I can’t say I have been at the pinnacle of fashion and style my whole life. I’m not sure I can say I was at the pinnacle at any point in my life. But now that I stay at home and don’t leave the neighborhood for days at a time, I sometimes lose the motivation to even try. I can use all the help I can get, so when the guys over at MenEssentials asked me to try out a few of their products, I couldn’t say yes fast enough.

So much of men’s skin and hair products are afterthoughts to women’s products; it was refreshing to browse though their website of products developed and designed specifically for men. I picked out 3 items that looked interesting to me and I have been impressed with all three. I’ll highlight them below:

Razorpit Razor Blade Sharpener

 

I have been using an electric razor to shave my face since I was a teenager but I like to keep a disposable razor in the shower to shave my chest and that sucker has been dull for months. My wife also uses disposable razors to shave her legs, so this was something that we could both use.

The idea with this razor sharpener is that you put some liquid soap (or shaving cream) on the flat surface and push the blades in an opposite shaving motion across the flat middle part of the sharpener. The blades then get cleaned and sharpened. I wasn’t sure of any other way to test this so I took my old razor and shaved half my chest. I then used the sharpener and shaved the other half.

True to its claim, my razor felt noticeably sharper and didn’t seem to irritate my skin as much on the other half of my chest. With disposable razors being as expensive as they are and this sharpener only being $25 it will pay for itself many times over.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I didn’t take any pictures of myself shaving my own chest in the shower. My bad.

 

California North, 4 Fragrance Sampler

A four pack sampler of some new cologne? Yes please! I’m always excited to try new fragrances. These 4 travel sized bottles have a cool metal bottle so you don’t have to worry about them breaking.

The first one I tried out was called O2XYGEN for men. It is a really nice fresh scent that is perfect for hot Florida summer days. It is a very light clean smell. It has made it into my regular rotation. The second one was O2XYGEN for women. I let my wife try that one out. We both liked it. It was also a clean light scent.

The other two were heavier.  California North seems more suited for winter or for more formal occasions than getting my kids from the bus stop. It is a heavier scent and I would likely only wear it with a jacket and tie but it had a nice fragrance to it. The final one Richardson Bay Spray was one of the heaviest colognes I’ve ever smelled in my life. It reminded me of a very old man. I’m likely to never spray it on myself again, it just isn’t my style. Overall 3 out of 4 isn’t bad and for only ten bucks it’s hard to beat.

Layrite Cement

 

This was probably the thing I was most looking forward to trying out. I have used a ton of hair products in my life. I started using wax sticks in elementary school to stick up my flat top. Wax is great for hold but it is hard to work with and hard to get out. And the longer your hair is, the harder it is to use. Gels are easy to apply but their hold is usually suspect or they dry so unnaturally hard and inflexible that you look like you’re wearing a helmet.

Layrite Cement claims to mix some of the best elements of wax with the best from gel. Once again, true to their word, I was impressed with the product. It’ s much easier to work with than wax but it holds your hair very well and it looks very natural. Plus it smells great, several times I’ve been tempted to want to taste it. I will say I got caught in a rain storm the other day and it did wash out like gel, so maybe I should check the forecast next time (or at least bring an umbrella).

A big thank you to MenEssentials for letting me try out a couple great products. I can recommend the 3 above, plus they have a bunch of other great options over at their website. If you’re a guy who enjoys shaving with straight razors they have a nice selection of razors as well as other shaving products. They also have a huge selection of aftershave in case you are into smelling nice.  And let’s be honest, who doesn’t like to smell nice! They even have beard products in the event shaving isn’t your thing. Either way, you are guaranteed to find something you like.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

This post was sponsored by MenEssentials.