![10 Grooming & Fashion Cheats to Simplify and Enrich Your Life — Start by Getting a Gray Blazer](http://townsquare.media/site/801/files/2015/03/gray-blazer-630x420.jpg?w=980&q=75)
10 Grooming & Fashion Cheats to Simplify and Enrich Your Life — Start by Getting a Gray Blazer
Life is plenty hectic already. Who couldn't use a few tips on how to shave some time off your daily tasks, or maybe lower those bills even just a tad?
If you’re the kind of guy who wants to look good but you'd rather not spend a ton of energy on your day-to-day fashion routine, pay attention. There are a lot of grooming hacks out there that can help you cut corners (because you’re kinda lazy, after all), while still winding up with a solid end result.
Here are 10 of our favorite fashion and grooming cheats for men short on time (or cash), but like Adonis himself, not short on pride:
1. The Gray Blazer
Every man should own at least one good gray blazer. A gray blazer is a great way to dress up a pair of jeans with a solid colored tee or a ragged dress shirt. It will pair brilliantly with so many different things and up your style game with almost no effort at all. You’ll wonder why you didn’t buy one years before. (If you have a few gray blazers at home, good for you, because you’re already way ahead of the fashion curve.)
2. Simplify Your Wallet
If you simplify or de-clutter your wallet, you can keep it in your front or back pocket, no matter how tight your pants happen to be. Not only will this slim down your sleek silhouette (by eliminating questionable bulges in weird places), it will also make you less vulnerable to identify theft if you ever get pick-pocketed. As an added bonus, a simplified wallet can help you organize your life by forcing you to only keep the essentials you need on your person, absent all of that bulky clutter. Tons of photos and reward cards might be nice, but do you really need to have them on you at all hours of the day? (Here are five ultra-slim wallets to get you started.)
3. Get Some Black and Brown Leather Shoes
Leather lasts a long time. If you hang onto two pairs of comfortable black and brown leather shoes (that meet your particular fashion requirements) and keep them oiled and polished, you’ll always have something ready for a night out. Many people (especially people who happen to be women) will judge you by your footwear. A few pairs of good leather shoes will help you cut the form of a true gent, with effortless style.
4. The Amazing Power of Baby Powder
And you thought baby powder was just for babies. Here are just some of the grooming uses you can squeeze out this miraculous product:
- as a dry shampoo to comb out excess hair oil
- reduce skin irritation after shaving (like an aftershave)
- as a deodorant
- reduce chafing in sensitive areas
A bit of baby powder can make you conformable in your physical self, while saving your financial self some money at the same time.
5. Brush Your Teeth in the Shower
When you’re standing there in the shower, enjoying the comfort a cascade of hot water affords you before you have to face the horrors of another dreary day in an indifferent world, sometimes you just don't want to leave the steam and warmth behind. Why not prolong your shower by bringing your toothbrush and toothpaste in and brushing those pearly whites while you’re still under the showerhead? (And speaking of showerheads ...) Aside from more “me” shower time, you won’t have as many toothpaste-spit stains in your bathroom sink to deal with, which has got to be a plus for some people.
6. Shave and Clip Right After You Shower
Your pores want to be open and relaxed before you violate them — and the stubble on your face — with a shaving blade. That’s why shaving right after you shower is a very good idea. A fogless shower mirror will even let you shave in the shower, if you so desire. Just make sure you’ve had a good enough steam first before you start scraping your stubble away.
If you clip your nails (finger and toe) after showering, they’ll be softer and easier to cut as well, which means you’ll probably do a better job. So remember, get your shaving and clipping down when your bathe. It’ll end up hurting a lot less.
7. Clip Your Own Hair
If you wear your hair fairly short and you don’t use a ton of product to keep the various bits and bobs that are “artistically” flapping about in place, you might as well start cutting your hair yourself. Home hair clippers have made all kinds of advancements over the years. With just a little bit of practice, you can do a fairly good job all by yourself, which should save you some green, as well as those time-consuming trips down to the local barber shop or hair salon. (Though if you do take a trip to the barbershop, make it Schorem.)
8. Tea Tree Oil for Your Scalp
Dandruff problems? Well, tea tree oil just might be the cure for you. If you’ve got a dry scalp that you tend to scratch a lot because it’s so damn irritating, a bit of tea tree oil will help murder (yes, murder) the bacteria that promotes dandruff, and thus all of that itching you’ve been dealing with. Apply some of this oil (which also moisturizes) to your scalp, and you may soon be sighing from relief as the itch (doesn't work on the seven-year itch) is diminished from your life.
9. Vinegar Stain Remover
What kind of stains can plain old vinegar or apple cider vinegar help remove, and thus help keep your wardrobe in tiptop shape? Here’s just a partial list of what a vinegar soak, wash or scrub can do: eliminate berry stains, coffee stains, ink stains, sweat stains, tomato stains, wine stains and more. If vinegar won’t do the trick, baking soda is often a good fix as well. With a little effort, you can remove unwanted stains, and thus continue to play the part of the well-dressed, stain-free man.
10. Sharpen Expensive Razors on Old Jeans
If you’re not going for the bearded look everyone seems to be sporting these days, and you actually invest in expensive razors, you’ll want to keep those razors as sharp as you can for as long as possible. By simply “shaving” the blades against some old denim jeans (you don't want to mess up your new ones) in the opposite direction you'd go when actually shaving (opposite the cutting direction, that is), you’ll get months more shaving action out of your razor blades. Not a bad deal, and better than spending extra money on a ton of new blades.