Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

New Year’s Grooming Is Easy to Maintain With Barrel and Oak

Once you figure out how to untwist the Black Oak All-In-One wash from Barrel and Oak, be careful — you’re not going to want to rinse the bergamot and black pepper soap off of your hands. The perfect mix of citrus perfume and piquant pepper is only the start of Barrel and Oak’s inspiring products to step into 2022 so fresh and so clean.

Barrell and Oak's grooming products
Elliott Smith Jr./Bend, Oregon

It’s an accepted fact that a well-groomed man enjoys and exhibits much more confidence. When you’re washed, shaved, and smelling of Bourbon Cedar, you radiate self-esteem and exude a magnetic aura. All you need is water and a brand like Barrel & Oak that brings the goods. The grooming products offer a full spectrum of exclusive body products with pared-down choices made with simple, time-honored practices, and premium ingredients “because we think our bodies deserve more,” Barrel and Oak says.

Recommended Videos

Rather than steamroll customers with an endless line of products, Barrel and Oak simplifies bathroom routines with easy-to-use products, classic aromatic combos, and clean ingredients. If the New Year is all about a new you, then the foundational place to start is in the bathroom.

This includes the fragrant 24-Hour Deodorant — aluminum-free for a healthy battle against armpit bacteria. Barrel and Oak’s proprietary formula releases fresh scents like Mountain Sage with a mix that is sensitive to skin and stain-proof. Certified organic, vegan, and gluten-free, it’s a deodorant that works with you instead of against you.

Related Guides

The brand’s Caffeinated Shampoo positively makes the head tingle with organic coffee extract and scalp reenergized with vitamin B-7 (biotin), vitamin B-5, organic bergamot oil, and quinoa protein. Striding out with a coffee and citrus pelt, there will be no stopping the positive lasting impressions.

Barrel and Oak’s All-In-One Wash does the universal job. Handcrafted with essential oils, it is a refreshing welcome to the day either in the shower or out in the open air. Organic white birch extract helps to purify the skin, and vitamin B-5 hydrates hair and beards.

Exfoliating bar soap, in Black Oak and Mountain Sage, help to wash away a hard day and give pores an exfoliating clean. Containing Kaolin clay and ground olive stone for a deep clean, Barrel and Oak’s bar soap is gentle on the skin. Certified organic, vegan, and gluten-free, the soap is also RSPO-certified for sustainable palm oil use.

Get the New Year going by leveling up your grooming regimen without doing damage to your wallet or to the planet. Prices range from $4 for lip balm to $35 for Barrel and Oak cologne. Check ‘em out now.

Read More: John Mayer, G-Shock, and Hodinkee Watch Collab Sells Out in Just Minutes… Again

Matthew Denis
Matt Denis is an on-the-go remote multimedia reporter, exploring arts, culture, and the existential in the Pacific Northwest…
Atwater’s new Smooth Target aims to provide complete beard care
Atwater's Smooth Target offers complete beard care
Atwater beard oil

Given the explosive growth of men’s beards — both literally and as a product category — many beard companies are expanding their range of offerings, pumping out everything from oils and balms to basic grooming tools like beard combs.
But Atwater is going in a different direction. The company’s new 5-in-1 beard oil, Smooth Target, is designed to be all things to all men when it comes to beard care.

Complete beard care in a single package

Read more
Iconic monsters define the latest Dr. Squatch soaps
Dr. Squatch gets monstrous for its latest soap release
Dr. Squatch Godzilla King soaps

When it comes to new soap releases and the role that marketing plays in the clean-up process, breaking down a Dr. Squatch promo is like entering a unique portal where some of the specifics take some very different twists and turns.
That’s definitely the case for this release, which features a pair of iconic monsters: Godzilla and King Kong. They’re inspired by last year’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which redefined this old-school sci fi rivalry by bringing in over $500 million at the box office.

Monsters on the loose

Read more
ALTAIA’s Woo(E)D features exotic international fragrances
ALTAIA is an Italian company with an international approach to fragrances
ALTAIA WOO(E)D men's cologne

With a product name that leans heavily into the concept of seduction, ALTAIA is taking an intriguing approach to masculinity in its latest eau de parfum release. There’s more than a little ambiguity behind the “who seduces who?” question behind the name, and the foundation fragrances are designed to enhance and deepen that mystery.
ALTAIA is an Italian company with a flair for internationally-based fragrances, so it isn’t completely surprising that the foundation here consists of a combination of Atlas cedar, Gaiac wood, and cistus. This combination is well worth exploring, so let’s go there.

Not the usual woody foundation fragrances
 
While cedar might feel familiar as a foundation ingredient in men’s fragrances, this particular version is different.  Atlas cedar is native to the Atlas mountains in Algeria and Morocco, and it’s prized for having a warm scent that also offers a hint of delicate sweetness.
Gaiac wood is equally unique. It comes from a tree native to South America, and its smoky, sweet scent blends with both its woody cousin and the leather in the next layer. It offers traces of amber, too, and in its natural form this versatile, super-hard wood is used in both tool handles and traditional medicine.
Cistus has its own special origins, too. It grows wild in the areas around the Mediterranean, and it produces labdanum, a sticky resin that’s a staple of the perfume and fragrance world. It’s often used to support wood fragrances in the base layer, so it’s not surprising to see it turn up here. Perfumers see it as both cozy and romantic, hence the appeal in a fragrance that seeks to evoke this level of romanticism.
After an early April release, WOO(E)D is now available in the US. It is available in 100 mL  quantities for $230. It’s an expensive offering, but ATLAIA is hoping it will entice younger buyers, especially, to try some of the company’s other unusual fragrances.

Read more