Douglas Smythe is a busy bee. When not exploring the world of men’s grooming on his blog, HowToGrowAMoustache.com, or hosting two podcasts and a YouTube channel on the subject, the ever-enthusiastic Smythe is creating aftershaves, shaving soaps and razors to help gentlemen smell fresh and look debonair—a mission to which he has devoted his life.

Here’s the catch: Douglas Smythe – with his seaman’s cap, pipe, anchor-beard and coiffed moustache – does not really exist. He is a created persona; a Colonel Sanders-type character, but for shaving—a bon vivant philosopher of shaving and scent, invented by Erik Hodges and Frances Towle, founders of the slightly eccentric men’s grooming company, Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements. “It was this playful thing,” says Hodges, 39. “I’m running a business as a character.”~ Forbes Magazine