Men’s grooming is booming!!
This booming adds up… one global forecast predicts sales of men’s beauty and self-care products will hit $50.96 billion by 2029.
Makes sense to us. Yes, men have become vainer in recent years, but all those leisurely lockdown experiments in the bathroom, encouraged by celebrity endorsements on social media, while being bombarded with physical and mental wellbeing tips, means here we are, in a world normalising men’s self-care.
It makes sense to us. Doesn’t everyone want nice nails, hair, skin?
Working to achieve a glowing complexion may well be the new going out, but seeking self-improvement is as old as time. A quick trawl around the internet (so you don’t have to) throws up interesting facts!
- Stone Age men used clam shells as tweezers to pull out whiskers.
- Ancient Egyptians, who enjoyed aloe vera baths and waxing, saw beards as a mark of low social status, so wealthy Egyptians would hire live-in barbers.
- Ancient Greeks, on the other hand, only cut theirs when in mourning. No beard was considered shameful and used as a means of punishment.
- The Romans, who brought the world communal baths and hair dyes, used pumice stones to rub off stubble and novacilas –blocks of iron with finger holes and a blade– to shave.
- 17th century men kicked off the barber trend, succumbing to straight/cut-throat razors, often using soap or orange and rose scented wash balls, before being rubbed with raw egg.
- 18th century men started shaving themselves, helped along in 1770 by Frenchman Jean-Jacques Perret’s instruction manual.
- At the start of the 20th century, in 1904, Gillette patented the first safety razor.
- Via Elvis quiffs, gel styling (gel was invented in the 60s), punk, grunge, all the way to the Hackney beards and man buns at the turn of the century, to the anything goes style-wise is 2023’s modern man who looks after all of himself. Hair, skin, warts and all.
Grooming and wellbeing has become the ultimate investment.
And on the back of this refreshed mindset are tonnes of products. We’ve come a long way since Brut 33 and Lynx endeared us all with classic advertisements like this one, but we Westerners are still steps behind our fresh-faced Japanese, Chinese and Korean friends who have long embraced natural ingredients, botanical, microbiome/fermented skincare.
But the Brits are getting their routines down!
Daily rituals of cleansers, serums, anti-ageing creams, conditioners, face scrubs… while looking to zero plastic packaging… and thinking of a future of deeper bathing regimes, beer foot soaks (stout and cedarwood oil infusions), butt facials and beard transplants. Maybe.
To help see out the last of winter, here is a self-care check list to help you feel healthy on the inside while attending to your external self.
WINTER MUST-DOS
*Reset
*Early nights
*Diet/health MOT
*More greenery time less screen-time
*Meditation
*Mindfulness
*Massage (this mobile service looks good)
CONSIDER??
*Journalling
*Volunteering
*Joining community groups, connecting
*Positive self-talk (or professional therapy, or call the Samaritans, don’t hold back)
*Yoga
*Fewer goals, in fact set none, no goals
*Respecting the animal world, stop and chat to the birds (it works for some)
SHOPPING LIST
*Natural ingredient products
*CBD oil (only after reading up on it and talking to your GP)
*House plants
*Aromatherapy/status candles for de-stressing warmth and comfort
*Egyptian cotton/linen sheets
Murray’s stock various bits and bobs:
Candles and body cream by Laboratory Perfume
Hair serums by local hairdresser, The Crown at Crouch End, Roots and Locks
Bath salts, candles and hand creams by Ortigia
Hygge-style socks by Scandinavian, Irish, Peruvian and Japanese brands
Loungewear / sleepwear by Insiders Clothing