According to a report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., the men’s grooming industry is expected to exceed $33.2 billion worldwide by 2015. Now more than ever, men have access to an enormous variety of cosmetic products that are designed to meet their specific needs.

As a result, there is a steadily increasing number of blogs and websites for men who perhaps aren’t quite as practiced in the art of personal vanity as their feminine counterparts.

The term “vanity” has been recalled as an injurious inclusion as a deadly sin or the implication that there is some inherent vapidity to maximizing one’s appearance. But it can also be reclaimed as the birthright of the male sex. One look at the animal kingdom and it’s obvious: males have plumage. No lioness ever had a mane and who ever heard of a decorative pea“hen” feather?

American frontiersmen Daniel Boone (left) and Davy Crockett (right) are among many figures who embody the rather narrow archetype of ‘rugged’ masculinity. Daniel Boone print by Charles Juehne, circa 1876; Davy Crockett engraving by C. Stuart from an original portrait by J.G. Chapman, circa 1839.

Throughout western culture, Americans have attached archetypal ideals to early icons of masculinity: Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett, and later John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. If there’s any footage of Dirty Harry trimming his beard, it’s surely on the cutting room floor. The worlds of fashion and media have played into these stereotypes and, on occasion, redefined them. The famous Calvin Klein ads of the 1980s featured a smooth and slick Antonio Sabàto, Jr. with nary a hair on his body besides his head.

For the average man though, the notion that anything beyond a shower, shave and occasional shampoo as less than manly still pervades our culture. In its series on archetypes of American masculinity, The Art of Manliness, a men’s lifestyle and grooming website, agrees: “men who seem too cultured, refined and style-conscious are sometimes dismissed as wimpy and not sufficiently masculine.”

The latest trends suggest that the pendulum is perhaps swinging in a well-coiffed direction. Perhaps shows like “Mad Men” are making an impact as well as the growing number of modern barbershops and artisan products geared toward the modern man. With all of this new grooming information coming from every direction, it can be difficult for a man to comb his way through the thicket of products, experts, must-do’s and no-no’s.

Barber, a shaving salon in Amsterdam that carries Hudson Made’s Beard & Shave Soap and Worker’s Soap, is an example of the growing number of modern barbershops. Image courtesy of Alexander Six.

Even those in the know occasionally disagree. In a casual conversation about shaving, Dan Heffer of burgeoning British blog Groom Him, says it is necessary to “exfoliate after shaving about once or twice a week to keep skin looking smooth and healthy.”

Meanwhile, John Scala, founder and CEO of the New York Shaving Company tells us that shaving and exfoliating on the same day is never a good idea. “Shaving is already exfoliating the skin,” Scala says. “More exfoliating would just cause damage.”

Bill Hovard, founder of Hudson Made and developer of our new line of Beard and Shave Soaps, says, “Grooming should be easy and appear effortless. Products should have multiple purposes, use the highest quality ingredients available (GMO free and organic whenever possible), be good to the body, and offer environmentally sensitive and locally sourced packaging.”

Hudson Made’s Beard and Shave Soap is safe for every face since it has no detergents or synthetic oils. And the beauty lies in its dual functionality: use the lather as a shaving foam or as gentle beard shampoo. If you’re one of those seasonally bearded fellows, this is a product that you can use year-round.

Hudson Made’s Beard & Shave Soap has multiple uses and is an invaluable addition to any man’s grooming routine.

Three original scents have been formulated: Original White is lightly scented with essential oils of petitgrain, cedarwood, juniper needle, myrrh and black pepper; Cedar Clove offers notes of woody spice derived from cedar leaf, cinnamon, allspice and clove; and Citron Neroli is blended with organic oils of petitgrain, white grapefruit, neroli and cedarwood. Neroli oil, produced from the delicate blossoms of the bitter orange tree, has been revered for its distinct balance of sweet, spicy and floral notes since the 17th century.

Citrus aurantium, also known as Citrus vulgaris—bitter orange tree. Illustration by Franz Eugen Köhler, 1897.

Ultimately, a man’s personal grooming regimen should be based on his own needs. No man knows better than himself as to how his skin reacts to products, how much time he’s got or how much bathroom counter space he’s willing to give up. In short, men’s grooming is subjective.

Perhap’s men’s facial hair is humanity’s answer to the lion’s mane and the peacock’s tail. Our plumage, as it were. So take good care of it. Hudson Made will help.

The Beard & Shave Soap Trio	Citron Neroli Beard & Shave Soap	Cedar Clove Beard & Shave Soap + Shave Mug

Sloan Rollins is a freelance writer. His work has been seen in Time Out New York, and he is a music and theater critic for edgeonthenet.com. sloanrollins.com

Additional contributions from Matthew Wexler. More of his musings can be found on his blog, roodeloo.com.

Hudson Made’s Worker’s Soap is among the select products featured in Levi’s “Made Here” collection, which spotlights American-produced and vintage goods.

While the U.S. economy continues to struggle, a recent article in Time Magazine offers a glimmer of hope as it hails the comeback of “Made in America.” Outpacing other advanced nations, the United States has created 500,000 manufacturing jobs in the last three years. Additionally, big players like Apple, Dow Chemical, Airbus and even Wal-Mart have plans to open, fund or return factories stateside. The article goes on to suggest that the offshoring bubble may finally have burst.

Either way you look at it, there is a cultural shift at hand. People are acknowledging that goods made in America—whether by restructuring corporate giants or small upstarts—are vital to the survival of our economy and way of life.

Levi Strauss and Co. is one of those iconic brands that came of age right at the dawn of America’s modern era. They even call their Original 501 Jean “the ultimate icon of American culture.” And it’s true. Who of us hasn’t owned a pair? Who of our grandfathers hasn’t owned a pair?

But like many iconic American brands (Barbie, Radio Flyer, Chuck Taylors…), by the early years of the 21^st century, all of Levi’s domestic factories had shuttered their doors as an industry trend saw the outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs to foreign competitors.

Handmade cowboy boots from Marfa, TX.

Flash forward to 2013, Levi’s Global Brand Concept Designer Jay Carroll is scouring the country for the finest hand-crafted, American-made goods to be sold alongside Levi’s premium clothing lines in experimental “neighborhood stores” that appeal to a collective nostalgia evoked by the brand itself.

Carroll is curating the Made Here collection. Among others, it includes traditionally built cowboy boots by a couple from Marfa, TX; leather moccasins stitched by hand in Cave Junction, OR, and individually strung beach-stone necklaces from the shores of Stonington, ME. Each piece is wholly—beautifully—a product of its own birthplace. Not only are they sourced from local raw materials by artisans and craftsmen, but they also serve as a cultural and historic narrative of their individual regions of origin.

“I was looking for something forged by craftspeople on a small scale,” says Carroll of his nationwide search, “to celebrate stories and add texture to the neighborhood stores.”

Merchandising displays in the Levi’s store in New York’s Meatpacking District, one of the brand’s flagship locations that hosts its “Made Here” collection.

So it should come as no surprise that Levi’s came calling when Carroll discovered Hudson Made’s Worker’s Soap. The popular pumiced cleansing bar has struck a chord with countless bloggers and designers since it debuted last year. And now you can purchase it in any of Levi’s six neighborhood stores in Boston, San Francisco, Malibu, New York City and Shanghai.

Beyond these new partnerships that feature the American artisan, The Levi Strauss Foundation has made a long-term commitment to low-income working people and asset building. Inspired by the American Dream Demonstration in 1997 (a pilot program that matched savings accounts for the working poor), the foundation has donated millions of dollars toward asset building in the U.S. and abroad. The initiative aims to help break the poverty cycle and ultimately make home ownership and entrepreneurial job creation a genuine possibility.

So celebrate the American Worker:
For more information, visit: TheMadeInAmericaMovement.com.
For a comprehensive list of American-made items (from luggage to vitamins to washing machines) and where to get them, visit AmericansWorking.com.
And for a stylish and rugged look at American-made fashion, visit TheAmericanStyle.net.

Check out our exclusive Hudson Made Worker’s Soap, and sets that pair it with one-of-a-kind items as well as some of our most popular grooming products.

Worker’s Soap	The Storyteller	The Paramour

Sloan Rollins is a freelance writer who contributes regularly to Hudson Made’s ecommerce site. His work has been seen in Time Out New York, and he is a music and theater critic for edgeonthenet.com. sloanrollins.com

Two winters ago a friend was passing through New York on her way from Quebec and brought me a big can of maple syrup from the airport’s gift shop. Without a stack of pancakes in sight, I punctured the top of the can and drizzled it on a bit of yogurt and was overcome by its rich amber color, sweet depth of flavor and silky consistency. It was the first time I ever had real maple syrup.

Growing up in the rural foothills of North Carolina, far removed from the northeast (farther still from the cultural influences of the maple sugaring industry), I had been perfectly content in my ignorance to dress my pancakes with caramel-colored high fructose corn syrup poured from the flip-top kerchiefs of plastic plantation-era mammies.

So began my affaire de coeur with real maple syrup. Since the yearly sap harvest is drawing to a close, now seems like the perfect time to enjoy the fruits of all that labor while celebrating the history and versatility of this uniquely North American provision.

The Sugaring Process

The sugaring process (rendering sap into syrup) is labor-intensive to say the least. It all happens during a four- to six-week window during the sunny days of late winter known as Maple Sugaring Season. It is during this time that the season’s supply of maple syrup is harvested from the red, black and sugar maple trees of the greater Hudson Valley, New England and eastern Canada.

When daytime temperatures rise above 40 degrees but still fall to below freezing at night it creates a pressure fluctuation that forces sap up from the maple trees’ roots. Because such specific conditions are necessary to create that pressure, each sugaring season is unique in length and yield. There are only twenty or so prime sapping days between mid-February through early April. When the sap does flow freely, rousing the trees from winter dormancy and preparing them for spring’s reawakening, the trees are tapped and the collected sap is then boiled down into syrup.

Native Americans figured out this process long before the arrival of Europeans in the new world. An Iroquois legend tells about the clever wife of Chief Woksis and the accidental discovery of maple syrup.

Photo Credit: Library of Congress

The story goes that Woksis left one morning on a hunting expedition, removing a tomahawk blade from the trunk of a tree where he’d flung it the day before. As the day progressed and the temperature rose, sap poured from the gash in the tree and into a vessel that happened to be sitting nearby. Later, the wife of the chief discovered the watery substance and decided to try boiling the evening’s meal in it in lieu of trekking further for water. Later that evening when Woksis returned from the hunt, he was enamored by the aroma of the rendering syrup from far away, and so began the tradition of maple sugaring.

Whether that happy accident actually took place we’ll never know. But we do know that French explorer Jacques Cartier observed Native Americans tapping maple trees in 1540 and there are written observations of the Native Americans’ sugaring process dating back to 1557. The earliest of these observations discuss how sap was held in a hollowed-out log of basswood and heated stones were used to evaporate the water.

The mechanics of the process have evolved immensely since those days but the basic tenets of production still hold true. Well into the 20th century sugar producers would punch a v-shaped gash into a maple tree, insert a wooden or metal spout and then hang a bucket to catch the sap.

Today this method has given way to more efficient and complex systems of plastic taps and tubing that carry sap from many trees to one central holding tank by relying on gravity.

Photo Credit: Cedervale Maple

After the sap is collected, its excess water must be boiled away. A gallon of syrup requires approximately 40 gallons of sap. Many syrup producers first use reverse-osmosis devices to remove the sap water without heat. This energy-efficient method enables approximately 75 percent of the water to be removed before any heat is introduced. Once the concentrate reaches about 66 percent sugar (as opposed to sap’s 2 percent), it is ready for filtering and bottling. (It can also be further processed into maple cream and maple candy — a favorite treat at your local farmer’s market.)

A Drizzle a Day…

Maple syrup is the definitive topping for flapjacks, french toast and waffles but it has a host of other uses in dishes both sweet and savory. One of my favorites is easy and delicious. I cut a butternut squash in half, hollow out the center where the seeds are, stick in some cloves and then pour maple syrup directly into the cavity. Roast it until the flesh is tender, take out the cloves and mash up the syrup-infused squash into a hearty and delectable side dish.

You can also substitute maple syrup for white sugar in many recipes. Because it has nutritionally significant amounts of manganese, zinc, calcium and potassium, maple syrup can make your next homemade dessert a little more healthy and guilt-free. Substitute ¾-cup of syrup for 1-cup sugar and reduce the liquid content of the recipe by three tablespoons for each cup used.

Hudson Made offers real maple syrup from Sugar Hill Farm in Pine Plains, NY. In addition to its annual maple production, the farm also produces responsibly raised Berkshire pork and Black Angus beef. Consider glazing your steak with maple syrup combined with a pinch of cayenne pepper for a sweet and spicy flavor combination. I’ve been known to drizzle it on popcorn. Or put a dash in my favorite cocktail. And on a rare occasion, I have been known to just take a swig, right from the bottle. Why not?

Click here to learn more about Sugar Hill Farm’s maple syrup.

Looking for the ultimate culinary gift set? Consider “The Flap Jack.”

Sloan Rollins is a freelance writer who contributes regularly to Hudson Made’s ecommerce site. His work has been seen in Time Out New York, and he is a music and theater critic for edgeonthenet.com. sloanrollins.com