My father loved clothes and dressing up, but he was also fond of walking around in his underwear or gardening clothes (“rags” my grandmother called them). He had a temper but was patient with animals, especially cats. His cats (at one point we had ten!) took turns sitting in his lap in the garden, and they all, man and cats, bird-watched together. The trait I appreciated most in my father was his curiosity. When I gave him gifts, he’d approach them with interest, as if they needed exploration, analysis. He wasted no opportunity to learn something. Once, for a present mind you, I gave him a boring book on the history of the U.S. Supreme Court; he read it from cover to cover. He loved antique folk sculptures of animals, so I bought him a homey little tome called “Carving Duck Decoys.” Father started carving ducks and several of them are staring at me as I write this. When it came to toiletries, my father used Ivory soap and old-fashioned drugstore shave cream until, thanks to yours truly, he became appreciative of, then addicted to, expensive shave lathers from England and all sorts of interesting soaps and potions. I can’t remember an “unsuccessful” gift to my father. I hope your father is as easy to buy for as mine was!

For fathers big and small, young and old, fancy and rustic; for regal and distinguished Fathers, fauxhemian pères, outdoorsy-sporty dads, and jazzy Daddy-Os, I present some gift ideas for Father’s Day…

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One of the consolations of summertime, for those of us who don’t enjoy heat and humidity and the constant sight of other people’s unkempt feet in flip-flops, is the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables. Even I, a dedicated starch-lover, experience a craving for something a little more colorful at this time of year. I’m grateful for the network of farmers’ markets that has expanded to urban areas, and for the tiny city-yardspace behind our new home, where my husband and I are making our first attempts at growing a few potted edibles.

Oyin Handmade’s Juices & Berries is a spray-on, leave-in conditioner for hair, and it smells like the kind of fruit salad that you can only make at the height of the summer season. It’s scented with a mix of natural and synthetic fragrance oils, and it turns out to have a much more appetizing and realistic aroma than many berry-fragranced toiletries on the market…

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HAIR scent may be the new fragrance frontier. In recent months, several new products with exotic fragrances are challenging popular hair-care scents like coconut, citrus and rosemary.

— From Scent Trails Start at the Top, a short article on hair fragrance at the New York Times. Many thanks to Mary for the link!

From Fresh, a limited edition soap trio in Frankincense (“an earthy scent, full of woodsy notes and a hint of exotic incense”), Myrrh (“an uplifting, fruity scent with wild berry notes inspired by the forest”) and Gold (“a warm, soft fragrance that evokes the shimmer of precious metal in sunlight”). Three 250g bars, $45…

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Roger & Gallet has launched L’Homme Sport (shown above left), a flanker to 1979′s Roger & Gallet L’Homme. The new version is said to be faithful to the spirit of the original, but purer and fresher.

L’Homme Sport features notes of grapefruit, tea, pink pepper…

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The rose has probably received more tributes in writing and song than any other flower; without even trying, anyone can easily think of a famous rose quotation or two. I recently realized that my own formative literary encounter with rose imagery was the classic children’s book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The Rose is an important secondary character in the story: she is vain and coquettish but secretly vulnerable, and her relationship with the Prince symbolizes some of the complexities of love. (As a child, I was also very impressed by the depiction of the rose in the film version of The Little Prince.)

Although rose is my favorite note in perfumery, I try not to discuss rose-scented products too often, just because I don’t want to be monotonous. However, June is the month of roses, so I’m going to indulge myself by mentioning a few recent favorites here. And, because we should still stop and smell the proverbial roses even (or especially) during a difficult economy, all of these products are available for $10 or less…

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The new theme for Herbal Essences is the escape to a “fantasy paradise” of scent. I tried two formulas with different fragrances: Long Term Relationship (red bottle not shown, created to protect longer hair against damage) and Hello Hydration (turquoise bottle as shown, for dry hair). According to Clairol, “Herbal Essences developed each unique scent like a fine fragrance—with top, middle, and base notes.” Can that kind of composition exist in a shampoo or conditioner, the way it would in an oil- or alcohol-based perfume? Somehow, I doubt it (but I’m not a chemist, so who knows). In any case, I tried these two product pairs to see what would happen…

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The Parfum de Coiffeur packaging is coolly attractive: its three metal spray bottles, each holding a different scent, look like they should contain top-secret serums or vaccines, and the set is presented in a Mission Impossible-worthy canister of silvery metal and clear plastic. When removed from their niches, the sprays dispense their fragrances — Bergamot, Frangipani, or Amber — smoothly and evenly…

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Members of perfume chat boards occasionally debate the pros and cons of wearing perfume in their hair. Some fragrance lovers feel it’s a discreet and long-lasting way to enjoy perfume; others worry that the alcohol in the perfume will dry out their hair or damage their hair-color. I’ve always thrown caution to the winds, figuring that a spritz of Eau de Toilette is less damaging than many environmental factors (or most mainstream hair products, for that matter), but I’m also willing to try some of the new perfumes created specifically for hair.

Viktor & Rolf’s new Flowerbomb Bomblicious Perfumed Hair Mist joins the Flowerbomb line-up of Eau de Parfum, “extreme” Eau de Parfum, Eau de Toilette, body cream, body lotion, and shower gel. Its bottle is a slightly smaller version of Flowerbomb’s “grenade,” complete with sealing-wax “pin,” cast in frosted glass…

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In general, the quality of Fekkai products is high, and Beach Waves is no exception. It also has a noticeable fragrance: a tropical blend of coconut, gardenia, ozone, and orange notes. This fragrance recreates the artificial scent of many suntan lotions and therefore conjures up memories of the beach…

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