Five essentials every man needs in his bathroom.

In today’s age of Amazon Echo and autonomous cars, you’d be forgiven for thinking super-smart technology was the solution to all of man’s myriad problems. Out of cash? Pay with your phone. Got a question? Google it. Need a date? There’s an app for that.

But when it comes to grooming, time-honoured tradition, techniques and ingredients often trump supposedly “groundbreaking” science from new brands trying to make their mark. From an 18th-century perfumer to America’s first chemist, here are five traditional grooming brands that are classics – for a reason.

For a fragrance that won’t fall foul of trends, look to England’s oldest perfumer. Beloved of Messrs Beau Brummell, Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming, Floris London was founded in 1730 by Mr Juan Famenias Floris and his wife Elizabeth, and remains a family-run business today.

The genius of this Jermyn Street stalwart lies in the breadth of its top-notch collection, with classic scents – think zesty lemon and petitgrain, or subtly spicy bergamot and sandalwood – offered alongside an up-to-the-minute grooming range enriched with natural extracts including British willow, borage and hops. (And you thought they were just for beer.)

Cult Parisian label Buly 1803 first rose to fame in the 19th century, when founder Mr Jean-Vincent Bully patented his “vinaigre de Bully”, an aromatic tonic for skin that proved catnip to Parisian high society.

Now, after years lying dormant, it has been reborn thanks to the singular vision of Mr Ramdane Touhami – the French-Moroccan creative polymath credited with revitalising storied candlemaker Cire Trudon – and his business partner and wife Ms Victoire de Taillac-Touhami. Buly 1803 is now enthralling a new generation of fans not only for its apothecary-inspired packaging, but also for resolutely modern formulations that are free from parabens, alcohol and silicon. Best of both worlds, non?

For almost two centuries, C.O. Bigelow has been furnishing Manhattanites with all manner of prescriptions, remedies and tradition-steeped toiletries from its Greenwich Village store. Also known as America’s oldest apothecary – its doors first opened in 1838 – it was here that Mr Thomas Edison once came in search of a salve to soothe a burnt finger – an injury incurred from tinkering with light bulbs, so the story goes.

Today, this distinguished dispensary welcomes the likes of Messrs Calvin Klein and Elvis Costello, who flock there for skin and bodycare products that fuse hard science with a healthy dose of natural extracts including aloe vera, grapefruit and nourishing sweet almond oil.

Despite the fact that it hails from a country arguably better known for its handmade shoes than its grooming products, Portuguese label Claus Porto has garnered quite a following for its finely crafted soaps and shaving creams.

Packed with ingredients plucked straight from the countryside around Porto, this honest-to-goodness grooming brand has seen the popularity of its products survive not one, but two world wars. Its crowning glory? The Musgo Real collection, a rerelease of a coveted 1930s line which features handcrafted soaps that are – from their Belle Époque-inspired packaging to their set-in rope detail – as much objets d’art as bathroom-cabinet essentials.

While still wet behind the ears compared to its listmates, London label Czech & Speake has grown rapidly from a single Jermyn Street emporium opened in 1978 into a globally sought-after brand today. The brainchild of interior designer Frank Sawkins, the company is known for first-in-class bathroom design in the broadest sense: not only does it offer exquisitely aromatic colognes and luxurious shaving kits, but it does a good line in bespoke bathroom fittings, too.

Bid bedraggled hands goodbye by investing in one of its luxurious leather-bound manicure sets, a stylish set of tools that testify to the brand’s expert engineering.

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