Grooming and Hygiene
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A friend of mine has developed skin serums designed to help skin recover from active outdoor pursuits in tough climates. I've sampled the products as they've evolved and offered my feedback throughout the development process, so I've been eager to get my hands on some supply.
He's now launched and I picked up the Desert serum (alpine also available and soon ocean or beach) and I love this stuff. I just use it in the morning to help moisturize in the dry climate out here. It smells so good, and I don't enjoy many fragrances. They also included a lip balm I really like in the order.
I am clean shaven these days but I think this could work as a beard oil as well as a moisturizer.
Here it is if you want to take a look: https://www.paracas.co/
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@mclaincausey Nice looking website!
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@mclaincausey That's a really cool concept, ill check these out. I work outdoors in the uk and my skin takes a beating! Which one do you think lasted the longest throughout the day?
They should do a Really Shitty Constant British Weather serum, that would do great here
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Haha! I think the only one out might be the desert which is what I ordered. It is for extremely dry weather. The coastal may be your best bet when it drops.
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Been loving this one lately. Kinda like bay rum meets royall lyme…
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Been meaning to post here about my Xmas gift to myself this year, which was a Rockwell 6S Adjustable Safety Razor:
Probably the most expensive SR I've ever picked up, but as it's effectively 6 in one it's worth the extra £. Basically, you can change the plates that go on the underside of the razor to change the angle at which it slides against your skin, allowing it to tackle more-or-less hair growth depending on how many days you've gone between shaves or your preferences.
I'm a once-every-two-or-three-days shaver, and I find the number 3 plate gives me a good balance between getting everything in one pass while still being fairly gentle. I go with the grain 99.99% of the time, and this works for me, but if I wanted to go against I'd probably want to go down a plate or two for that job. After leaving shaving for 5 days while on a long-stag-weekend recently, I went up to the number 4 plate to get the longer growth in one pass.
Only slight downside I found was that sometimes the hair and soap can get stuck under the blade and be hard to dislodge with running water alone, necessitating a dismantling and cleaning with a towel. But I think I figured out I wasn't using enough shaving soap and was doing too much shaving between rinses; once I applied more soap and started rinsing more frequently this issue stopped arising, so there might be a small learning curve to this SR.
Anyway, if you were after a new SR, this one comes with my personal recommendation, and seems like it could accommodate all jobs.
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Safety razors are the best.
I’ve been using Aēsop shampoo, conditioner, body wash, facial spray after the serum referenced above (which turns out to be a great aftershave), toothpaste, and mouthwash. Man their stuff is so good.
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@EdH lovely razor, one I have been keeping an eye on myself.
My current set up is a more aggressive first pass with a combed Tatara Nodichi razor. Then a swift across the grain pass with a Feather AS-D2. I use the Feather quite a lot as it is very mild and is easy to shave the head with.
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@ddtrash nice
I’ve been using a safety for some 20 years now. I have a 1957 Gillette fatboy that is my daily and then a Merkur slant for a super tight shave. Only use feather blades but I used to love Wilkinson swords until they got hard to get locally -
@iammortalcombat Really nice that you have an original Fat Boy to use. I have a modern stainless steel cop, the Rex ambassador. Nice razor and the adjustability allows for mild or more aggressive shaves settings.
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@pechelman The Italian Saponificio Varesino soaps are really nice, I have also had good results with standard proraso creams / soaps.
The Varesino range is quite varied. I am currently using the Desert Vetiver fragrance. I have used Opuntia which is a dead ringer for Creed Aventus fragrance.
The French Martin d Candre range rarely gets poor reviews. I have enjoyed using their Fougere fragrance (woody and fern scents) soap.
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I have owned quite a few expensive badger brushes over the years, two band and single band best badger Simpsons Chubby brushes and also some handmade Lee Sabini brushes.
All of them are quite frankly rubbish (in my opinion) compared to a bog standard synthetic hair brush. The Synthetic brushes are way more robust and have not as yet started shedding any hair. I am using a RazoRock synthetic beehive brush, great value and performance.
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Since I've been balding since my first kid about 15 years ago....I've known I wouldn't fool anyone with a combover or anything, and never dared to take a razor to my bumpy, moley scalp, so I endlessly and fruitlessly searched for the perfect solution. I used clippers with no guard for years and it was always too much work and didn't cut as closely as I liked. So I picked up one of these skull shavers and it's been a game changer. If you want to embrace your baldness, this is the ticket.
I also goofed up on my beard trim and went waaaaaaay too short. it's like 1" now and i hate it, although everyone says "you look 10 years younger" yeah yeah, dont care, beards are cooler than youth. thanks. lol
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This is my lineup. Love all of these products. They all smell amazing too.
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@pechelman I have several. My go to is a Kent Badger and Blade limited edition from 2009 but vulfix super badger is one i started with and loved as well.
Soaps there’s a few trumpers, true fitt and Taylor of old bond are all solid and known by most shavers. I’m a big fan of Mama Bear soaps and Noble Otter who are small business in the US with online ordering.
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Kinda random, but I absolutely love these flavoured toothpastes from Marvis.
I've been using the Jasmin one for years after trying out the whole range, but recently they released this Black Forest flavour and I'm converted!
Absolutely nails the chocolatey berry flavour, with just a hint of mint.
Occasionally I do question the efficacy of brushing my teeth with something so sweet and delicious, but until my teeth start falling out, i'll push those thoughts to one side...
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@WhiskeySandwich a bit late to the party but had one of these as well before I eventually started clean shaving my head. These were an absolute game changer, super convenient and easy/safe to use. Used these for many years. Today I just love the smooth feeling of a clean shaven skull.
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@T4920 black forest is great... I got their Earl Gray one a bit ago, and I'm sad it's almost gone... can't find it online anymore.
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I don't shave anymore, but when I did, I loved using Barrister and Mann's 42 (the most unusual scent). I recently decided to buy a few bars of their soap and eau du toilette, which smells amazing. (the fragrance smells like petunias, ambergris, tea, and Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster (lemon sugar))