
Direction: small circles across the face to catch and cut hairs growing in various directions
Beard Trimmer:
Best for trimming various lengths of facial hair from stubble to beard maintenance
Technique: use with or without guards for desired length
Direction: lightly go against the grain
Safety Razor:
Best for a close and precise shave
Technique: use short, straight strokes
Direction: with the grain of the hair growth
Straight Razor:
Best for experienced users seeking a close shave
Technique: careful, smooth strokes
Direction: holding the razor edge at a 30 degree angle to your skin and going with the grain on the first pass, optional across or against the grain on subsequent passes
Cartridge Razor:
Best for convenience and quick shaves
Technique: light pressure with longer, steady strokes
Direction: with the grain for the first pass, optional across or against the grain for closer shaves
Electric Foil Shaver:
Best for clean shaves with less skin irritation
Technique: long, straight strokes
Direction: over the face in the direction of hair growth
8. Wash Your Face Before Trimming or Shaving to Lessen The Chance of Acne, Ingrown Hairs, etc.
There’s a reason nurses wash the surface of the skin before a surgeon gets started with the scalpel: The skin is home to plenty of things that can cause problems if they get inside an incision.
When you shave or trim without first cleansing, you’re not just cutting hair. You’re potentially dragging bacteria across your skin, inviting it into tiny nicks or inflamed pores, which can lead to acne, ingrown hairs, or worse. A pre-grooming wash with warm water and a gentle cleanser does more than just rinse away these bacteria; it also softens your facial hair and opens your pores, setting the stage for a smoother, cleaner cut.
Just because we’re not trying to cut our selves when shaving and trimming doesn’t mean it’s not an inherent fact of facial hair maintenance.
9. Don’t Endlessly Cut Flyaways, Use Hairspray on a Comb
Before you frustratingly take scissors to that lone beard hair that insists on going its own way, no matter how much you brush it, there’s a simple yet effective trick that can bring them into line: using hairspray on a comb.
Spritz a fine-toothed comb with whatever hairspray you have around, not directly onto your beard. This allows for a more controlled application, ensuring you don’t end up with a stiff or sticky beard. Then, gently run the comb through your beard, focusing on the areas with flyaways. The hairspray helps hold the hair in place without weighing it down, without having to constantly deal with the now shorter fly away as it grows back.
What are your shaving, grooming, and facial hair tips you had to figure out the hard way? Keep the list going in the comments.
It seems like there are two types of packers. And I don’t relate to either of them.
The first is the packer who proudly takes barely anything. Nary more than a toothbrush and deodorant. Maybe a comb, but probably not. This packer is proud to pack light and boasts that they travel on a three week work trip with only a backpack, and assails anyone who suggests needing to pack more than that.
The second type of packer is the complete other end. They would gladly pay for a second checked bag so that they can just bring everything in case of emergency – and they’ve never even experienced any of those emergencies. Part of it is probably anxiety but the other part is just not wanting to have to think about what they need to pack. So they hold their bag up next to their bathroom shelf and dump everything in.
If you’re in the middle of those two like I was, you probably carry more than the first but rarely feel like you have your normal routine like the second. You probably have a small dopp kit that has a couple travel-sized products from Target and a mishmash of things you’ve had to pick up on the last 10 years of trips because you often don’t have what you need.
But awhile ago I decided to more intentionally take that middle path: I don’t want to have to stress when packing, I want all of my normal things, and I don’t want to take up a lot of space.
What I Want in a Travel Kit
I like my grooming routine. I like being able to do what I do at home when I’m somewhere else, especially if I have to give a presentation or speech because I’m traveling for work or I’m in a wedding.
Not only does having my usual supplies make things quicker and more effortless when getting ready away from home, it allows me to be more comfortable and it certainly reduces stress.
There’s nothing easy or fast about trying to get ready from a bag like this. “THIS ISN’T HOW WE’RE SUPPOSED TO LIVE,” my adult brain shouts at me.
What I want is a compact, organized, but easily packable kit. One that allows me to determine what I bring based on my actual routine:
Not only do I want to be able to do my normal routine, I want to be able to do it with the tools I normally do it with. I want to take my electric toothbrush because I like my electric toothbrush. I want to take my regular beard trimmer because I trust it and I know it.
Maintainable organization is important to me so that when I’m packing I can easily look at my kit and know if I forgot something or not.
It needs to be compact so I can use the same kit for almost every trip, which means it fits in both a suitcase and a backpack.
It needs to be organized so that when using the grooming products I don’t have to dig for things and stuff isn’t falling out all over.
I want a kit that gives me my normal routine, that can fit in various travel bags.
Problems with Existing Dopp Bags & Toiletry Kits
Surprisingly, when you look up guides to packing and traveling with your grooming supplies, a lot of them are just bag recommendations. Most of those recs are dopp kits which are usually just one-section pouches, like a glorified leather pencil holder that everything just gets dumped into. I don’t want to be digging around looking for a specific medicine or tweezers or whatever every time I need something. Plus traditional dopp kit bags hardly hold anything. You can barely fit a beard trimmer and some toothpaste in that thing.
The advantage of using a hard-sided kit like this is you don’t have to unpack everything in your hotel or Airbnb to be able to see and access all of your stuff because it’s organized as you go. All you need is an area that’s big enough for the box to be able to sit on it, then open it up and flip through it like a book. Put it back when you’re done and you don’t have to be digging around all kinds of stuff. That’s awesome.
Small and nimble
Recommendation: The Hard-Sided Toiletry & Grooming Kit
It’s amazing to me that the hard-sided dopp kit barely exists. Why? Because obviously nobody wants to have liquids squeezed out everywhere when your toiletry bag gets yanked around by whoever’s handling your baggage. Or when you stuff it in the back of a trunk and everybody else’s luggage gets put on top. Or someone bumps into you on the subway while you’re carrying your backpack. Why would I use a soft sided bag to house 6 tiny bottles of liquid? That doesn’t even make sense.
If you look for hard-sided toiletry cases, they’re basically just makeup kits, and even those wouldn’t work for our purposes because of their size and shape. So I started digging and I finally landed on this small hard-sided electronics organizer.
Budget-friendly hard-sided dopp kits are hard to come by, but this cheap electronics organizer works perfectly.
Its unpacked weight of 11 ounces is light: Equivalent to 12 ping pong balls. It’s got two main sections with a two-sided divider in the middle creating 4 total sections. The first has a shallow full mesh zipper pocket on the left that fits flat things like combs and small cases.
The middle has MOLLE-like straps on both sides and another half zip pocket on one side. I use it to hold a set of third party travel bottles, more on that in a second.
But the fourth section really is the best part. The big section on the right is about 1.5″ deep and is configurable with three Velcro dividers to perfectly section your space for your full-size grooming gear. For me, that’s the Brio Beardscape, my electric toothbrush, and beard brush.
All electric grooming tools should have an engageable travel lock like the Brio Beardscape that prevents them from accidentally turning on when bumped in transit. This allows you to pack a fully charged item and not have to bother with making space for the charger.
Grooming & Toiletry Kit Packing Tips
How to Take and Use What You Normally Use
One of the core problems I wanted to solve with my travel kit was being able to use the products I use at home, while traveling.
Why? Because if you’ve ever been to Walmart or Target to buy your travel-sized goods, you’ve got about two choices for each thing. If you don’t want whatever shampoo comes in a travel size, well, then you’re out of luck.
The easy and surprisingly cheap option is to find a set of plastic travel bottles and fill them with what you’re currently using at home. Depending on your trip that could be just a little bit – why lug around enough shampoo for 10 trips?
Even better, many of these come in a clear plastic bag themselves so that on flights where you have to separate your liquids, you can separate them in the clear case and continue to pack all your other grooming goods in the kit.
Similarly, one of the things I always miss on trips is my normal cologne because I don’t want to take the space of packing a full size bottle. You can pick up a cheap “atomizer” and pour in a little bit of your cologne to take with you.
Three Approaches to Organization
1. By Function
Much like organizing a kitchen or workshop, it’s instinctive to arrange your travel kit in a way that enhances the convenience and usability of your essential tools. For as much as the case’s space will allow, you keep dental stuff all together, shower stuff all together, and so on. For some, this will be the most obvious and preferred.
2. By Packing Order
I organize my toiletries kit by packing order: Everything that stays in the kit while not traveling is stored together, and things I have to pack every time get stored in a separate section. That way I always know if I packed it without having to take inventory.
This is my new favorite strategy. For me, most of the things I end up forgetting while traveling are some sort of toiletry or grooming product. The method of organizing your toiletry kit by packing order means you pack all of the things that are stored in your kit in one section, and all the things you have to put in it each trip like your toothbrush and beard trimmer in a separate section.
This way, when you’re packing last-minute like I always do, it’s very easy to see if you packed all of those things without having to review the entire travel kit.
This packing method is more effortless but you don’t get the same streamlined use-sense as packing by function, meaning when doing your dental routine, you may have to flip among the kit to get your toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, or floss. But at least with this method, I know I have them.
3. By Travel Restriction
If you’re a traveler who needs to keep liquids separate for going through security, my recommendation would be to divide your things into two kits: Liquids in one compliant clear bag, and everything else in the other. That way, the second can be left alone for the most part and just grabbed when packing.
List of Things to Pack in a Toiletry Bag or Dopp Kit
Pick and choose based on your needs:
Added each time you pack
Toothbrush
Prescription medication
Beard trimmer or shaver
Razor and extra blades (if not using an electric shaver)
Adhesive bandages for wounds and blisters (various sizes)
Antiseptic wipes
Tweezers (for splinters)
Travel-sized sunscreen (if traveling to sunny destinations)
Lip balm or chapstick
Eye mask (for better sleep during flights or in unfamiliar accommodations)
Use a Label Maker
If you have more than two liquids bottles and you don’t want to navigate by smell, use a label maker to identify what your new travel bottles contain.
Use Plastic Wrap Under Caps to Ensure No Leakage
A simple mom hack to make sure that none of your liquid bottles inadvertently leak or pop open is to take the cap off and place a piece of plastic wrap over the opening and screw the cap back on. This is especially important if you’re using cheap-o bottles, but with enough motivation, any bottle can pop open.
I really use these two items from Brio. I have used the Beardscape and the the electric toothbrush for years. The cool thing is, Brio also understands the annoyances of travel for guys. They have designed features like a travel mode on the trimmer that you can engage by holding down the power button for 5 seconds. If it gets bumped in transit, it won’t turn on and eat the battery until you get to your destination however many hours later.
They also have something I haven’t really seen elsewhere, which is a silicone sleeve that slides over the the clipper blades and the back to protect the blades while traveling. This means the shaver can go right in the hard-sided case without its own case, while also keeping any stray hairs from getting into your kit.
The silicone sleeve is an easy packing solution. Primer readers can get one free when you buy the Beardscape V2.
What are your grooming kit and toiletry bag travel hacks? Chat with me in the comments!
