Photo courtesy of Garry Knight
The male hairstyling movement is in full swing right now. Or at least, this iteration of it. Male grooming has always been a big thing. We just talk about it differently depending on the decade we’re in. Beards are big right now. That will almost certainly change in the next few years, but what won’t change quite so quickly is the way we talk to men about their personal appearance. Even with the growing comfort with men in salons, there’s still a certain stigma about how they approach their appearance outside the salon, and in consultation they still like to be reassured that they’ll retain a certain image of masculinity. It sounds like pandering, and that’s exactly what it is. But if you’re a stylist looking to take in male clients, the man’s hair consultation is something you need to put a little thought into.
Active Words
For whatever reason, cultural, biological, or magical, men like to hide their finicky grooming under practical justifications and short utilitarian words. Robert Cromeans, artistic director of Paul Mitchell Global, says “the more dangerously you can power your words, the more effective you’ll be in consultation.” That sounds a little like he’s suggesting you make everything you say sound like the title to an 80’s action movie, and that’s not far from the truth. His examples include saying “anti-aging” instead of “anti-balding” and using phrases like “edge-up” and “high performance”. Generally this means shifting the way you describe looks to relate to some kind of action word rather than directly talking about how the hair will look. The hair is doing something, not just being put into a certain shape.
Get Old Fashioned
You might be as young as you feel, but most men want to at least look mature. The modern man’s hair style is turning into a variation of the 30’s shape, but with a harder part. That’s the discovery Sarah Cottrell made when she designed her style for The Look competition in 2016. This throwback popularity might be part of the hipster movement’s obsession with the old fashioned world, where we believe everything was simpler and higher quality. Or maybe it’s just the natural cycle of fashion, where every look has a chance of revival after twenty years. Or maybe it just has something to do with George Clooney’s character in O, Brother Where Art Thou, because that guy looked pretty dapper. Whatever the reason, giving your client the image of a 30’s American gentleman (maybe sans the handlebar mustache) is a pretty safe way to go.
Low Maintenance Look, High Maintenance Client
Even with the growing wave of men pouring into salons and barber shops, there is still a certain squeamishness among them about coming off as too concerned with personal appearance. Because of this, the goal in men’s haircuts is usually to at least appear low maintenance regardless of whether it’s a loose laid back style or a quick and tight look. The common factor between the hard part with a smooth border and the tousled wave pulled to the back is simplicity. If you look at a lot of the men’s cuts coming out of places like Sacramento’s Bottle and Barlow, they look like they’re very easy to manage, even if some of these men are spending a half hour every morning smoothing everything out with a comb and a can of pomade. It doesn’t matter how complicated a man’s haircut is to achieve, they want to know that their hair will look is if it takes no thought at all.