A good dopp kit always makes a great holiday gift. Wherever a man travels, his kit is always with him. It holds everything he needs to go from Clark Kent to Superman in a flash. Ernest Alexander’s “Gentleman’s Kit” is a standout in this season’s best travel bags for men. The handcrafted bag in a plaid waxed cotton and leather is both rugged and stylish for that bearded urban lumberjack that prowls about your city. But the beauty is in the bag, as well. Each bag comes complete with a selection of C.O. Bigelow products including a Razor in Ebony Black,  Premium Shave Cream, Speert #15 Tortoiseshell Color Comb, Mentha Lip Balm, Barber Aftershave Balm, Elixir Hair & Body Wash, Marvis Classic Toothpaste and Elgydiun Toothbrush in Soft Blue. No matter where you go, this bag and its contents will surely impress anyone sharing a sink with you.

Ernest Alexander “A Gentleman’s Kit”, $255, visit ErnestAlexander.com

If $255 is too steep for your wallet, check out the Ernest Alexander/Club Monaco Dopp Kit for $148 at select Club Monaco locations.

Photo: Courtesy of ErnestAlexander.com

When you don’t get enough sleep, it is hell on your body. According to Harvard Medical School, sleep is important for:

1. 1. Learning and memory: Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later.
   2. Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that affect our appetite.
   3. Safety: Sleep debt contributes to a greater tendency to fall asleep during the daytime. These lapses may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic mishaps, and road accidents.
   4. Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you like to do.
   5. Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
   6. Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.

Recognizing the importance of sleep, Kiehl’s Since 1851 has released the Midnight Recovery Concentrate, a nighttime serum designed to help restore your skin overnight, making it look better and younger by morning. The serum is 98.9 perecent natural, paraben-free, and included oils of evening primrose and lavender, and moisturizing squalane that works with the skin’s natural oils. Use two to three drops each night before bed and wake up to better-looking skin.

As part of Kiehl’s effort to launch the Midnight Recovery Concentrate, they kick off the Midnight Recovery Diaries today. The Diaries challenge a handful of high-powered insomniacs (including me!) to go to bed before midnight for two weeks while using the new serum. Watch my progress over the two-week challenge and vote for me.

If you’re an insomniac, you’re invited to take part in the challenge as well, just click over to MidnightRecoveryDiaries.com for details.

By Greg Melville for Men’s Life Today

As even cavemen knew thousands of years ago, the act of shaving removes facial hair (except, their method involved sharp rocks, which couldn’t have been much fun and which made removing neck stubble, in particular, an adventure akin to dodging the dreaded follicle-saurus). What they — and maybe a smart iPhone-carrying, Wii-playing guy like you — didn’t realize is that the act of face-blading can also boost job prospects, improve skin health, curb wrinkles, and according to scientific research, make you more attractive. Here’s how.

At Work
Fair or not, people make assumptions about what job you’re suited for based on whether you’re clean-shaven or bearded, according to a Stockholm University study. The psychologists heading the study collected photos of men with and without facial hair and asked subjects to decide which job best fit each man.

The results were surprising: Apparently, having a beard is a positive for a college professor or scientist, but the opposite is true for white-collar jobs. If you’re a lawyer, budding executive or salesman, your favorability goes up once the stubble is shorn. Keep this in mind next time you’re weighing whether or not to come back from vacation with the Grizzly Adams look. 

In the Fountain of Youth
Using a razor keeps the skin healthier and holds acne at bay. It all has to do with exfoliation, the mild removal of the top layer of dead skin. “This helps cleanse your pores and reduce microscopic pimples that could ultimately lead to full-blown pimples visible to the naked eye,” says Dr. Daniel Sheehan, a dermatologist at the Medical College of Georgia.

A second benefit to exfoliation: It stimulates collagen production in the skin, which promotes elasticity and a younger, more vibrant glow.

Behind the Foliage
Dr. John C. Browning, a dermatologist at the University of Texas, notes that beards block you from applying moisturizer, the lack of which can speed up wrinkling. “It also allows others to fully see your face and takes away any assumption that the reason you have facial hair is because you need to hide behind something,” he says.

There’s a caveat, though: “Having a clean-shaven face exposes you to the sun’s rays more, so it’s important to apply sunscreen,” says Browning. “In case you’re worried about not getting enough vitamin D, which your body produces when you expose your skin to sunlight, take dietary supplements.”

In Love
Two studies offer good news for the clean team. The first was conducted by the international market intelligence company Synovate. It found that 26 percent of American women prefer men with beards, while the other 74 percent go for clean-shaven guys. (The highest ratio of women who prefer men who use razors comes from South Africa, at 94 percent; the lowest is Canada, at a still whopping 70 percent.)

The second study came
from scientists at Barry University in Florida and the University of
Louisville. In it, a group of men and women were given pictures of whiskerless
and bearded guys, and they were asked to rate them on certain specific traits.
The findings: Clean-shaven men were regarded as more appealing, more agreeable,
younger and more mature.

Greg Melville is a former Men’s Journal editor who has written about grooming for several publications, including Men’s Health. Melville sports a mean noontime shadow.

How much does your nose know when it comes to how you should smell? Here’s our scents-ible primer.

When it comes to cologne, chances are you fall into one of two categories: You either douse yourself daily with the same brand you’ve used since high school (“It worked for me then, so it has to work for me now, right?”) or you avoid the stuff and prefer to go au naturel (“Chicks really dig my pheromones”).

Whichever one sounds more like you, it’s time to rethink. If you’re the brand-loyal douser, now’s the time to update your scent and tone down your method of application. And if you’re scent-free, consider this before you swear off cologne for good: Scientists at the University of Liverpool have recently discovered that the mere act of applying fragrance boosts a man’s self-confidence to the degree of increasing his sex appeal.

If that isn’t enough to send you running to the nearest duty-free store, well, then, you probably need something a little stronger than cologne to help you out.

Here’s how to find your secret scent weapon of choice and wield it for the most effect. The ladies will never know what hit them.

Pick a Family

Unlike your complex relatives, there are only five different cologne “families” (that’s fragrance industry-speak): Citrus (light and fruity), Oriental (spicy and sweet), Fougere (pronounced foo-JER: mossy and oakey), Chypre (pronounced SHEE-pr; woodsy and floral) and Marine (think fresh, salty sea air).

Each category has its own allure, and even season — Orientals and Fougeres are more popular in cold winter months because they smell spicy and warm, while Marine and Citrus are more popular in summer because they offer a cool and refreshing contrast to the heat.

If you already know which category you like best, that’s great, skip to the next section. If not, think about how you want to smell as opposed to how you think you should smell. And ask your girlfriend what smells she likes best. After all, that’s why you’re wearing it, right? Many guys assume that women are attracted to “manly” smells like musk and oak, when in fact, your lady may be more inclined to nuzzle up to a whiff of cucumber and licorice. (There was an actual study linking those aromas to increased sexual arousal in women.)

Take a Test Drive
Fragrances smell different on different people due to a number of chemical factors — skin type, pH levels, sweat glands, etc. — so just because a certain fragrance smells godly when it mingles with the DNA of David Beckham doesn’t mean it’ll smell good on a mere mortal like you (though we’re dying to know how you got to smell Beckham). This means you’re going to need to take trip to a department store (one with a well-stocked men’s scent counter) and try them out.

Find a few colognes with the general scent profile you think you’ll like, then spray them on those little pieces of paper at the counter. Take a sniff, wave it around, wait a few minutes, repeat (wouldn’t hurt to bring a woman with you, since you might not be able to objectively judge your own scent). Fragrances have what the industry calls top, middle and base notes, which basically means they’ll smell different the longer they’ve been in the air (or on your skin). The “top note” is the first (and strongest) smell your nose picks up, and it will dissipate over time.

Don’t Hit the Bottle Too Hard
When it comes to applying cologne, the biggest mistake guys make is to go overboard. If a little bit makes you smell good, then a lot will make you smell even better, right? Wrong. People should be able to detect your smell when they’re within a few inches of you, not when you’re across the room. A few spritzes right after you get out of the shower is plenty.

If you want to make a bottle last even longer, keep it in the fridge. Just don’t reach for it before you’ve had your coffee and accidentally spritz yourself with that bottle of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. (Don’t worry, your secret is safe with us.)

Jessica Lothstein is a former editor at Best Life magazine. She was awarded a Fifi from the Fragrance Foundation for editorial excellence in fragrance coverage.

AskMen.com, one of the web’s premiere destinations for all things enjoyed by men (read: women, cars, booze, sports and women)—and one of our favorite sites—asked over 50,000 of its readers to answer some tough questions about love, sex, money and style. And you might be surprised how American men measured up against guys in Canada, Australia and the UK.

The second annual survey revealed some interesting insights into the minds of men.

When it comes to grooming, 43 percent of American men admitted they “maintain daily basic hygiene, a regular haircut, and additional skin care.” That measley 43 percent put American men in last place behind gentlemen in the UK (55%), Canada (45%) and Australia (45%). However, when it comes to keeping up a “daily basic hygiene, a regular haircut, additional skin care, and the occasional manicure and pedicure,” American men led the pack with 4 percent—Canada came in second with 3 percent while the UK and Australia shared third with 2 percent.  Okay, so 4 percent is not exactly a high score, but we’ll accept any triumphs that we can.

When it comes to fashion, most American AskMen.com readers own 1 to 3 suits (65%) and 4 to 6 pairs of shoes (46%).  Unfortunately, Americans took last place in both categories. Survey participants also agreed that Italian men are the most stylish in the world.  Perhaps some American men need to spend more holidays in Milan and Rome.

In attracting a mate, abs are the new pecs. A majority of men believe women appreciate a toned midsection most.  84 percent of men look for wife potential in a girlfriend, 69 percent have fantasized about a girlfriend or wife’s friend but only 17 percent say they would cheat. For more interesting facts, visit AskMen.com. See all 100 questions and how men from each country responded. How will YOU measure up?

Is Kris Van Assche out at Dior Homme? The blog rumor mill is out of control with gossip the English bad boy Gareth Pugh will take the helm of menswear at the house that Hedi Slimane built. [Grazia via Hypebeast]

Manuel Puig, the head of the Puig fragrance empire, sat front row at Bottega Veneta’s fashion week show on Saturday. Could there be a Bottega Veneta fragrance on the horizon? Never say never. [WWD]

A new men’s shop has opened on the interwebs and received a kind writeup in WWD. Check out Studio Homme, which carries the latest collections from Comme des Garçons, Pierre Hardy,  Lucien Pellat-Finet,  Alexis Mabille, Unity, Sultan, Natalia Brilli, Moscot and many more. [WWD]

There are 400 receptors in your nose that interpret the things you smell. Now, researchers have turned their microscopes to these receptors to better understand  the science of fragrances. [National Geographic via The Cut]

The boys worked a clean, natural and matte look for the fall 2009 season. But if you don’t want to wait until next fall to get this look, pick up ClarinsMen Lip Guard, ClarinsMen Shine-Free Gel and ClarinsMen Moisture Gel from ClarinsMen.com.

(photos by James Fraser, courtesy of Clarins)

The biggest trends:

— The forehead is usually covered by long hair up front, so start growing out your bangs.
— Sideparts are in for longer hair. But the classic “short back and sides” with a sidepart seems to be phasing out.
— The Schoolboy style (seen at the right in the John Varvatos show) still reigns supreme.

— Long hair is below the chin in length but short enough that it doesn’t rest on shoulders.

Of course there are some exceptions. DKNY showed a number of off-the-face styles with close cropped cuts. More to come!

For more coverage, visit men.style.com 

A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times printed a story that natural eyebrows are back in fashion and runway models around the world are starting to sport bushy brows. Of course, this story printed just 1 day after I had my eyebrows done by the eyebrow master himself, Ramy, who gives good brow without making you look like an out of work drag queen.

I’ve been against over-sculpted eyebrows for a long time. Some guys went too far with the wax and tweezers. The Gotti spawn, Jesse Metcalfe from Desperate Housewives and even Julian McMahon of Nip/Tuck all come to mind as overpluckers. Drop the tweezers boys and step away!

A natural brow always looks best on a man, but that doesn’t mean that you should let them run wild like Colin Farrell. You still need to tame them with a little tweezing because the unibrow is never fashionable. A well-groomed brow can work in your favor!

Tips for a better “guy-brow” after the jump!

Here are some rules for getting a better “Guy-brow”:

—Never wax the lower part of your brow: It’s okay to wax the top and the space between your brows, but waxing underneath will give too much definition which makes it look unnaturally sculpted.

—Use tweezers lightly: Tweezing the lower part of your brows is fine but not too much. A little plucking goes a long way, especially as you move further from your nose.

—Don’t fear the arch: An arch in your eyebrow can open up your eyes and defeat that Cro-Magnon heavy-brow look. Some guys with especially thick brows should consider thinning out the ends toward your temples. It will prevent your brows from looking too heavy and draw more attention to your eyes. However, don’t overdo the arch. It’s best to see a professional for this.

—Work WITH the shape: Don’t try to put too much shape in your eyebrows if they don’t naturally have any. And don’t try to make your brows thin if they are naturally thick and bushy. You will be upset with the results and it will look ridiculous when it grows back in. In most cases, nature will give you the brow size that flatters your facial structure. Go with it, just give it a little clean up.

If you need a little help with your eyebrows, visit Ramy in his private studio on 31st Street in Manhattan for a little tutorial in Guybrow Grooming. He’ll clean you up and send you out looking great.  Tell him HOMMEgrooming sent you!