Christmas 2016: Gifts for a Bearded Bloke

Over the course of the year I've been inundated with various products to tame my mane (read beard) or just to get rid of it completely. There are a range of products, services and experiences that I would recommend, but rather than just re-hash things that I've already written about I've gone a little bit further and decided on a mash up of products. Some I've written about, some I've used and some stuff is just really cool. So, stuck for a gift idea for the bearded man in your life or for the bearded man in your life you no longer want to be bearded? Read on!

The Real Shaving Company

There are two little crackers (not literally crackers) from The Real Shaving Company. First up is the Shaving Brush Collection which at £9.99 from Boots here is well worth a look for those interested in taking some time and effort into their shaving preparation. Not only does it contain a professional synthetic bristle brush (it's hard to tell the difference between this one and real badger hair brushes), it also comes with a 50ml tube of their shave cream which again is actually well worth a look.

Second up is the Men's Travel Essentials, only £5.99 from Boots here. It contains steps one, two and three from the range with all of the products coming in travel friendly 50ml tubes.

So, the three products are:

• Daily Face Scrub 
• Shave Cream 
• Moisturiser

All three products are good value for money and the pack is a must have for the frequent flyer/traveller (no more ditching products at airport security). 

Barber Pro Shave Mug

With a variety of shaving brushes on hand now in my bathroom for yonks (read a while) I have struggled to actually use them properly, either rubbing the brush into a bar of soap or squeezing an assortment of product onto the brush. Neither approach has really been ideal, but lo, what is this, a funky little enamel coated cup to finally end my half arsed approach to applying shaving cream! 

At just £8.95 here, this mug is not only a bit of a looker (I think it's cool) it's easy to wash out and let's me mix my shave cream properly before spreading it across my face with a brush.

This would make an affordable secret Santa, a cute little stocking filler or quirky gift.

Big Boy

Two products from the Big Boy range in focus today, with more to come in the New Year. Big Boy are a new brand to me but I've been using them on and off over the last few months. The brand originates in Sicily. They say that their products combine rich natural ingredients like Sicilian olive and almond oil with bees wax and shea oil create superior hair and skin products.

First up is their Soothing Drops, which cost £24.95 from their website here. They smell amazing and are applied with a dropper into the hand before applying to your beard. I love the fragrance, it's like a clean, sterile smell and it doesn't interfere with any aftershave or cologne applied after using it. The emulsion drops are absorbed by the beard and skin quickly and since using this I've found a marked decrease in the number of acne outbreaks under my facial foliage.

Second up is their Moisturising Cream, with a SPF20 and hefty £36.95 price tag comes in a 50ml tub. Again it has the fragrance of the soothing drops and despite the price tag it happens to go a long way, even when used on a face as large as mine. Not only does this reduce the damage to your skin from sunlight I have found that it does help to keep my skin feeling and looking more hydrated - the harsh cold weather has form for drying out my skin but this acts as a kind of rescue remedy! Top stuff and with this you get what you pay for.

Men-U 

What about a seven piece all you need travel bag and essential grooming products? Well, over at the Mankind site you can pick up everything you need as a kind of grooming grab bag for just £22.49 here. 

I'm a big fan of their products and have used a large amount of the range before, but in this gift set you get to play with:

• 100ml of Daily Refresh Shampoo
• 100ml of Shower Gel
• 15ml of Shave Cream
• 15ml of Healthy Face Wash
• 15ml Matt 'Skin Refresh' Gel
• 15ml of Liquifflex

Before you ask where the seventh product is, its the actual toiletry bag. In the past I've used the shampoo and shower gel and been impressed, but for me, the Skin Refresh gel was a real eye opener that soothed my skin after shaving. 

Cornerstone shaving box

How about a monogrammed razor and enough product to keep your face as smooth as a peach? Well, you could take a peek at the Cornerstone subscription shaving box. It comes with a cool blade shaft, enough razors to keep you going for well over a month but best of all, it comes with one of the best face scrubs ever, excellent shaving cream and a lovely cooling balm for when you've finished. 

At £30 for the monogrammed razor and six blades, face scrub, shave gel and post shave balm it is well worth the cash. You can read my review of the box here, or just pop over to the Cornerstone site here and take a look at the options available (you can tailor the box to suit your bearded bloke's shave routine).

This Bearded Life

Yes, a shameless plug for a recent post, but I genuinely did enjoy reading this book by Carles Sune. I'm not one for endless reading about grooming, I find it all very repetitive if I'm honest but I did find this a page turner. The interesting facts, history of the beard and quirky illustrations captured my attention, and that's hard to do. At £12.99 you can't go wrong. You have the chance to win one of two copies in a previous post here (until midnight on 14 December).

Ted's Grooming Room gift vouchers

I've visited three of Ted's Grooming Rooms over the last two years and each time I've found the experience to be truly uplifting. I'd strongly recommend a visit for a haircut, to have your beard trimmed or removed or to just shape your brows. It's a great grooming experience and you can pick up gift vouchers here.

The 'Full Ted' service that I usually opt for is available for £48.50 and includes a haircut with a clean shave or beard design. A few pictures of my before and after visits are below to show how they really can transform even the most neglected (grooming wise) into something that looks sharp and on point.

Before and after a visit to Ted's Grooming Room just off The Strand

Before and after my latest visit, this time to the new branch by St Paul's

So, there you have it, my selection of possible gifts for the bearded bloke in your life. There are so many things that I could have added, like the amazing Oil Can Grooming Iron Horse Beard Oil (£24), Jamie Stevens MR Beard Oil (£10) or Citrus Wood by Yardley London (£19.99), but alas I didn't want to overload you dear readers with too many choices. Needless to say, they all come highly recommended from me.

I do hope you find this useful in your quest for gift ideas, and please do let me know what you think to my selections, or indeed the products if you choose to buy them for yourself, a friend or a relative.

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Men-ü Shave Crème

After that horrific shaving experience (no, I’m not talking man-scaping gone wrong) with Clarins Men Rasage Ideal Smooth Shave a few weeks ago and at least 24 hours of an itchy, blotchy face and neck the opportunity to try Men-ü Shave Crème was very welcome. 

Me being me I launched the packaging (read threw the packaging in the direction of the bin) and was just about to dive straight in until I realised that this usually leads to much swearing, stamping of my feet and generally being a grumpy git when I have to accept that I should read the directions. I’m glad I took the time to read them, as I got the chance to use my shaving brush again - even though it‘s as good just rubbing between your palms and applying using your hands (it’s the little, inane things in life that make me smile the most).

Beardage pre shave.....quite long and thick hair.....

The brush is back....boom boom....

This is what Men-ü say about the shave crème over at their website:

‘Takes you to a whole new level of shaving. Includes tea tree oil (a natural antiseptic and antibacterial) that helps protect from spots and shaving rash. Packed with lubricants including silicone and moisturisers, and provides optimum slip without drying the skin. Less resistance, less irritation and less nicks mean a longer lasting blade! 

With a fresh mint & menthol fragrance, can be used with or without a shaving brush. 

Many foams and gels generate too aerated a lather. What is in contact with skin & beard matters, all else is wasted! With men-ü shave crème you see where you have shaved and the crème breaks down upon contact with water, so will not clog multi blade razors.’

As directed, I washed my face off, wet the brush and used two squirts from the pump dispenser. It covered about half of my face. Yes, I have a big face (the first person to say I look like a horse gets punched) but two squirts of the crème was just not enough. Based upon the recommended amount you should be able to get 165 shaves out of this 100ml tube of the shave crème. In my experience, I had to pump four squirts to get proper coverage of the beardage as you can see from the photograph.

Even despite this, 80 shaves from a 100ml tube costing £10.95 from Mankind here to me doesn’t seem that expensive, especially when you consider that the massive costs for blokes when shaving lies with the cost of blades (you should check out Razor Brite and their blade cleaning kits if you want your cartridges to last longer).

So, the lather, it’s immense, not too thick and it explodes from the crème as soon as any pressure is applied. Personally I prefer using a shaving brush to distribute this across my face, it’s far more even and helps once shaving starts as you can see the bits that have been done.

Using the shave crème again this morning to get a better feel for it I have to say it wasn’t as great as the first time I used it. That said however, it still had lots of things going for it. While the lather did clog the blades in my razor (this in fairness could have been due to the fact that my beard was quite thick) the fragrance, ease of shave and finish on my skin were exceptional. 

You can really smell the mint and tea tree, two of my favourite scents and like all things, if it smells good you are going to continually be drawn to it. While strong, the fragrances don’t linger on the skin once any excess lather has been washed from the face. Like all good grooming products, you don’t want it to be too strong, so that it alters the fragrance of any aftershave or cologne.

Post shave and no irritation.....bonus!

The marketing claims that it provides optimum slip are spot on. A fresh blade glides across the face and even with a thick beard being removed it seems to come off effortlessly. No snags, no swearing and what’s that, no bleeding - result.

After washing off the excess lather and drying my face I was impressed. As directed I used the Skin Refresher gel (again from Men-ü) and let it soak in. Wow, hours after shaving and my face feels baby soft, no signs of irritation and no blotches, not a dot. At this point and if I lacked self respect I would probably dance a little jig.

It’s cost effective, it smells great and it does exactly what it says on the tin. You can’t ask for much more than that. The fact that I hate shaving and fear the break outs afterwards means that a product like this is fantastic, and a very welcome addition to my ever growing collection of shave crème. 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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Men-ü Matt 'Skin Refresh' Gel

The last thing anyone wants is a face that shines either due to far too much moisture on the face, an overdose of moisturisers or the dreaded greasy skin - eurgh. It’s not a good look. In a hands up confession I have to say I suffer from none of these things (it’s a blessing and a curse to have this skin) but when the chance comes to give a new product a try  I’m not one to say no, so when the chance presented itself to try out Men-ü Matt Skin Refresh Gel on my face, and more pressingly on my crows feet I jumped at the chance. 

Winding its way through the snail mail a 100ml tube of the gel arrived and was put to one side to give it a good couple of weeks as part of my daily cleansing and moisturising routine.

A 100ml tube of the gel will set you back £14.45 (a weird price for anything) from Mankind here.

This is what Men-u say about the gel as part of their sales pitch:

‘An anti-shine, fragrance free gel with natural salicylic acid & witch hazel that leaves your visual frontline looking better for longer! For normal, combination and oily skin. Removes & controls excess oil that contributes to blocked pores & breakouts. Cleans pores from impurities, toning & tightening the skin. Soothes & calms – great after shaving & helps overcome ingrown hairs. 

Use on towel dried skin after shaving or washing and as required. Contains willow bark extract that has been used for centuries as a mild analgesic, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory. If using a moisturiser, men-ü matt moisturiser recommended.’

Now I think I have normal skin, well as normal as the skin of a 36 year old smoker can be. Anything that can freshen my face up is welcome and as a long time user, and possibly abuser of the L’Oreal Men Expert range I couldn't wait to see what this could do for me.

A quick shake of the tube and I was surprised that the contents sounded like shaking fluid in a flask, if anything I was going to have to be careful, I didn’t want to dispense too much, particularly if it was going to be uber runny. With two pumps of the dispenser I had enough of the gel in my palm to cover my huge face and really work the gel into problem areas (at my hair and jaw lines in addition to around my eyes).

Yes, it isn’t strictly a gel, it has a consistency of a watered down hair product and without being careful if is likely to run off your hand. Be careful. 

In terms of fragrance this screams “I’m a product for blokes” with a very basic, yet masculine fragrance. Thankfully, the fragrance isn’t that synthetic, I like the subtle notes of bark that make this stand out as a little bit rugged, a little bit earthy. Spot on people, spot on.

The fragrance aside, after all, if it’s pants the fragrance is irrelevant, it’s the results that matter. The gel is absorbed really quickly and at the first time of using I actually re-applied and again, that was absorbed really quickly which suggested to me that my skin needed a bit of love. After about a minute on the skin I could feel a change in my face, not numb, but that sensation you get when extreme cold touches your skin and is then immediately removed. Weird, but actually a little bit enjoyable. If anything, it means that something is happening.

Once absorbed there is no shine on the skin, and the matt finish gives that natural look. There is no danger of looking like you have just stepped out of a make up artists chair.

On day one, I noticed that my skin felt tighter on my face, particularly around my forehead, eyes and cheeks. Nice one.

By day three the tingling sensation had stopped and only one application a day was needed first thing in the morning. Each time of using the results were the same, a lovely tightening sensation and visibly clearer skin. 

When making a comparison on day seven I was astounded by the results. The Gordon Ramsey trenches (also known as the stress lines on my forehead) and crows feet were less pronounced. They weren’t gone, but boy, they definitely were not as deep and noticeable as before and that readers is something on a par with a miracle considering the depth of them before using. 

I’m really glad I had the chance to try this out and will be looking to add more of their products to my daily cleansing and moisturising routine in the mornings. At the moment I am complementing this with The Bluebeards moisturiser but will be taking up the Men-u recommendation and trying their own matt moisturiser.  

The tingling, the fragrance and the results are to be blunt bloody brilliant and well worth the initial purchase price. At just shy of £15 for a tube this represents good value for money and will last for ages. After ten days of using I’m delighted with the results and have used around a tenth of the tube.

Banish impurities, unblock pores and let your face breath, Men-ü Matt Skin Refresh Gel is for the gent where performance matters.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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