Style & Grooming

The Dopp Kit: A Necessity for Every Man

The term Dopp Kit confuses a lot of people, but when it comes down to it, it’s just a bag to keep accessories organized when traveling, such as toiletries and other smaller items.

Where did the term Dopp kit come from?

Dopp kit is a term particularly in use in the US for toiletry bags. The name derives from the early 20th-century leather craftsman Charles Doppelt, whose company designed the case in 1926. Dopp kits became widely known during World War I and World War II when they were issued to soldiers by the US military. The Dopp brand name was purchased by Samsonite in the early 1970s and was acquired by Buxton in 1979. – Wikipedia

I remember my dad’s old school leather Dopp kit he used when traveling for work. My next introduction to Dopp kits were when I entered the military out of high school. Although they didn’t call it a Dopp bag, it was the same thing. We called it a ditty bag. We carried our shaving kit, aftershave, toothbrush, toothpaste and a bar of soap. Ah the memories….

My Dopp Kit and what I keep in it

The first thing you need is a good quality bag. You can purchase one at most stores, but you get what you pay for. I prefer to get something with some class that will last me a while. While leather is the go-to for a classy gentleman Dopp kit, I have been using an olive-colored wax canvas bag from The Frye Company. It has two slip pockets along the inside which I use to keep my packets of Emergen-C drink mix. On the outside, the Dopp kit has a pocket with a zipper closure. I utilize this pocket for a secondary watch or two.

On the inside, I keep the following when I travel

- Deodorant
- Shampoo and bar of soap
- Toothbrush & toothpaste
- Hemingway Accoutrements Beard Oil
- Ibuprofen
- Emergen-C drink mix
- Nail clippers
- Bandaids
- Spare cash for emergencies

I keep my Dopp kit inside my carry-on bag when traveling by air. This way if I get stranded at an airport somewhere, I can at least freshen up and feel human. Those sitting next to you on the plane will appreciate it too.

What type of Dopp kit do you have and what do you carry in yours?

Johnny Slicks: Grooming essentials for the refined gentleman

I’ve personally purchased and tried just about all the products that Johnny Slicks produces. Known for their handcrafted organic beard oil and pomade, they have a few other products too. Out of their full line of products the two I use on a daily basis are the beard oil and pomade. No, I do not have a full grown Viking beard, but I do keep more of a tight beard that I keep up with and choose to do that with Johnny Slicks. If you’re a man and either maintain a beard or shave every day you need to take a hard look at Johnny Slicks. He offers a line of masculine beard wash, beard oil and pomade for your hair. I use his products daily and can attest to the quality. Once you are dressed for success and ready to conquer the world, you’ll want to be sure your hygiene is squared away. After all, appearance matters and so does smelling good.

Organic Beard Oil

The Organic Beard Oil offers several benefits, but the one that stands out is the masculine scent. To apply the beard oil to your beard, use the included dropper and put 5 to 6 drops into your palm and massage that into your beard. Don’t have a beard? No worries! You can use the beard oil as cologne. With the new Rugged scent, you’ll have all the women going crazy.

This beard oil is made with only the best ingredients that will give your beard shine and defeat dry skin on contact. Johnny Slicks products help promote hair growth, prevents hair loss, and treats dandruff and dry skin. The mixture of the therapeutic oils helps increase blood flow to the hair follicle, which also helps hair grow in a natural and healthy pattern.

2 sizes available: bottle with dropper (1oz. & 2 oz.)

Organic Ingredients: Tea Tree Oil, Argan Oil, Jojoba Oil, Brazilian Nut Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Coconut Oil, Fragrance (Body Safe)

Organic Pomade

By pairing the Rugged Organic Pomade scent with the Rugged Beard Oil scent, you’ve created a microclimate of confidence and swagger.

It didn’t take long to realize women love confidence. And you may be wondering, “What does confidence smell like?” Well, confidence isn’t a fragrance you big dummy, its a feeling. But, Johnny wanted to take the feeling of confidence and turn it into a fragrance.

The name of this fragrance was almost called “Your Place or Mine?” Because…well, I’m sure you can figure that out.

An incredible blend of Juniper berry, Cedarwood, and Cuban Tobacco that will leave you speechless.

Organic Ingredients: Beeswax, Coconut Oil, Tea Tree Oil, Argan Oil, Jojoba Oil, Fragrance (Body Safe) Juniper berry, Cedarwood, and Cuban Tobacco.

Learn how Johnny Slicks can Enhance Your Life

An interview with Burly Boy Beard Company

Beard’s can either be all business or all clusterf*ck, all rough or all soft. There’s not really an in-between – but there is a way to go from all clusterf*ck in the field to all business in a meeting or all rough to all soft for your wife/girlfriend/one-night fling. The answer is Burly Boy Beard Company located right here in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I have the honor of knowing the owner Barry personally and he gave me the option of writing an article because he wanted feedback on one of his new scents – Castro. So I told him if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t write an article and if I did like the Castro scent I would write one. He just didn’t want me to feel pressured into saying good things, because he knows how I operate. I give credit where it’s due, but would never bash a company in a review or article. Barry is one of those guys that wants the criticism so he can hone in his product. Lucky for him the Castro has been solid as well as the rest of his products. I decided to switch up my articles for a bit and sit down with Barry for an interview and learn some more about Burly Boy Beard Co.

Hey, what’s going on man, thanks for taking the time to sit down with the LoadoutRoom.

No problem man, I’m excited to be able to sit down with such a great website. So you liked the Castro?

Definitely. Without a doubt a great product!

Sweet I’m glad to hear its working out!

So Barry, what’s the backstory behind creating a beard product?

I started out just making beard oil for personal use. I just couldn’t find anything that really appealed to me. I have dry skin and my beard was always itchy – the products I was buying my wife wasn’t a fan of and so on and so forth. It was either too oily or it was a paste. My wife didn’t like that. I ended up creating my own and showing my homemade beard oil to my Barber at Lionshead barbershop in Virginia Beach. He loved it and suggested I slap a label on it and he would help put it out to the customers. So really its all thanks to Lionshead Barbershop. They’re the ones that pushed me to brand Burly Boy Beard Co.

What is your inspiration behind the scents (and the names)?

My Wife helped me out a lot (women have to deal with beards on our faces, so happy wife, happy life) and I wanted a theme for the names of each scent after going back and forth with ideas Bearded public figures was something we could both agree on. We currently have five different Scents “Garcia” being one of them, its a woodsy scent with Pine, Cedarwood and Frankenscence. To come up with these scents was a lot of trial, error, and research to see which essential oils played well with others.

What is your personal favorite Burly Boy Beard Co. Scent?

I would say Hemingway (it’s a light woodsy scent). I like it because it’s a subtle scent and not overpowering. None of my scents are overpowering, but this is the “tamest” woodsy scent I have been able to find or create. It also happens to be my wife’s favorite as well. I am also really liking our newest scent Darwin – it’s a citrus scent and reminds me of being under palm tree’s and sipping mai thai’s in board shorts. Just kidding on the Mai Thai part. I’m a Bourbon man myself, but I love some palm trees and warm weather. This Virginia cold weather is brutal!

Yeah, man its no bueno! So what are some new releases you have coming out in the next 6 months?

We just released the new scent Darwin. It’s that “good vibe” scent, but still manly. We also Released a beard wash that has a nice sea salt scent with little red jojoba beads for deep exfoliation. We are also working on a mustache wax that will be releasing very soon.

Why is Burly Boy so appealing to the “warfighter” or gentleman? Why are they using your products above everyone else?

I can only assume its because I put the time and effort in and I make a product I believe in. From dry desert to an office job or a blue-collar job, Burly Boy keeps your beard feeling soft and looking good. I think people love how personal I am at events and how my products are all handmade, in small quantities. Quality is made in small doses and that’s what I’m all about with Burly Boy Beard Co. I’m out doing events all the time and introducing myself to new customers, allowing people to sample them, etc. I tell people all the time, take a free sample and put the product in your beard, and walk around. I just don’t feel a need to pressure a customer to make a purchase. If they try it out, they will definitely come back to purchase. We’ve even had guys that “don’t exist” make purchases while they were in the sandbox and we’ll ship it to them. It’s pretty cool being able to support everyone from the warfighter to the blue collar guy.

Thanks Barry for sitting down with me man, I really appreciate it. I’m loving “Castro” by the way. It’s keeping my beard nice and soft. My girlfriend loves it!

No worries man! Tell your girl she has amazing taste haha. We done here? I have mai thai’s waiting at home… I mean bourbon hahaha.

You can purchase Burly Boy products directly from their website here.

The K Bar Soap Company – Frag Out

If I were a Twitter Soy boy, I’d do that thing where I type a phrase over and over until I run out of characters, and that phrase would be “Support Veteran Owned Companies.” But I’m not so I won’t. Instead, I’m going to tell you a bit about a veteran-owned company called the K Bar Soap Company. The K Bar Soap company is a Marine veteran owned company out of South Carolina. The K Bar Soap Company was sweet enough to send me a sampler pack of their many different scents, and I’ve been hooked.

The K Bar Soap Sampler

Inside the Soap Sampler is 11 one ounce bars of soap. Each bar will get you about 4 or 5 days worth of use depending on how much you lather. The scents included are:

Firewatch
Opha Mae
Chest Candy
F*ck Bugs
Fluster Cuck
Cash Sales
Salt Dog
Napalm in the Am
Ricky Recon
Whiskey and Bad Decisions
Reveille

One of the good things about being a veteran and buying from vets is the inside jokes and if you’ve served you likely get the above references. These aren’t just names, but clever titles that do a decent job of describing what’s in the soap. For example, Opha Mae, named for the first female Marine, is slightly feminine with a hint of lavender and oatmeal.

Reveille and Napalm in the AM are strong and powerful smells that wake you up. Then you have Ricky Recon that’s scentless in case you’re just not into smelling good. Each soap has a distinct scent, and of the 11 I like all of them. Although I have some standouts….

K Bar Soap Standouts

Whiskey and Bad Decisions – This one is a reluctant favorite, so some time Firewatch was my favorite, then Napalm in the AM, but Whiskey and Bad Decisions is the one I feel most drawn to. Maybe because they toss in Leadslingers Whiskey? Who knows but I love it.

Firewatch – THe first I used and as you notice its missing from the photos, it was all gone before I realized maybe I should take a couple of pictures. It even has a hint of Lavender to help you get to sleep once your watch is over.

Napalm in the AM – This is my favorite morning shower blend. Right after my workout I strap in for the day and start smelling good. Napalm in the AM is terrific at waking you up and gently glides you from shower to coffee to productivity.

F*ck Bugs – This one isn’t my favorite smelling, but keeps bugs away. I live in Florida, yes technically its fall, but in reality its second summer here. Bugs are still present, and the F*ck Bugs bar keeps them away pretty damn well. It’s not all day protection if you are working and sweating but its way better than applying sticky ass bug spray.

Ricky Recon – How does a no scented soap make the list? Because bow season just started, and you want to be clean, but you also want to minimize your scent. I appreciate a high-quality soap that is fragrance-free.

What’s in K Bar Soap?

K Bar Soap is an all natural product that using cold soap process. It leaves the glycerin in, which acts as a natural moisturizer. Compared to other bar soaps I use I can see a difference. This is especially true when it comes to my face. It helps well with beard dandruff, which gets rough this time of year. The soap leaves my skin feeling great and as soap does it jobs well. It does very well when it comes to cleaning carbon and grease off my hands after a day of gun cleaning.

K Bar Soap is a lot different than the cheap, shitty bar soaps you can get at Wal Mart. It’s still affordable, and if you buy it outside the sampler, it comes as 7.62 ounces of freedom in grenade form. You can find K Bar Soap here, and let us know what you think below.

K Bar Soap Co: Ditch the Bar Grab a Grenade

If you’ve read the Loadout Room for any period of time you know we are staffed by vets. Tons of vets, Army Rangers, Green Berets, Air Force Engineers, SERE Specialists, and of course Marines. As a veteran owned and operated company we always like to help our fellow veterans. Today we want to highlight The K Bar Soap Co and the wide variety of products they offer.

Owned and Operated by a Marine Veteran K Bar Soap Co offers their customers superior soaps, beard oils, and even combs. Their products are named after famed Marine Corps slang and references to Marine Corps Culture. Of course, what catches your eye is the design.

A standard bar of soap is boring. a little rectangle of cleanliness works, but wouldn’t a grenade do a bit better? K Bar Soap Co forms their soap into the shape of the old school frag grenade. Does your soap need to look like a frag grenade? No, but let’s face it, looking cool is half the battle.

The K Bar Soap Co

Now I can only say so much about K Bar Soap Co, instead, I’ll let them take the lead.

The K Bar Soap Company name came naturally from life experience, and scents inspired from my time spent in the Marine Corps. All scent names were based on sayings or concepts that were permanently scarred into memory during those 4 years of my life; names that will resonate throughout not only the Veteran community, but with all men. Men who have the desire to treat their skin the best they can without having to borrow some of their wife’s lavender and chamomile scented mess will appreciate our products. It was our goal to bring these bars to life and give each their own personality, not just scents. These distinctively different personalities/scents would appeal to the masses of men who should make the decision to use an all natural soap, and still allow them to keep every one of their man cards while doing so.

It is our goal to give back to the Veteran community, and to one day be big enough in order to be able to employ, empower, and inspire Veterans across this great American land we like to call home.

It’s time to abandon the idea of using cheap, mainstream bar soap and get your hands on a grenade to treat your skin the way it deserves to be treated. Cold-processed soaps naturally produce glycerin, which is typically removed from mainstream soaps to be utilized in other more profitable areas. This is a great moisturizer that is left in cold process hand made soap but is replaced with chemicals in mass produced ones that can oftentimes dry out skin and leave you feeling flaky and nasty. If you haven’t tried an all natural bar of soap, you should start now with us and feel the difference. We have a strong feeling you won’t be disappointed.

When you purchase a bar from us, you will be getting a superior and all natural product that will not disappoint. The K Bar Soap company has worked hard to differentiate itself from other players in this space, and it is an experience you will not soon forget. We hope you are absolutely thrilled with the performance of our product and how long it lasts, and allow us the opportunity to be your primary soap supplier. We promise to continue to make this in small batches and keep quality consistent for as long as we are in business.

Semper Fi,

Chris

OneBlade: Is it Worth $300?

Full disclosure; I was sent this blade to test and evaluate. This short review is solely my opinion of using this type of razor for the first time.

I never really got into the shaving thing until I joined the Marine Corps, then it became mandatory. Starting in boot camp and lasting until I was honorably discharged I had to shave every day. I used everything from the disposable packs of razors to different brands of electric razors. When it came to the shaving cream I usually opted for something cheap, never really putting any thought into it. Upon leaving the military I had a difficult time finding a decent place to get my hair cut (I know that sounds silly), but every place I tried could never get the close hair cut I preferred like the barbers on Camp Lejeune. Then I found a small barber shop in the next town over. When I went in for my haircut I was surprised to find that they used a special shaving cream and straight razor for the back of the neck. I thought that was pretty damn cool to find somebody still using the old school tools of the shaving trade and from that point forward thought of it as kind of a gentleman’s club of sorts.

When I received the OneBlade I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the package. The first thing I noticed was the weight of the razor. I really feels solid in your hands and could probably be used to knock somebody out of you threw it at them. The fit and finish is the next thing that will catch your eye with this razor. The attention to detail used in the manufacturing process is quite amazing, not only on the razor, but on the stand that the razor sits on. It really does look like a higher end razor you would find being used in a barber shop. The razor itself is a one time purchase, then you determine how frequently you would like to receive the blades in the mail (think of it as a men’s shaving club).

The accessories available are equally impressive from the shaving brushes and shaving creams, to the travel items and blades themselves.

Installing the blades into the head of the razor is extremely easy despite what some say about the tacky glue left on the blade from the wrapper. Once the blade is installed and you follow the directions for the shaving cream you’ll get an extremely close and smooth shave. I had no issues with finding the correct shaving angle on the first pass and never cut myself (this is a testament to their research and development).

The big question though to ask is; is it worth the $300 price tag?

To many once they see the cost they will turn the other way and continue using whatever it was they were shaving with. This is certainly a higher end razor and due to that fact it will attract a certain crowd. I’ve mentioned this before in a review I did on a high end folding knife. When somebody decides to spend this kind of money on something like this it is because it makes them feel as if they are a member of an exclusive club (a gentlemen’s club). It’s the same concept with those that drive high performance sports cars or wear Panerai watches. I will also tell you this. Spend once and cry once. This goes for anything in life. You get what you pay for. Me personally; I’d rather spend a little more up front knowing I’m getting a solid product that will last me years to come versus getting nickel and dimed over and over. For that reason I truly believe the OneBlade is worth the price tag if it fit’s your lifestyle.

(Featured image courtesy of shavenook.com)