Does kyoku have it all?

kyoku for men is a complete grooming line developed by skin care and beauty whiz Asim Akhtar, based on his findings at the "village of long life", the town of Yuzuri Hara in Japan.

The brand's history is intriguing enough, with Akhtar embarking on a quest to find the purest, most natural solutions to our common skin issues, stumbling upon his holy grail in a small Japanese village, developing a range of products distilled from the essence of ancient philosophies and testing them on himself with amazing results.

The stuff legends are made of, or pure marketing genius? Hard to tell... the exotic ingredient lists, Japanese-inspired packaging, stark web site and amazing photography have me in a daze.

A Binding Ritual

This moving essay from Globe and Mail's Colin Perkel, employs the shaving ritual to convey the passage of time, the unfolding in the relationship between son and father as their family dynamics reshape, and that bond that may change but not break.

I won't be drinking this beer

Fructis - Brewed for men only from La Cavalerie on Vimeo.

Hello, Fructis,

Until recently, I knew you as the shampoo my wife used to use before she jumped on the organics bandwagon. But now you have launched a men's line. I saw one of your ads on TV, and it didn't sit quite right with me.

I don't know if it was the I'm-too-cool-to-even-be-voicing-this-ad voice-over, or the beer sound effects, or the "brewed for men only" slogan, or the pastel-colored bottle, or all of the above, but your pitch felt patronizing.

First of all, men do not only respond to the beer ad format. Hard to believe as it might be, we are discerning creatures, and you will find we are willing to listen. So you could try less of a canned approach for a change.

Second, Fructis sounds more like an umbrella drink; something that is definitely not brewed. I really don't see how we jumped from there to beer.

Third, your bottle design seems like a toned-down version of your women's products. It doesn't look like something I'll be willing to take home. Why so tame, pastel, sedate?

Lastly, all of this makes me doubt your sincerity. Is your shampoo really a product developed just for men or a redress of one of your women's products?

So, Fructis, I'm sorry to say that as curious as I usually am about trying new products, I'm not inclined to try your shampoo any time soon. I still wish you good luck in your endeavors. I hope we can see eye to eye in the future.

Shampoos for Men at Fendrihan

Merkur Cameo

The Merkur Futur makes a cameo appearance on this Royal Wood video. The concept seems to be contemporary things viewed as if they were vintage. Watch carefully, just a second into the video, right after the piano.

Romancing Your Face into a Nice Shave

Alex Bill, in his article for Ohio University's The Post, deftly compares Pogonotrophy, the art of beard shaping, with taking your face out on a date. As he very well puts it:

As a man, you will have hair that insists on growing out of your face long after it refuses to grow out of your head. Embrace this; stop treating shaving as a chore and start enjoying it.

If it only were this easy with other things in life, like jury duty or ab crunches...

Why wet-shaving: shaving advice at the Fendrihan Shaving Shop