Going fragrance-free, a men's guide
I did this, so now I'm passing on the knowledge to you.
A clarification to start with: "Fragrance-free" means "no fragrance added". Some things will still have a scent to them. An example of that is bleach. Unscented bleach doesn't have any fragrance added to it, but of course will still smell like bleach. Other no-fragrance things won't have any scent at all.
Why did I go fragrance-free? As a middle aged man, my skin prefers the no-fragrance stuff.
Here's the stuff I use:
Deodorant
What I use: Baking soda
I stopped using deodorant years ago and switched to baking soda because it does the same job. Wet the armpit first, dab wet fingertips in baking soda, rub into armpit using a wide circle, pat dry with towel, done. If it doesn't work the first time, you missed a spot, do it again.
This is one of those "smells like nothing" things.
How long does it last? Anywhere from 8 hours to 2 days.
Laundry soap
What I use: White vinegar or bleach
For vinegar, 1/4 cup for small loads, 1/2 cup for regular loads, full cup for large loads. For bleach I use much less because not much is required for it to clean whites properly.
Both of these things have a scent to them, but no added scent, meaning no fragrance added. Vinegar smells like vinegar and bleach smells like bleach.
Here's a tip if you have one of those stupid "modern" clothes washing machines: Don't use the pull-out tray for either vinegar nor bleach. Get a measuring cup and fill to desired amount. Put the clothes in the washer first. Pour the desired amount out of the measuring cup directly on the clothes, close the door and start the wash cycle. If you try using that stupid pull-out tray instead, you'll get vinegar or bleach all over the place. Pour directly on the clothes instead.
Dryer sheets
What I use: Nothing
I stopped using dryer sheets altogether, because scented or unscented, they leave behind a residue.
Yes, I deal with static electricity on my clothes out of the dryer and don't care because it goes away on its own.
Yes, I know about the tennis ball wrapped in aluminum foil thing to stop static a dryer cycle generates. The constant thumping noises those make while the dryer is running drove me nuts, so I deal with the static instead.
Shampoo
What I use: Vanicream
This looks like something out of a doctor's office, but it is a truly 100% fragrance-free, dye-free shampoo for hair.
Conditioner
What I use: Nothing
Vanicream does make a fragrance-free conditioner just like they do with shampoo. I did buy some and try it out.
The conditioner works, but I found I really didn't need it, so I just use shampoo alone.
Bar soap
What I use: Kirk's Castile Fragrance Free
Men like simple bar soaps, and I'm no different. I wanted something simple with no fragrance added, and the no-fragrance version of Kirk's is it.
This soap is nothing more than a big white bar that does what soap is supposed to do, and is truly unscented.
Only 5 ingredients to this soap, which is really short, and that's fine. This soap only has what you need and nothing you don't.
Cologne
What I use: Nothing
Regardless of cologne I try, my skin doesn't agree with any of them, so I don't use it.
If I absolutely had to add a scent, I wouldn't use cologne at all. I'd use Pinaud Clubman talc instead. The scent of that is "smells like men's barbershop", and yes it's good as I've used it before.
The liquid version is Pinaud Clubman aftershave. Technically not a cologne, but basically acts the same way. I've also used this before as well. Good stuff.
These days I just use no added scent whatsoever, but if I had to add something, it would be one of the two above.
Where I make exceptions for scented stuff
Dish soap
While true Palmolive Fragrance Free exists, I still use Dawn Ultra because it doesn't seem to bother my hands and the scent is light.
Spray bottle bleach cleaner
It's easy to find unscented bleach cleaner in a spray bottle, but the straight bleach scent is a bit harsh (especially when cleaning in a small room like the bathroom). For this reason, I do use a spray bleach cleaner with added scent. The scent is light and the cleaning solution isn't touching my skin, so no issues there.
Car wipes
I use Armor All Protectant Wipes in the car. Obviously, these have added scent to them. In fact, I don't think there's any automotive interior cleaning product that doesn't have a fragrance added. These wipes don't seem to bother my skin, so I'm okay with them.
If I absolutely had to go fragrance-free with interior car cleaning, at least for plastic surfaces, I'd just use diluted white vinegar and paper towels to apply. The only reason I don't is because the Armor All stuff gives the plastics and vinyls a better look to them once cleaned.
When does middle age begin? When does it end?
I'm not at the fifth decade yet, but getting there.
I honestly don't know if middle age starts at 40 or 45. There is debate on that. Some even think it starts at 35.
In the United States, the very specific ages that are paid attention to most are 16, 18, 21, 25, 40, 50 and 65.
16
This matters to girls more than boys. Many girls have a "Sweet Sixteen" coming-of-age party to celebrate that specific age. The internet was not helpful in giving me any solid information on telling me why that is.
For boys, or at least for me, this was the age that made me eligible to apply for a driver's license. But I obviously didn't throw a party when I got mine.
18
At 18, you're legally an adult and can vote; these are two solid reasons why 18 is a big deal. Being eligible for military service is also a big deal.
21
The only reason anybody cares about this age is because that's the minimum age required to buy booze.
25
There are two reasons people care about this age.
Age 25 is the quarter-century mark. Some who reach this age feel "old" because at that point your teens are 6 years gone. I personally never felt that way when I was 25, but some do.
There's another interesting thing about age 25 in that it's usually the minimum age required to rent a car. Technically, it's mostly allowed to rent a car at age 21, but not without some tacked on fees due to the younger age.
40
This is considered the beginning of middle age. The first thing I ever saw back in my teens that told me "40 is old" had nothing to do with people. Rather, it was novelty stores.
I remember novelty stores carrying "over the hill" stuff in the mall (which you can still get), and the majority of that merchandise centered around reaching age 40. Some of it revolves around greater ages, but I'll get to those in a minute.
Not once did I ever find any of that stuff funny, even in my teens. I would see that novelty over-the-hill crap for sale and thought wow, that's insulting.
There was one of those "you're old" novelty merch things that was okay. 39 forever. I like that one. The joke is when you reach age 39, every birthday after that is always your 39th birthday and never changes. This is more for women than for men. In fact, years ago I remember seeing this lady in her 50s on my dad's bowling team that sometimes wore a "39 forever" sweater. When women do the 39-forever thing, it's cute in a good way.
I'm in my late forties. When I reached 40, my honest reaction to it was "meh".
50
I've not reached this age yet. People pay attention to this one because it's the half-century mark and the fifth decade of life.
On the internet, 50 is the age I see some people making a big deal out of. It's never 40.
I don't know if I'll feel this way once I reach 50, but from what I've seen from others that have, they consider that the crossover age. The realization you have more years behind than ahead of you, and that you'd better start getting some living done if you haven't started already.
The end of middle age?
Is this 65, which was formerly retirement age? Is it 67, which is now currently retirement age (at least in the US)? Is it 70?
I have no idea when middle age is supposed to end. And I don't think anybody else does either.
And what is the proper term for a person supposed to be after middle age ends? Senior? Elderly? Senior seems to be more polite.
Maybe when we can figure out when middle age ends, a name for anybody after that age can be decided upon.
Until then, we're all still just guessing.
Fender Custom Telecaster FMT HH is a steal
Once you know what this has, you'll want one.
The Fender Custom Telecaster FMT HH is obviously a modern take on a Telecaster. As such, it really wasn't a model that took off and most people gave it a miss.
Make no mistake, this is a high-end Telecaster. The top is carved. The finish is transparent to show off the flamed wood with matching headcap. The neck has binding with graphite nut, and fret markers are abalone. It's loaded with Seymour Duncan pickups ('59 neck and Pearly Gates bridge) from the factory, and with push-pull to bring out the single-coil tones.
But hang on, there's one more thing.
This is a set neck Telecaster with belly cut in the rear.
Wow.
There's only one thing "bad" about it, but not bad as far as I'm concerned. It has a super-flat 15.75" fingerboard radius. That is literally the only thing I could pick out that anybody would take issue with.
Otherwise, people are still giving this guitar a miss and I don't know why. You can easily find these things south of $650 in barely-used condition when you look around. And look around you should because this modern Tele is really packed with some seriously good stuff.
RSS was a thing on the internet that never really went away
There are people to this day that really, really miss Google Reader.
What I'm going to talk about is a nerdy internet thing but not really, because once you know what RSS is, yeah, you're going to want it.
RSS is Really Simple Syndication. Some web sites (such as the one you're reading right now) have a feed you can subscribe to. The one here is https://menga.net/feed if you need one to test with. Ordinarily, "subscribe" is a dirty word, but not in this instance because you never give out any personal info to use it. All you take is the feed address of a web site you like, put it into your feed aggregator a.k.a. feed reader software, and whenever the site published a new article, ta-da, you get updated...
...and that brings me to Google Reader. A ton of people used this and loved it, but Google shut it down in 2013. And as I said above, there are still people to this day that really miss it. Some users had 25+ web site feeds or more in there where they could easily track the latest articles.
What made Google Reader as well as other feed readers great was the fact you could keep up with the web sites you liked without having to load each one individually in separate tabs. All the sites you liked, all in one place and easy to manage.
Mozilla Firefox at one point did have a version of this called Live Bookmarks. It wasn't exactly like Google Reader, but you could list feeds side-by-side with regular bookmarks that automatically updated themselves whenever a new article was posted. It was great and it worked... until Mozilla took it away in 2018.
A simple yet very nice feed reader for Linux that runs in Terminal is newsboat. Really easy to set up, really fast and updated regularly. I can do everything in newsboat that a feed reader is supposed to do. Subscribe to feeds, categorize them, combine feeds into subcategories, and so on. Newsboat is good software.
When I started using newsboat, I was reminded of how good a feed reader really is, so much to the point I use it regularly now.
RSS never "died". Feed addresses that work in feed readers are still a mainstay of many web sites, this one included.
However, it is true that a lot of people simply don't know that RSS exists. It does, and you could use it right now.
And yes, there are feed reader apps for the phone. Search your app store and you'll find them. On mobile, it's absolutely easier to use a feed reader instead of loading web sites one by one or one app per site (which would get ridiculous real quick).
The joy of playing cheap guitars
Snobs give these a miss. I don't.
I recently visited a little hole-in-the-wall place that carried nothing but cheap guitars. Why nothing but the cheap stuff? Because they're not "approved" to carry the more expensive brands (there's a whole process involved for anybody who wants to sell highfalutin brand guitars and it's not fun).
There are three things I know when it comes to the cheap stuff.
First, the low end brands have absolutely caught up to the higher tier stuff, and it's for one reason. CNC machining. Bodies and necks are built just as well as guitars costing quadruple the price, and I'm not kidding.
Second - and this is a weird one but true - lower end guitars have to put in better effort just so people will buy them. You can really see this with things like the neck pocket fit and paint. A lot of cheaper brands do it right. The higher tier brands, on the other hand, do a lot of cost cutting. This is why you will see things like finish blemishes and nasty neck pocket gaps on $1,000+ guitars whereas you really don't on the lower end stuff.
Third, given that most guitar players are such brand snobs, they don't actively seek out shops that sell the cheap stuff - but I do...
...and it's there I get a lot of enjoyment out of playing stuff that the snobs wouldn't give a second look to, or even a first for that matter.
I have a video of me playing some Tagima TG500 and Sawtooth guitars at that hole-in-the-wall shop.
Great guitars, great necks, great sounds. I had to resist pulling out my wallet because there were a few I wanted to buy on the spot.
An alternative to Tagima and Sawtooth is Grote. Lots of good choices for cheap.