When I agreed to give Birchbox Man a try, I had decided I would give it three months. If, after those three months, I hadn't gotten enough stuff to justify the $20/month price, I would just drop it and go back to my old slipshod grooming habits. My first month's box was pretty good, but my June haul wasn't even worth the effort of a blog review. C'mon guys, I told you I had a beard. What's with all the shaving creams? July was month number 3. Here is the verdict. 

Quirky Wrapster - Birchbox makes sure to mention that they are grooming and lifestyle products for men.  So while you can expect a lot of lotions and shampoos, you can also expect a smattering of tech gear. The Quirky Wrapster is a neat little piece of plastic that you can use to wrap up your iPhone headphones when you aren't using them. Additionally, it doubles as a stand for your iPhone. It's only $5 if you were to buy it retail, and it hasn't left my pocket since this month's box showed up.

Quirky Cordies - Similar to the wrapster, this is a cheap little plastic thing that is way more useful than you might initially think. The Cordies sits on your desk (or can be mounted to it, if you perfer a little more permanence) and holds all of your laptop computer cables in place. When you unplug your laptop to leave at the end of the day, the cords stay right where you left them so you don't have to go digging on the floor the next morning. Again, super cheap at $10, but something I couldn't go without now that I've used it.

Benta Berry Super Moisturizing Face Cream - The whole concept of face cream is pretty foreign to me. I'm told that the point is to "lock in moisture" and "prevent dryness" after you wash your face. It's hard for me to remember to do this, so I haven't had a lot of time to figure out if I like this one or not yet. Another one that will have to wait and see.

Supersmile Professional Whitening System - I'm not proud of the way my teeth look. I am proud to say I have never had a cavity, but it's not due to any effort on my part. I drink a lot of coffee and the occasional wine, and as a result my teeth aren't quite as bright as I'd like. So I was interested to try this whitening gel. I'm only about 3 days into it, so the verdict is still out. The sample tubes were pretty small, so I'm not convinced I'll even see any serious results unless I decide to invest in the full size bottles.

June Jacobs for Men 3-in-1 Cleanser - Every three months or so, I end up travelling on business. Most of the time I just throw my toothbrush into my suitcase and make do with whatever shampoo, conditioner, and soap the hotel ends up having on hand, but this 3-in-1 thing came just in time. It claims to be a shampoo, face, and body wash, so I took it along with me on this last trip. No complaints, but nothing extraordinary to say about it. I felt clean after using it, and I only had to pack the one bottle. So I guess that's a thumbs up on that one.

This month really redeemed last month's crappy box, so it looks like I'm going to keep going with Birchbox Man for at least another month. I've really had a good long time to get familiar with some of the products from the first month's box that I still have around, and I'm actually considering ordering some full-size versions of some of the samples. I may do a "six months in" post this fall discussing some of the products I've found that are worth purchasing, but in the meantime check back in a few weeks for a review of the August box that should be arriving any day now.