Whether it’s on your head or your face, your hair needs a good brushing. A short comb, with both wide and narrow bristles, will help keep lunch crumbs from your beard and white flakes from your head. While you can find a half-decent comb in most cornershops, to really impress, this US-made, slogan-embossed comb from Owen & Fred is a true winner.
Calm. Cool. Collected. Comb, $5 (around £3) owenandfred.com
Keys can cause some serious damage to the pocket of a decent suit and even bite through the lining of the toughest denim. A key holder not only prevents keys tearing your clothes, it stops you sounding like a prison warden as you walk, plus it prevents an unnerving spiky bulge occurring near your delicate bits.
Longside key holder, £12 longsideleather.com
“Does anyone have a pen?” they shout. “Yes, yes I do,” you reply. And it’s not a half-chewed Bic, but a sleek Kaweco – a German-made, art deco-style talking point of a pen. Thin as an e-cigarette, short as a comb, it fits neatly in the palm of your hand and snugly in the pocket of your trousers. Not only that, its comfortable grip and smooth flow will stop your handwriting looking like a drunken pirate’s.
Kaweco Classic Sport Rollerball, £15.97 cultpens.com
That bulging block of pleather you’ve carried since your 16th birthday, stuffed full of ancient receipts, store cards and out-of-date euros, is truly hideous. OK, you probably need all those cards – but keep them hidden away until you do. Bellroy’s wallets take coins, cards and notes and make them neat, tidy and supermodel-slim.
Bellroy Slim Sleeve, £59 bellroy.com
With sneezing season breathing down our necks (ugh), stop to blowing your schnoz into a wodge of crumbling, snot-crusted Andrex. You need a grown-up man’s handkerchief. Carry two and you’ll have one for your own nose and a spare for handing to crying maidens and bandaging children’s knees. A hanky says one word: hero.
Derek Rose small spot handkerchief, £19 johnlewis.com
Chewing gum is for football managers and American soldiers. Nobody wants to see your post-lunch cement mixer impression and the pavement could do with a few less sticky splodges from disregarded gum. A tin of classic Altoids is small and mighty, and may help you feel less bunged up and more old-school gent.
Altoids, £1.25 waitrose.com
