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April-May 2006
Russian Men - Looking Good
Interesting report on the blossoming men's grooming market in Russia, in the
online
Cosmetics in Russia newsletter:
Winter is the most profitable period for men's cosmetics companies. Women
are in a hurry to present men with perfumery or cosmetic sets on New Year,
Christmas celebration and especially on February 23 (analogue of Father's
Day in Russia). Retailers make 40% of annual turnover in this period.
...Russian men, especially that in the regions, are very susceptible to mass
media. Cosmetic companies turn to popular sportsmen and actors to seduce
male population. Which star to choose depends on the people in focus. The
“tribe concept” is gaining popularity in Russia and cosmetic companies order
researchers to track the profiles of TV star fans.
May 30th, 2006
A Three-Blade Guy in a Five-Blade World
Groan.
Just when it seemed that newspaper columnists had stopped
knocking the five-blade razor, along comes Larry Cornies of the
London Free Press:
And now, in this high-stakes game of facial clippage, has come the coup
de grace; the piece de resistance of mug shearing. Those crafty cross-aisle
competitors to the four-blade follicle eater have introduced the five-bladed
razor. In true poker-faced fashion, they've seen the competitor's four
blades, and raised them a blade and a battery. Positive and negative charges
aside, how a triple-A battery has come to inhabit the world of shaving, I'll
never understand.
I can nick myself just fine with three blades, thanks. With five, I'd risk
having to borrow that mask from The Phantom of the Opera.
So here I'll stay: a three-blade guy in a five-blade world. Sometimes
invention comes within a whisker of pointlessness.
May 29th, 2006
A Guy-to-Guy Explanation of How to Be Better
Guys
Check out a new website Be Better
Guys (subtitled: What Your Girl Wished You Knew). It covers not only
men's grooming, but also a myriad of other topics, under the headings Your
Body, Your Life, Your Place and Your Clothes:
David and Brian came up with Be Better Guys to help younger men groom,
dress, and behave better. They looked around and saw that there weren't many
cultural role models now-a-days. A guy's education on the art of being a man
pretty much ends as soon as he leaves home.
So, they thought they'd take the lessons learned from their parents, years
of reading GQ and Esquire, working in the service industry, being in bands,
and their own experiences (good, bad, and ugly) to offer guys a guy-to-guy
explanation of how to be better guys.
They aren't fashion models, fashion industry types, or emissaries of proper
etiquette, but two guys who have to actually walk into an office wearing the
stuff they suggest, to do the right thing when confronted with awkward
situations (despite their instincts to the contrary), and try to keep their
wives entertained and enthused.
May 18th, 2006
Uh Oh
From a report by
WFTV in
Florida:
What you want to do ... is actually not shave as closely as you
ordinarily would because a lot of the new razor systems are so good ... they
cut [hair] almost below the skin surface.
May 13th, 2006
Smoother, Hands Down
More kudos for the
Gillette Fusion, from "one of the few men who has to wear make-up for
his job." (He's a TV anchor.)
Derek shaved one side of his face with the five-blade Fusion; the other
side with a single blade razor.
He said the Fusion was a very comfortable shave, but had a hard time telling
which razor gave him a smoother shave. He decided the Fusion was better, but
we wanted another opinion. His wife Kim didn't know which side was shaved
with the Fusion razor.
Yet, she picked the Fusion side as smoother hands down. When she felt his
face in an upward direction, she said she still felt stubble on the single
blade side. She said the Fusion side was much smoother.
May 12th, 2006
Cut-Throat Razor Boom
Fun article in Forbes magazine (registration - which is free - is
required) on the blossoming London trade in
cut-throat razors.
Barry Klein [is] manager of Taylor of Old Bond Street, a family-owned
London retailer of shaving products, in business (now on Jermyn Street)
since 1854.
One of Taylor's signature products is a German-made hand-honed straight
blade with a paper-thin edge. Klein offers seven types, ranging from a $107
model with a fake ivory handle to one with ebony for $207.
Taylor sells 2,000 cutthroats a year, double the number five years ago.
Sixty percent go to customers in the U.S., some of whom collect them for the
blades' intricately etched images of German architectural landmarks, such as
the railroad bridge in Mungsten.
May 5th, 2006
Body Shaving - Proudly Masculine
A blogger at the ClickZ Network website, under the heading "Philips
Bodygroom: Making Ass Shaving Manly," writes:
How do you make something as vain as men's body shaving seem proudly
masculine? By associating it with promiscuity, of course, and casting the
microsite with a caricature of machismo.
Have a look at the slick yet lowbrow interactive
video experience Philips
created to promote its Bodygroom hair removal unit for the elimination of
back hair, underarm hair, (ahem) etc.
May 4th, 2006
Happiest Men's Grooming Advice of the Week
From
ABC7
in Chicago:
You might have heard baldness is inherited from your mother's father. But
Doctor Robert Weiss says that's a myth. "You're probably in trouble though
if both your mother's side and your father's side are bald," said Dr. Weiss.
To reduce the risk -- drink up. Two glasses of wine a day are shown to slow
hair loss by preventing the liver from breaking down as much estrogen.
April 28th, 2006
Trickling down to the Average Joe
"Dude, where's my moisturizer?" asks the
Houston Chronicle, and notes: "Grooming habits that a few years ago
would have tagged a fellow as metrosexual are now trickling down to the
average Joe."
April 24th, 2006
Clean-Shaven and Godlike
It's Easter, and good Christians are thinking about - shaving??
First we have a lengthy article, "The
Best a Man Can Get - In search of the perfect shave," in the Christian
journal Books & Culture.
An excerpt:
On a good day, a good close shave is the Iliad and the Odyssey in one:
the mastery of the dangerous blade, the return to the comforts of home. To
shave well is to be a man, and to be a man is closer than Homer could ever
have imagined to being like in appearance to the immortal gods—as Psalm 8
put it, "a little lower than the angels," and as Genesis put it, made in the
image of God.
...If the gospel is true, this life, where we face ourselves in the mirror
and take responsibility for all we see there, is rehearsal for another. And
that life will begin, if I read St. Paul correctly, with a very close shave,
the best a man can get. Another will be the barber. If we have practiced
well, we will know what is coming: the blade will be applied at just the
right angle to shear off the stubble. It will be terribly sharp and terribly
close, but wielded with tremendous skill and care, it will divide who we
truly can become from what we were never meant to be. Then cold water will
splash against our skin; fragrant oil will leave us glistening and new. We
will arise and go, godlike, to the feast.
And now I find a
sermon
from Dr. Daniel Harrell of the Park Street Church in Boston, which begins:
I don’t know how many of you men have succumbed to Gillette’s latest
shaving innovation, the outlandish six-bladed Fusion razor. Where will it
all end? How many blades are enough? 8? 15? 20? To counter the Fusion
frenzy, Cory Greenberg, new technology editor on the Today Show, ironically
did this retro segment on what’s called wet-shaving. Wet-shaving uses an old
school single blade safety razor, a badger hair brush and high-end English
cream and lots of hot water. I’ll admit I’ve been into the badger brush and
English cream bit for years. (I do play squash, after all.)
April 17th, 2006
I Hope I Live to See the Nine-Blade Razor
You'd expect a journalist from Britain's The Guardian to sneer at a
five-blade razor, and Simon Hoggart initially doesn't disappoint. But
then the surprise. He loved it.
I have bought the new Gillette Fusion razor, which has no fewer than five
blades in the front, and another one at the back. Yes, I have pity on you,
struggling by with a mere four blades or even - oh, wretches - three!
Actually I had expected to be filled with scorn at this new device and to
report back that it is not worth the money ($12.95 plus tax, and only one
spare blade.) In fact, it was wonderful. The thing glides over your skin
like an ice dancer at the Olympics, and after two minutes my chin would have
made a baby's bottom look rough and stubbly. And the blade at the back is
perfect for getting at difficult spots, such as right under your nose. I
hope I live to see the nine-blade razor.
April 15th, 2006
Shaving Mirror for Sale - $9,050
How much would you pay for
a shaving mirror? A buyer in Sydney has just paid A$12,540 (US$9,050)
for a shaving mirror belonging to the late AC/DC singer Bon Scott.
The black leather-encased mirror with "Bon" embossed in gold on the outside
was given to the rock legend by his mother, and had been expected to sell
for less than A$800 (US$580).
April 14th, 2006
News - Newspaper Loves Fusion
Is this a first? A mainstream newspaper - the El Paso Times - has
given a highly favorable review to the
Gillette Fusion razor, and it has done so without any sarcastic
references at all to the razor's five blades.
April 14th, 2006
Welcome...
Welcome to readers of Darren Rowse's
ProBlogger website, which this morning features an article I wrote about
my blogging, specifically citing this site.
The article is part of Darren's "ProBlogger Case Study Series," although in
fact I wrote it and submitted it to him a while ago, before he asked for
submissions for this series. So some of the traffic figures I mention have
changed. And I note (sadly) that I'm no longer in the Top 20 rankings for a
Google search of "Gillette Fusion," though I was when I wrote the article.
April 11th, 2006
It's an Emerging Trend When...
The New York Times has a feature on
men's pedicures, in its Business section, of all places -
Yes, that's right, I said a pedicure, as in a manicure and massage of the
feet.
At the risk of completely decimating my carefully cultivated macho image, I
must confess I felt like a virgin bride. I have had my share of hand
manicures over the years, and thanks to repeated sports injuries, more than
my share of full body massages. But I'd had zero pedicures. My wife and
almost every woman I knew swore by them, which only piqued my curiosity even
as it made me feel like that much bigger of a big sissy.
And so on. But it's actually quite an informative article.
April 11th, 2006
Four - Better Than Three or Five
With the obligatory sneers about a five-blade razor - "five blades get a
bit weighty for a razor with looks that Ford Motors would envy" - North
Carolina's Sun Journal tested a range of razors, to determine
how many blades gives the best shave.
Though hardly scientific, it was actually a pretty good report, possibly the
best of its kind I've seen, comparing the single-blade Bic Sensitive
Disposable, the old two-blade Gillette Sensor, the three-blade Gillette Mach
3, the four-blade Schick Quattro and the five-blade Gillette Fusion.
And the winner?
If our reporter was on an extremely limited budget, he would have no
problem heading back to the classic Bic. At about a quarter apiece, these
razors provide an extremely smooth, lasting shave. The drawback: with his
sensitive skin it’s almost impossible not to get a chin nick or two.
So, for overall value, comfort and cost, the Schick Quattro is now the razor
of choice. Although it might be the difference between brands, apparently
four blades are better than three. And, it just might be possible to get
more than two weeks out of one blade. Our reporter will ask his spouse and
let you know.
April 10th, 2006
Cleaning Up Men - You Can Thank Us Later
I'm sure that no newspaper would publish - too sexist! - an article that
began:
We fellows love a good project. Unfortunately for the ladies in our
lives, "fixing" or "cleaning up" women is one of our favorite pastimes.
Although our eyes shine bright with all the potential beauty our belles can
possess, there are smooth, subtle ways to push her toward metrosexual
beautification.
But when the high heel shoe is on the other foot (so to speak), it's deemed
okay. Thus, the
Detroit News writes:
We women love a good project. Unfortunately for the guys in our lives,
"fixing" or "cleaning up" men is one of our favorite pastimes.
Although our eyes shine bright with all the potential handsomeness our beaus
can possess, there are smooth, subtle ways to push him toward metrosexual
beautification.
The article presents five grooming items that women can "slip into the
shower, medicine cabinet or even his gym bag" -
- shaving cream
- delipatories
- all-in-one cleansers
- moisturizer
- shampoos "and stuff"
"Just remember to thank us later," says the writer.
Yeah. Thanks.
April 7th, 2006
An Illusionary Benefit
Well, the immense publicity machine behind the new Gillette Fusion razor has
had one notable effect - a surge in newspaper articles on how to get the
perfect shave. (And most don't involve the Gillette Fusion.) Here's one,
from Inside
Bay Area:
Take Corey Greenberg, for example, the self-proclaimed "card-carrying
shave geek," and creator, he believes, of the world's only blog about
shaving, Shaveblog.com. In early
February, when the Fusion was first available in stores, he bought it.
"I was curious about how five blades would shave," Greenberg said. "It's an
illusionary benefit, it doesn't get any closer."
Greenberg, Tech Editor for NBC's Today Show, started the blog last year
after he did a segment on television about the advantages of using vintage,
old school shaving gear like the double-edged razor and premium shaving
cream. The blog, which he says gets 30,000 hits a day, is meant to be a
lifeline for men.
"Most guys don't know that there is better," Greenberg says. "They feel
trapped."
The secret, Greenberg says, is not the number of blades but instead it's the
quality of the blade and the quality of the shaving cream.
And the Fort Wayne
Journal Gazette:
What followed was one of the best, most sensuous experiences I have ever
had that did not involve my wife. Guler started by getting me into a lather.
Then came the hot towel, which was hot, all right, and wet, but did not
scald my face. Instead, it sizzled. Steam rose into my nostrils. Guler left
the towel there for a few minutes, then removed it and applied more lather.
Then he got out his single-bladed barber’s razor and slowly, gently went to
work.
“Would you like a close shave?” he asked. “It’s kind of hard to do it from
far away, don’t you think?” I retorted.
When he was finished shaving me, he applied another hot towel to my naked
face. I was in heaven. For a finale, he applied lilac-scented aftershave and
coconut butter to my cheeks.
April 1st, 2006
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