Hair and Grooming #6 - A Rockabilly Exsufflation

Rockabilly, a fusion of the words rock-and-roll and hillbilly is a genre of music that originates from the South of the US which mixes elements of rock, blues, country, hillbilly boogie and bluegrass music. Part of a resurgence of retro hairstyles for men is also the quiffed variant of the 50s and 60s greaser hair. I have recently been searching for a new hairstyle and in the end I decided to go with a modern, asymmetrical, highly texturized version of the rockabilly quiff.

A vintage clip shows that the quiff is not for the faint of heart and just like its modern counterpart it requires a bit of time to get it just right.

Teddy boy rockabilly quiff hair cut 60s


Other modern variants of a quiff include longer hair in the back and on the sides that it slicked back:

NYC Socialite and Cognoscenti, Chuck Bass also dons a modern quiff

One of my absolute favourite male models, Jon Kortajarena, sporting a quiff in danish-designer Matinique's ad campaign

Lastly, the twins of Slikhaar.dk have featured this hairstyle, this example being the closest to what my hair looks like right now, on their YouTube channel:

The best brushes to achieve the quiff are round ball-tipped brushes and large ball-tipped brushes:

For styling you need a strong-hold mousse, a matte pomade or wax and if needed a strong hairspray:

Hair and Grooming #5 - The Golden Ratio of Fragrance

Perfume and cologne can enhance one's overall appearance. The alluring scent that is complimentary to a person  increases attractiveness, however, when perfume is applied wrong, the overpowering effects can actually have an opposite effect. Through a little perfumeducation and some trial and error you can discover what your personal Golden Ratio of fragrance is.

The first step in learning how to make perfume work (guys, if you still think perfume is for girls and cologne is for men, please read my previous post on fragrances), is by selecting a scent that's right for you. While a certain fragrance can smell just great on a testing strip in the perfume shop, it can behave quite differently on your skin, once it combines with your natural scent and skin oils. Because of this, the only way to be certain a perfume is compatible with you, is to apply one or at most two perfumes, each on a different wrist, and then take a walk outside the shop for at least 30 minutes. By this time the perfume has had time to start evaporating and allow you to perceive the actual smell it emanates from your skin. If you are still pleased with it then you should definitely purchase it.

The second and most important step is the all time cliché, "location, location, location". I have seen plenty of guys getting ready to go out, only to watch them in horror as they sprayed perfume all over their clothes and sometimes even under their armpits.

Spending time taking care of my clothes has made me aware of the effects all our grooming products have on them and the alcohol in perfumes is one of the most harmful of all. Perfumes are mostly always a mixture of different organic molecules that are designed to evaporate at different times, however from skin, not clothing fibers. Without direct contact with warm skin, the alcohol evaporates before all the essential oils have had time to, possibly leaving you with a stained garment.

Now that you know better than to apply fragrances to your clothes it's time you learned about pulse points or the points on your skin where blood flows closest to the surface and are the warmest. Applying perfume to pulse points insures optimum delivery of the scent.

The 6 Male Pulse Points

The 6 Pulse Points are: 1. the temples; 2. behind the ears; 3. clavicles for men and the cleavage for women ; 4. elbow pit; 5. the insides of your wrists; 6. the insides of your knees.

While it is definitely not advised to apply perfume to all 6 pulse points at once, depending on what you are wearing, as well as the weather conditions, here are some patterns I would use:

a) Warm/Hot weather, shorts and a tee: 3,4 and 6

b) Warm/Hot weather, night out, freshly shaved: 1,2 and short sleeve: 4/long sleeve: 5

c) Cold weather, casual: 2 and 5

d) Cold weather, formal: 1, 2, 3, 5 (Remember, perfumes effuse slower in colder weather so don't be afraid to add a bit more than in the summer )

Knowing the essential pulse points will insure you won't stain your clothes anymore and that you'll make good use of your perfume.

Tips


1. It is also important to remember that we are all prone to olfactory fatigue, which means that after being exposed for a prolonged period of time to a certain smell, our nose becomes temporarily desensitized to it. IF you are at any time uncertain of whether or not you are applying enough perfume ask some close friends for advice.

2. In the summer time, hot weather and sweat contribute to an accelerated loss of perfume and if you're planning to be out longer your nice fragrance will start to become unnoticeable. What you may have seen some women do is carry around a small pen-shaped perfume applicator which they use to reapply perfume when out. Here are two such applicators you can use to carry some perfume around if you want to freshen up, as well as a mini funnel if you need to transfer perfume more easily (if your perfume bottle does not open, your only option is to spray and spray into a closed chilled container and wait for the perfume to condensate on the walls after which you can pour it into the smaller bottles)

Hair and Grooming #4 - Million Dollar Hair

How many times have you wanted to cry out FAKE! when watching a shampoo commercial, thinking no hair on earth could be that smooth and shiny?!

The truth is, hair like that does exist and getting yours to look more just like it is not rocket science. The reason our hair looses its natural shine and becomes dull and lackluster is mainly air pollution and over-usage of hair styling products. The outer layer of the hair follicles has the ability to bind to chemicals and oils, so anything from alkali metals from hard water to harsh chemicals present in the urban environment air can get bound to your hair. On top of that, prolonged sun exposure and alcohol-based hair products contribute to drying out your hair which combined with one not using a conditioner can really damage your hair.

Following these three steps guarantees your hair will become healthier, shinier, smoother and any other positive adjective you can think of.

1. Remove muck and build-up

Before going about to hydrate and moisturize your hair the most important step is setting down the foundation which is restoring your hair to its natural state, free of all extraneous pollutants.

To do so, mix 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar with 1 gallon of distilled water and store it in a bottle in a cabinet or the refrigerator and used every couple of weeks to remove gunk. To use it, wet hair with warm water, or shampoo and rinse as usual. Then pour 2 cups of the vinegary mixture over the scalp and let mixture saturate the hair. Finish everything up with a cold-water rinse. Your hair should now be clean and free of pollutants.

2. Moisturize

Harsh chemicals in the air and washing your hair too much can rob your hair of essential oils naturally secreted by your scalp.

While it is true that regular moisturizers and other professional products like hydrating serums are effective, there are a couple of home-made hair masks that work just as good and give you the confidence that no unwanted chemicals come into contact with your hair. One of my favourite hair treatments is an Olive oil Avocado mask.

Bubbi from Bubzbeauty.com has already made a how-to video of the same recipe I use:

- 1 ripe avocado, mashed

- 2 egg yolks

- 2 teaspoons of olive

One other easy hair treatment is putting plain real mayonnaise into your hair, covering it with a shower cap and warming it up, either by placing hot towels around your head either by blow-drying the cap for a longer time to favour deep moisturizing  

While some of you out there might think these remedies don't apply to you because you have oily hair you're not quite right, because the over-secretion of oils by your scalp can be indicative of a couple of things, a pH imbalance at the skin level being one of them. These treatments help restore your hair to is natural state and as long as you avoid applying too much oil to the roots of your hair there shouldn't be any oily problems afterwards.

3. Bring out your natural colour tones

Depending on your natural hair colour there are a few things you can do to bring out your hair's natural highlights.

Boil one quart of water and add the following to the boiling water:

- For brunettes, a handful fresh rosemary sprigs (bruise by crumpling in your hand)

- For blondes, a handful of dried chamomile

- For "orange tone" redheads a chopped-up carrot

- For "berry tone" redheads a chopped up beet

-  Remove from heat, let steep for 10 minutes after which filter the mixture by puring it through a fine colander or a cheesecloth.

- Shampoo and rinse your hair as is your usual routine then put the warm colour-enhancing mixture into your hair and let it saturate it. 

-After 5-10 minutes rinse with cold water.  I usually reapply the chamomile tea over and over again until I am done with the quart of liquid

Having personally used all of the above treatments I highly recommend them so that you too can have smoother, shinier and healthier hair

Hair and Grooming #3 - Oil Be Gone

Summer is upon us, at least in the Northern Hemisphere and the sun, heat and humidity that one would enjoy on a vacation, are all contributing factors to an undesired oily face. Oil secretion is a natural process by which your body is protecting the skin from drying up, however there are many circumstances where a shiny face is not very desirable.

Romanian actor Sebastian Stan, who plays Gossip Girl pseudo-villain Carter Baizen on a not so great day, oil-wise

Women have been secretly fighting their sebaceous glands for some time now, and I think it's about high time more men got on the anti-shine wagon.

While there are plenty of cosmetic solutions that involve creams, toners, serums and other concoctions of a similar consistency, I feel that most men wouldn't want to go through all the trouble of finding the right cosmetic products for their skin type.



The easiest solution that you can carry around in your pocket would be a little pack of blotting paper. There's not much to blotting paper: you blot (that's patting not wiping) the oily areas on your face and the paper absorbs the oil, after which you throw it away.

Blotting papers have a long history dating back to around 517 A.D. in Japan when Japanese professional dancers, called maiko, and Kabuki performers used specially treated paper made with hammered gold to blot their skin.

eHow.com 

When shopping for blotting paper/tissues don't go for the more expensive options. Not much can be added to blotting paper to make it worth paying more.

For the more independent and crafty of you, here are instructions for making your own blotting paper:

One other thing that you can use on-the-go to ward off any shiny areas on your face is applying a colourless blotting powder that absorbs oil particles on your face and leaves you with a matte look throughout the day.

Hair and Grooming #2 - Bloody Shaving

Shaving is one of the daily chores I hate doing most, because I always feel like Sisyphus, having to do something I know I'll have to do again the next day. Regardless of this, men have been doing it since the invention of the first blade and it has been a constant annoyance ever since.

Being more of a traditionalist and perfectionist I shave using a multi-blade razor, which though offers a better and closer shave than an electric razor has the disadvantage of occasionally offering you the gift of a razor cut.

There are a few ways that I know of that are efficient for minimizing blood loss and stopping the bleed. In order of increasing efficiency they are:

1) Washing your face with cold water after a shave, constricts the blood vessels closest to the surface of the skin, potentially stopping superficial cuts

2) Working by the same principle as number 1, pressing an ice cube to the cut will promote vasoconstriction even more, while the pressure will help by stopping the blood flow and promoting coagulation.

3) The fastest way for blood to clot is for it to be exposed to oxygen and for it to not be moving. Placing a little piece of toilet paper or tissue over the cut helps the bleed stop faster by acting as a barrier and by increasing surface exposure to air and prevents you from smearing blood all over your face. It does however give you a klutzy look so make sure not to leave the house without removing the paper bits.

4) The fastest way of stopping a bleed caused by a razor blade is by means of using a Styptic Pencil. Styptic pencils contain Aluminium (Aluminum for you Americans) Sulphate, a vasoconstrictor which scauses the blood vessels that fuel the cut with blood to contract and hopefully close up, avoiding the formation of a scab/scar.

Application is fairly easyy: wipe away blood then dip the pencil into a little water and press onto the cut 

You should be able to purchase a styptic pencil for no more than $2 at any pharmacy or drugstore or you can order it online from here.

Hint

- One way of preventing a scab from forming is dabbing a little petroleum jelly, or even better if you have it, antibiotic ointment, over the cut after it has stopped bleeding

- If you can withstand the almighty alcohol sting, pressing a cotton disc doused in medicinal alcohol on the cut will helps disinfect the area, preventing any further infections while the pressure helps stop the bleed