{"id":601,"date":"2016-02-09T23:01:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T04:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beckinabox.com\/blog\/?p=601"},"modified":"2026-05-22T19:20:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T23:20:44","slug":"mens-personal-grooming-shaving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?p=601","title":{"rendered":"Men’s Personal Grooming (Shaving)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_8627\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A few years ago I started to become interested in men\u2019s personal grooming. I\u2019m not exactly sure why. Maybe I didn\u2019t like the way my skin reacted to those overpriced quadruple blade systems. Maybe I actually started caring about my skin. Maybe I got tired of spending a fortune on replacement blades every month, or having to charge up some cheap plastic electric razor. Maybe I just wanted shaving to feel a little more traditional.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m far from knowledgeable or even experienced, but I genuinely look forward to shaving every day and wanted to share some of my limited experience. Every morning I make sure I give myself a little extra time to do it right. If I don\u2019t shave right after a shower, I usually relax my skin with a hot towel prepared with a little bit of \u00a0Vick’s VaporRub<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

I use Taylor of Old Bond Street<\/span><\/span><\/a> shave soap. I\u2019ve been in love with their lavender scent, although I honestly haven\u2019t tried a scent from them that I didn\u2019t enjoy. I\u2019ll occasionally use other shave soaps as well, such as Geo. F. Trumper<\/span><\/span><\/a> and Proraso<\/span><\/span><\/a>. I use a generic ceramic shave mug to hold the soap, along with a pure badger hair shave brush from The Art of Shaving<\/span><\/span><\/a>. When I first started out I used a cheap brush that quickly fell apart, so my advice is to upgrade to a better shave brush. Your skin will thank you.<\/p>\n

As far as razors go, I use a long-handled Merkur<\/span><\/span><\/a> safety razor. I originally used Merkur double-edged blades, but now I use Feather<\/span><\/span><\/a> blades. Some blades are definitely sharper than others, but sharpest isn\u2019t always best. I\u2019ve found that it really depends on your shaving style and skin type.<\/p>\n

As for aftershaves, that\u2019s completely up to personal preference. Going back to my original reasoning for shaving this way, part of it is because I want it to feel classic and masculine. Because of that, I tend to use more old-school aftershaves\u2014musky, spicy, traditional scents. I honestly don\u2019t think I use a single contemporary aftershave.<\/span><\/p>\n

The aftershave I use most is Clubman Pinaud<\/span><\/span><\/a>. Clubman has been around since the early 1800s, and it was one of the first aftershaves I ever used. It\u2019s a fresh powdery scent and still my go-to when heading out to events. If I\u2019m going to an evening dinner date or small party, I\u2019ll usually use a bay rum aftershave. Different brands all have their own variations, but for the most part they\u2019re spicy scents that really stand out. I usually use Clubman Bay Rum<\/a> or Layrite<\/span><\/span> No. 9 Bay Rum<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For everyday use during the spring and summer, I tend to use Lucky Tiger<\/a>, Aqua Velva<\/a>, or Florida Water<\/a>\u2014another classic product that dates back to the early 1800s. During the fall and winter I usually find myself reaching for Skin Bracer<\/a> or Stetson<\/a>. Other aftershaves that regularly stay in rotation are Old Spice Classic<\/a> and Brut Classic<\/a>, two scents that are recognizable, relaxing, and great for the daily grind.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are so many aftershaves out there, and like I said, everyone has their own preferences and favorites. Some aftershaves I\u2019d still love to try someday are Canoe<\/a>, Musgo Real<\/a>, Osage Rub<\/a>, British Sterling<\/a>, Gabel\u2019s Bay Rum<\/a>, Royall Lyme<\/a>, Muelhens<\/a>, Clubman Lilac Vegetal<\/a>, Clubman Lime Sec<\/a>, Tabac<\/a>, Proraso<\/a>, Jovan Musk<\/a>, Royal Copenhagen<\/a>, and English Leather<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If anyone feels like gifting me a bottle of any of them, I\u2019d be forever grateful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago I started to become interested in men\u2019s personal grooming. I\u2019m not exactly sure why. Maybe I didn\u2019t like the way my skin reacted to those overpriced quadruple blade systems. Maybe I actually started caring about my skin. Maybe I got tired of spending a fortune on replacement blades every month, or … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-john_beck","wp-image-borders"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6XpZy-9H","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":215,"url":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?p=215","url_meta":{"origin":601,"position":0},"title":"YANKEES WIN THE 2009 WORLD SERIES!","author":"John Beck","date":"November 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm so happy that baseball is over, now I can get back to my regularly scheduled television programs, maybe even do something productive, maybe a bit of traveling, congratulations to the New York Yankees for winning the 2009 Major League Baseball Championship and great job to the Philadelphia Phillies, you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "John Beck"","block_context":{"text":"John Beck","link":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":364,"url":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?p=364","url_meta":{"origin":601,"position":1},"title":"March Of The Ants","author":"John Beck","date":"November 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I was very disappointed in my steak last night at Arthur\u2019s. Arthur\u2019s Tavern had 4 locations. The closest one being in North Brunswick and 3 others further away in North Jersey. The North Brunswick one was the closest at 40 minutes, half the time to the other 3. Well, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "John Beck"","block_context":{"text":"John Beck","link":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":236,"url":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?p=236","url_meta":{"origin":601,"position":2},"title":"Fall TV","author":"John Beck","date":"September 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a big week for me. Most of my favorite shows are starting this week. Which means that this weekend I will start up again with my posting of my favorite tv shows of the week. Every season I post my favorite shows of the week. With the exception\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "John Beck"","block_context":{"text":"John Beck","link":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":256,"url":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?p=256","url_meta":{"origin":601,"position":3},"title":"Weekend","author":"John Beck","date":"June 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"On Saturday me and Chris and his workmates went down to Baltimore for the day. Headed over to the Brewer\u2019s Art for some delicious beers and dinner. I forgot to pick up a couple bottles for myself. Maybe I\u2019ll head down next week ago. After dinner we went to Camden\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "John Beck"","block_context":{"text":"John Beck","link":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":452,"url":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?p=452","url_meta":{"origin":601,"position":4},"title":"My Wish List","author":"John Beck","date":"November 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"With Christmas quickly approaching I'd like to direct everyone to my Amazon wish list: http:\/\/smile.amazon.com\/registry\/wishlist\/27PH5G82GZRW This year I'm even more low on funds than previous years so if anyone is feeling extra generous maybe you'd like to get me a new pair of running shoes or something. Thanks!","rel":"","context":"In "John Beck"","block_context":{"text":"John Beck","link":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":178,"url":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?p=178","url_meta":{"origin":601,"position":5},"title":"Book collection","author":"John Beck","date":"February 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week during my snow day I put up a little library of my book collection online. Currently the library only has 70 books in it. I have maybe 70 more books that are mostly biographies and artist\/art related books. I only put the more important books into my online\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "John Beck"","block_context":{"text":"John Beck","link":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3545,"href":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions\/3545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beckinabox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}