Tag: Grooming
The latest grooming tips for men, product reviews, and tutorials on how to grooming to be the best man you can be.
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GROOMING | Wingman Scrubs Up Well
There’s no other time of year when one needs a good wash! Long hot sticky summer days, lashings of suntan lotion and muddy weekends in a field camping – whilst sipping cider from a can listen to a variety of folk and rock music as thousands of others jump beside you. Well fear not for there’s a new Wingman in town who’s got your back… your face… your whole body actually.
It’s not often I get excited about taking a shower. It happens daily and is a part my morning routine along with drinking two coffee’s to get out of bed, the blended fruit breakfast and hatred of other commuters. However, I now look forward to time spent in the water box thanks to Wingman’s range of face scrubs, washes and moisturisers that turns your morning or work aged body into a new man ready to take on life.
The face scrub, wash and moisturiser – handily numbered 1,2,3 in case you’re still not quite awake and try to moisturise before you’ve scrubbed – have a fresh scent using ginseng and vitamins to help cleanse and brighten the skin. Another shower great is their 3-in-1 range suitable for body, hair and shaving. Available in Jet, Mint and my favourite Citrus, this is the perfect travel companion if packing space is limited. If like myself you have longer hair then you may also want to pack a conditioner as well.
Overall a great new ‘man-brand’ to hit the shelves of Waitrose, Tesco, ASDA, Superdrug and Sainsbury’s or available online from www.WorldOfWingman.com ranging between £2.99 – £5.99.
You can also pick up a free Wingman Gift Set with a year’s subscription from THEGAYUK’s stall at our sponsored Pride events across the UK, including upcoming Glasgow, Cardiff and Swindon. If you see us come and say hello and pick up a set before they’re gone!
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REVIEW: Diamond White Home Teeth Whitening Kit
Being a black coffee drinker and red wine guzzler, one’s smile isn’t always as sparkly white as a Royal Doulton china dinner set. Over the years I’ve tried various different ways to keep my gnashers looking as close to Simon Cowell’s as possible.
I’ve given every brand of whitening toothpaste a bash but with no noticeable results.
For an instant result, laser whitening works. I went through this process about four years ago. The dentist covers your gums and lips to protect them. Then applies Zoom whitening gel to your fangs and sticks a laser in your gob. The Zoom whitening laser light and gel work together to penetrate the surface layers of your teeth to remove stains and discolouration, it should last a year.
If you have sensitive teeth like I do it’s not the most comfortable way to spend 45mins. Sporadically it felt as though someone was sticking a pin into one of my teeth and piercing through to the nerve. My teeth did look about three to four shades lighter afterwards. But at £495 a pop, laser isn’t for every bank balance.
My dentist also made moulds of my ivories to make whitening trays, so I could continue using the Zoom whitening gel and maintain my youthful smile. But the hydrogen peroxide contained in the gel gave me electric-like-shocks, even hours after using them. All for the bargain price of £250 for the trays and three syringes of gel.
Not having used the Zoom gel for over two years, I jumped at the opportunity to test Diamond Whites (DW) home whitening kit. I was introduced to Charlotte from DW and my first question to her: ‘is the process painful?’. Charlotte assured me DW’s kit is pain-free.
The Home Whitening Kit comes with two whitening syringes, 1 mouth tray, 1 activator spray, 1 whitening pen and toothpaste – all of which costs under £40. I was also given an LED light which are sold separately.
The instructions tell you to keep to a white diet while you’re whitening, which I did as much as possible.
First up on DW’s instructions: mould the mouth tray to your teeth by placing the trays in hot water for 20 seconds to soften. Then place the softened trays around your not-so-pearly-whites and bite for a further 20 secs to create a mould of your teeth. Great idea but about as effective as Labour’s last manifesto. I was left with a slight bite mark at the bottom of both trays. I used the trays my dentist made.
Next, spray the activator spray on a dry toothbrush and brush your dentures for 30 secs.
Step three, similarly to the Zoom, syringe about 1-2ml of the DW gel into the trays then place in your north-and-south for 20-30 mins with the LED light. The light is supposed to accelerate the whitening process. It looks and feels like you’ve an oversized dummy wedged in ya chops, but on the plus side no pain.
After said time you remove all the mouth-clutter a brush with DW toothpaste. I put this into practice for one week. I’m not blinding people with my smile, but there is a noticeable difference. Some of that difference does seem to wear off by the end of the day. My teeth are shinier and a tad whiter.
The Whitening Pen is for touch ups and is about as useful as the DW mouth trays.
The moral of this story: no pain, no gain.
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Top 5 Tips To Keep Your Man Bush In Check
We all know manscaping is a necessary chore that all us men have to go through to keep our junk in an aesthetically pleasing state.
How ever necessary this process is it does not make it any less tiresome. Here are my top 5 tips to achieve the perfect haircut for your downstairs.
1. Nobody wants to feel like they’re going down on a 9-year-old so when your hacking around your tool with the trimmers make sure you leave yourself some stubble.The only people to get away with the bald look are porn stars and even then I prefer to see something down there.
2. One place baldness is generally preferred is around the ass so if you’re using hair removal cream to achieve a silky smooth tushi make sure you go with a sensitive cream. Don’t and you’ll regret it when your ass is red raw and itching like a b*tch.
3. After care is a must. When your hair starts to re-grow it is going to itch and without the aid of a moisturiser you’ll probably end up with a rash. I recommend the same thing that was recommended to me be a stripper friend of mine and that’s Sudecrem. Sudecrem is officially your best friend.
4. Pull it tight. Remember that feeling when you accidentally cut your face with the razor when you shave? Imagine that on your crown jewels, omg cringe! Remember the skin on your boys is thinner and looser than the skin on your face so avoid any unfortunate slip ups by pulling the skin taut.
5. Last but not least, use a fresh razor to avoid bacteria infections and keep your electric trimmers clean and free from old hair.
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IT’S TRUE: Men Vainer Than Women
WHILE women are renowned for investing significant time and money into their appearance, new research has found that it is in fact men who are the vainer sex.
The study by luxury men’s lifestyle etailer, avaj.co.uk, revealed men look at their reflection 23 times a day, whilst women did so 16 times per day.
Men confessed to ‘mainly’ looking at their appearance to admire themselves and the body parts they like the most. This is in direct contrast to women, the majority of whom said they mainly looked at their appearance for reassurance that they look OK (for example, that their make-up is in place). Women also mainly focussed time spent in front of the mirror on looking at the body parts they are the most self-conscious about.
On average men spent 10 minutes per day looking at their reflection which amounts to almost six and a half days per year. 11% of male respondents confessed to mirror gazing over 30 times a day.
82% of men agreed that maintaining a good personal appearance was a key prerogative.
Dominating the list of body parts men were most happy with was arms (76%), followed by legs (54%), smile (49%), eyes (43%), and hair (38%).
Tracey Denison, managing director at avaj.co.uk, said “Surprisingly, unlike women, men are more likely to spend time in front of the mirror admiring the parts of themselves they are happy with – suggesting vanity is the real purpose behind the time spent looking at reflections. The trend for even those men who opt for a more rugged look ensuring they are well groomed – investing in beard care kits and the like – further reinforces this idea.
“It’s also possible that the selfie trend is partially driving this rise in male vanity, as people become more used to celebrating their appearance. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to have seeped through to women as much, and they still seem to be the more self-conscious sex.”
Two thirds of men (67%) revealed they had 3 or more cosmetic products, suggesting that men no longer wish to grow older gracefully.
The survey also found a third of men (34%), had used a female friend or family member’s cosmetic products at least once, whilst one in 10 (9%) said they used cosmetic products targeted at women regularly.
avaj sells a unique range of grooming products, clothing, homeware and men’s accessories for the modern gentleman.
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Want Perfect Teeth? Experts Suggest Swigging Oil For 20 Minutes
Thanks to a host of celebrity endorsements, ‘oil pulling’ has become one of the latest health crazes to sweep the nation. Pulling involves swishing a mouthful of oil around your mouth for up to twenty minutes and then spitting it out.
A supposedly ancient holistic practice, pulling is claimed to have a range of health benefits and coconut oil is said to be one of the best oils to use because of its apparent anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial benefits. However, despite the growing popularity of the practice, there has been little or no scientific evidence to show that it works…until now that is.
A new study has been published looking at the effect of oil pulling in 60 people. The study was carried out over a 30 day period and measured how using coconut oil for pulling effects the levels of plaque and plaque induced gingivitis (gum disease) in the mouth.
The researchers found that by day 7 pulling with coconut oil had significantly reduced levels of plaque and gingivitis since the start of the study. They then observed that these levels continued to drop until the end of the study.
So it seems, on this occasion at least, celebrities have got it right!
If you’re going to swill a spoonful of oil around your mouth for 20 minutes you’ll want it to be both tasty and effective, one such product is Coconoil which makers claim is both of these.
With fans ranging from Olympic skeleton bobsleigher Amy Williams to Tinie Tempah, Coconoil is one of the highest quality virgin coconut oils available. Not only is the oil organic, ensuring there are no nasties in sight, but it is cold pressed, meaning coconut flesh effectively has the oil squeezed out of it – many other coconut oils are prepared using high heat, which can be detrimental to its taste and health benefits.
It’s also high in lauric acid, which is the main active component of coconut oil and the sign of a quality product.
Furthermore, Coconoil also helps more than just the health of those using it. The brand was set up after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami as a way to help rebuild the livelihoods of Sri Lankan farmers and today helps keep over 200 Sri Lankans in employment. The brand has also just started a new project with 200 smallholders from five villages in Ghana, and hope throughout 2015 they can replicate some of the success they have seen in Sri Lanka and help to create new jobs and income streams for those involved.
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Do You Have Facial Faeces?
Sporting a lumbersexual beard may not be as hot as you think according to a survey conducted by a TV news crew in New Mexico.
When microbiologist John Golobic, of Quest Diagnostics swabbed a few beards even he was shocked at what he discovered. Several of them contained normal bacteria, but some contained so much poo they were comparable to toilets.
Mr. Golobic announced that if there were similar samples in the water system, then it would have to be shut down for disinfecting.
‘Those are the types of things you’d find in (fecal matter),’ he added.
Urgh. So think twice before you kiss your man with his hairy face, unless of course you actually are turned on by this news.
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REVIEW: eDermastamp – Our Lunchtime Facelift
It is with some hesitation that I do anything to interfere with my face. Creams yes, pills yes, needles in the face in the name of a more youthful complexion? I wasn’t so sure.
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Shaving Time Off Your Daily Shave
With a research budget that some small nations could be jealous of, there’s 2 billion reasons why Gillette is the number one shaver brand worldwide. The ever expansion of brilliantly developed products, the razor industry is about to get another revelation.
After years of exploration Gillette tackles the final frontiers in the wet shave, your chin, your cheeks, your jowls, and your jawbone… Yes all those highly contoured areas of the face have caused issues with razor to skin contact in the past, but now, thanks to 20,000 test shaves per year and over a decade of investigation, FlexBall TM is their answer, resulting, hopefully in a more comfortable more efficient shave.
Using their best razor cartridge, the Fusion ProGlide along with their best FlexBall handle, Gillette has created a unique answer to a unique problem, and this is just one their current innovations. Those ideas are still bubbling away in their innovation centre here in the UK, where every colleague is encouraged to share their thoughts about future products. Lead Research Scientist, who has worked with the company for 18 years, Kristina Vannosthuyze, smiles and says, “We shave with our ideas…”
Gillette® Fusion ProGlide with NEW FlexBall Technology razors will be available in selected retailers from 17th February 2015 with a suggested retail price of £12 (manual) and £15 (power).
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Metrosexual Is Out And Lumbersexual Is In
The days of the well-groomed metrosexual man might soon be over as the “lumbersexual” trend takes precedence.
Who exactly are they? Well, this is the new term for hot hipsters who look like lumberjacks?
How do you spot them? The lumbersexual man is essentially an urban woodsman; he’s brawny, wears expensive flannel, has an impressive beard that is painstakingly unkempt and represents the ultimate sense of carefully calculated manliness.
Where can you find them? Well certainly not in the forest chopping down trees. They hang out in hipster bars and instead of wielding an axe, they will probably be carrying a macbook pro.
Are they gay? Well that is the $64000 question. Yes and No. This new trend has been adopted by straight men too, so you are going to have to trust your gaydar to find out before you start stroking his beard.
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THE MAN WHO WORE MAKEUP: Me, My Enemy And My Ally
THE MAN WHO WORE MAKEUP: Me My Enemy My Ally