The Sharp Grooming Guide: Saving Face (and Hands)

by Jeremy on November 28th, 2008

One of the many great pleasures of being a man is the knowledge that as you age you will only get more handsome. Or so Harrison Ford would have us all believe. Truth is, it can really go either way. Unless you had Ford’s rugged good looks to begin with, it’s best to hedge your bets on this one and spend a few minutes every day taking care of your face, hands, and other readily visible parts. Master Barber Shawn Cornaccio of New York’s Paul Lebrecque Salon offers these tips to get you started.

1: Shave in the Shower. With no dirt between the skin and hair, the shower is the best place for a clean, close shave. Not only does it make it easier for the razor to lift hair off the face for a smooth shave, the steam soothes the skin and reduces irritation. There’s also no cleanup.  A fogless shower mirror will be your new best friend.

2: Don’t forget the details. For many men, it’s easy to forget about little details like shaping sideburns and trimming ear and nose hair.  Get down to business with an ear and nose trimmer and a pair of beard scissors.

3: Clean nails look better. It’s surprising how often nails are overlooked in the grooming routine. Second only to your face in making first impressions, hands say a lot about a man. Whether they say “I am a productive and competent business person” or “I just finished degreasing your carburetor” is totally up to you.

4: Tweeze. Yes, really.  A lot of men get freaked out by tweezers, which is understandable, but it’s important to keep eyebrows groomed. Waxing will give you fake and unnatural-looking arches, so unless you’re going for that “constant state of surprise” look, stick to tweezing.  Always keep tweezers on hand for plucking stray hairs between, above, and below the brows. Remember, you’re not shaping them, just tidying up around them.

Shawn recommends ACE Tools for all of the above, which are available online at Amazon.com. For more information please visit www.AceForMen.com.

The Sharp Traveler: Bag of Dreams

by Jeremy on November 27th, 2008

When is a bag more than just a bag? We’re not trying to get all philosophical on you here, but we’ve been obsessing over a particular Crocodile Weekender lately and thoughts like this, unfortunately, have become maddeningly frequent. Granted. the bag, which we found at the Brooks Brothers online store, is just a bunch of hide and metal. But it is also obviously much more than that. And it costs $15,000, which you can make of what you will.

The bag is crocodile, for one, which is always pretty awesome if you ask us. It’s also made in Italy, which is always a good sign for leather goods. The weekend bag style is a classic and elegant one, just big enough to hold a change of clothes, some toiletries and a book, and just small enough to fit into the trunk of a roadster. It’s the perfect bag for a weekend in the country with your sweetheart.

Now we could just cram all of that stuff into our trusty nylon MEC rucksack, and throw that into the trunk of our mid-size sedan, but would it be the same? Certainly not. But if we had 15 grand to drop on a bag, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here writing this blog to begin with. Nonetheless, we stand by our commitment to this extremely desirable piece of luggage in all of its unattainable splendour.

Required Viewing: The 2009 Pirelli Calendar

by Jeremy on November 25th, 2008

Say you’re a 1960’s-era Italian tire company executive and you’re sitting around trying to think up a good way to raise the profile of your product. Since you’ve just come from the premiere of Barbarella, you are all over the notion that putting a beautiful and scantily clad woman in something, anything, will make that thing more popular, no matter the inherent absurdity of the whole. Tires, you think, may be utilitarian, but there’s no reason they should be any different from a film about fur-clad psychedelic space bandits. Then you got to work.

Read about the complex history of this most coveted of all tire calendars here. Or just look at the pictures.

Next Page »