How to Care for Your Nails

Do you work in an executive environment where you need to look perfectly polished, or are you just wondering about how to get your nails looking better? You’re in the right place.

Nail Basics

1. Collect your supplies. You will need a metal nail file, nail clippers, nail brush, manicure scissors, orange sticks, nail buffer, and all-in-one cuticle lotion.

2. Clean up. Grab your nail brush and lather it up with soap. Use a little gentle pressure to scrub under your nails and around areas that gather dirt.

3. Use an orange stick and wrap it with cotton wool. Use that to push back the skin near the base of the nail. Don’t go overboard– you just need to push it back slightly.

4. Trim any loose pieces of skin, such as hangnails, from around each nail.

5. Trim your nails straight across, instead of in a curve, to avoid any ingrown nails. This is important for your feet, so don’t forget! Use a quality pair of nail clippers, which will last a lifetime and will provide a clean, careful cut.
Note: Aim for your nails to measure a quarter of an inch beyond your fingertips.

6. Use a file to tame rough or sharp corners of your nails. Always use a file from the center of the nail in one direction.
Note: Have you read that emery boards are good for your nails? It’s true for women, but men may benefit from a metal file, which can tackle thicker nails.

7. Work a good cream into your hands. If you hate scented creams, try something like Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream, Fragrance-Free (2 Ounces) (Pack of 4). Any lotion is better than none!

8. Buff your nails to make the surface smoother in one direction only. You can also use polishing paste to increase shine (especially if you’re tempted to use clear polish).

Polish?
Have you ever considered clear polish? Some guys consider getting clear polish if their nails are brittle and break easily, but besides that. . . stay away. Sure, in some places I’ve noticed that it’s more acceptable to have shiny nails as a man, but if you work or travel to the states it can be more unusual, and it will be noticed.

Instead, strengthen your nails with a slightly oily brush-on strengthening polish that doesn’t coat the nails visibly. Try out Dr. Haushka Skin Care’s nail oil with botanicals and organic ingredients, as well as ClarinsMen Active Hand Care and Clarins Hand & Nail Treatment Cream 3.5 oz. Rub-in creams and brush-on oils instead of lacquer will work impressively, and you won’t feel self-conscious afterwards.

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Care For Sweaters

Love your cashmere sweaters, or just want to keep yours around forever without destroying them? Understood. Now read on!

Treatments and Washing

• When you get ready to wash your clothes, separate knitwear when you sort laundry. If you throw a sweater in the washing machine, it won’t last long! Anything that could be harmed by catches or snags should be thrown into a protective bag before it gets into the wash.

• Avoid washing sweaters on hot settings, which can damage them pretty severely. And say no to tumble dryers, too! I speak from experience. They can affect wool so severely that the item will shrink beyond recognition.

• Handwash items if you can. It may be time consuming, but it will save your more expensive articles like cashmere.

To Handwash a Sweater
1. Fill a sink or tub with lukewarm water, and follow the instructions on your fine garment wash like Woolite, for example.

2. Swish your hands in the water to create suds, and add your sweater to the water.

3. Soak your sweater for about 20 minutes in the basin.

4. Remove the sweater and rinse it thoroughly.

5. Place the sweater on a clean towel.

6. Fold the towel in half and then roll it.

7. After a few minutes, lay your towel out flat and shape it carefully.

8. Dry your sweater on a sweater rack and let it air dry out of direct sunlight and indoors.

Tip:  Don’t wring out your sweaters, which can permanently distort their shape.

Tip:  You can wash more than one sweater at a time, but just make sure that they’re similar in color.

After Care

• Brush your sweaters once they’re dry. Use a small soft brush on cashmere, acrylic, and lambswool to take care of fluff and hairs. You can also use a lint brush to remove pills.

• While dry cleaning sweaters is definitely an option, it won’t extend the life of your knitwear.

• Iron sweaters on a low setting, and if you iron wool, make sure that you “knead” the sweater once you’re done to set it and prepare it for wearing.

• Storing your sweater? Be sure to wash and dry it before you store it, and then wrap it in acid-free paper before it goes in a special storage box.

Tip: Stay away from mothballs. They smell strong, and you can get the same effects from a lavender sweater wash. Both cedar and lavender repel moths, and they’re natural.

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Get Good Looking Eyebrows

Follow these steps to get eyebrows that make you look a little more polished without being obvious. . . isn’t that what every man wants?

Grooming basics for eyebrows

1. Prep the area with a warm, damp cloth or a steamy shower.

2. Dry the brow area and select your tweezers. Find a pair with a slanted shape such as Tweezerman tweezers.

3. Before you start tweezing, take a look at your eyebrows and determine whether or not each individual brow hair is particularly long. If so, you can take a small brow brush and brush upwards towards the top of your brows.

4. Take out your brow scissors and cut the brow hair until it reaches just 5 millimeters above the upper brow line.

5. Tweeze hair in unwanted areas such as between the eyes and underneath the eyebrows, but don’t forget to match the brows to each other! This can be accomplished more easily if you switch back and forth between brows instead of concentrating on just one eyebrow.

6. Don’t arch your eyebrows. While you may be tempted to give your brows an arch based on what you imagine with well-groomed brows, men’s eyebrows are far stronger and flatter than women’s.

7. Apply a grooming gel afterwards to calm irritation.

8. Remember: less is more!

FAQs on eyebrow grooming

1. Should I trim the hair on my eyebrows?

That depends. If you feel like your eyebrow hairs are too long and they tend towards bushiness, then give them a trim and shape them properly. Test the hair by choosing a single hair, brushing it straight up towards the brow, and then cutting it until it measures three to five millimeters above the line of the brow. If it looks right when you brush it back into place, then it’s perfect for you.

2. If I make a mistake when I’m working on my brows, am I in trouble or will they grow back?

Much of this has to do with how hair has been removed. If you make a mistake trimming, then you won’t have problems with the hair growing. If you affect the root of the hair, then it depends on how lucky you were with genetics—most hair will grow back after tweezing, but how long it takes depends on the person.

Sometimes, brows that are overtweezed won’t grow back as thickly or as evenly. If you get tempted to overtweeze, sometimes it’s best to defer to a professional and have them take care of your brows instead.

3. Can I shave my eyebrows instead of plucking?

You can, but it’s not recommended. While lots of eyebrow kits contain razors, if you nick your skin, you can suffer from an unsightly cut or a red, bumpy ingrown hair.

4. Can I use an eyebrow stencil?

You can, but if you really feel unsure about what shape fits your face, I recommend going to a man-friendly salon and having your brows shaped there. Afterwards, you can work on follow-up tweezing on a weekly basis to maintain shape.

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Tips to Keep Clothes Wrinkle Free

Ironing has to be one chore that no one (and really, no one) actually looks forward to. Why don’t we just prevent all the wrinkles from happening so we don’t have to bother anymore? If that sounds like a good idea, read on to find out how to prevent wrinkles from occurring.

Preventing Wrinkles
Preventing wrinkles is an important step, because if you play your cards right when you wash and dry everything, you can pretty much avoid the ironing step all together.

• Hang your clothes well. While we may be tempted to throw our jacket or sweater over an arm of a chair or on the back of a car’s seat, it will leave fold lines that aren’t easy to remove. Stay away from clothes hooks as well!

• Never leave items in the dryer. As soon as they’re completed, take them out of the dryer and get them hanging (on a hanger, please!). Cool air sets wrinkles as items sit in the dryer longer.

• Smooth your clothes with your hands as you remove them from the dryer. If you “pull” out wrinkles the best you can, they will be wearable.

• Avoid folding lightweight items, and hang them instead. If it’s possible, hang everything! Many items have a better chance at being wrinkle-free if they aren’t folded or bunched.

Getting Rid of Wrinkles
These techniques will remove wrinkles without an iron.

• Hang your items in the bathroom when you’re taking a shower. Hang your clothes on plastic hangers, get the bathroom steamy, and then gently stretch each item after it has been hung.

• Remove wrinkles by sticking each article that’s been wrinkled in the dryer. Spray it lightly with water before you dry it, and make sure that it’s on the “Press” setting if you have it.

• Use a wrinkle-free spray. Spritz it on and then smooth wrinkles out with your hand.

• Dry clean your items to get rid of wrinkles with minimal effort. . . but you’ll have to wait for a day before you wear it.

Traveling Tips
• Look for items that are made from special travel fabric. Does it seem gimmicky? Try it before you decide. Consider fabric of 2-ply combed cotton and stretch microfiber of poly, viscose, and lycra all work. How do they work? Wrinkle-free clothing has been treated with a special treatment that coats all threads and lining to keep everything crisp.

• Don’t just shove your clothes in a suitcase! If you carefully roll your items, then even your “regular,” untreated items will resist wrinkling.

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The Scoop: Billy Jealousy Products

Everyone likes products with attitude, right? They make the mundane much more interesting, and if you play your cards right, you can get a great product inside all that slick packing. (more…)

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