Facial hair has become a fad with myriad styling trends and grooming products being available. With more and more men ditching the razor, Salon India speaks exclusively with Asgar Saboo, Celebrity Hair stylist, and men’s grooming brands, such as Truefitt & Hill, Beardo, Ustraa and Kiehl’s India, to learn about the on-going trends in beard, grooming, maintenance and more.
Gone are the days when beards and moustaches were only an old man’s accessory. Men are now breaking the stereotyped clean-shaven look and flaunting their machismo with beards and moustaches of different shapes and sizes. The beard trend is here to stay and getting better with time. 
The prostrate cancer awareness is ruling the roost, with the ‘No Shave November’ concept in it’s support, we see more and more men opting for bearded looks and ready to experiment.
Hairstylists are coming up with different beard styles and hairstyles to compliment the overall look, while men’s grooming brands, such as, beard oils, waxes and conditioners are flooding the market.
To keep up with the trending beard styles, Celebrity Hairstylist, Asgar Saboo shares tips and trends for beards, styling, maintenance, and more. Men’s grooming brands like, Trufitt and Hill, Beardo, Ustraa and Kiehl’s share their brand strategies, products, trends and more.
Timing is key
At a time when your facial hair growth is uneven, Saboo recommends the best option to use is the electric shaver. With it, you can trim the longer patches of the beard so that it leaves an even length across the face. This will improve the overall appearance in the first few weeks.
Styles
The year 2015 saw an increasing interest in beards. With a moustache or without, stubble, goatee, flowing, French beard and more, it’s indeed, been popular. Celebrities from Bollywood, such as Ranveer Singh, has taken it a notch further. Hollywood stars including Ryan Gosling, Simon Cowell, Chris Pine and George Clooney are continuing with the trend. In order to compliment your personality, Saboo suggests that you consider the shape of your face first and consult your stylist before styling it as not everyone can pull off the rugged ‘Tom Hardy’ look. The best beards take patience, preparation and care, so why not follow this simple guide
by Saboo to help you get the perfect beard.
Beard and moustache combination
Full beard: A fully grown beard and moustache, trimmed to desired length is a full beard style.
Goatee: It refers to the beard style grown on the chin similar to that of a goat. It is not connected to the moustache.
Balbo: This style can be broken into three steps, first, one needs to grow a moustache; second, hair is grown on the chin which narrows down and moves upward to connect below the chin; third, the hair on the chin is grown sideways moving midway following the jaw line.
Chin strip: It refers to growing a beard in a vertical strip fashion starting below the lips up to the chin.
Soul patch: Facial hair grown in a small patch right below the lips.
Mutton chops: When the sideburns are long, almost halfway through the chin.
Friendly mutton chops: This is a combination of mutton-chops and moustache.
Maintenance
For those of you who have never grown a beard, it is vital to remember to keep it clean. Saboo recommends using a fine toothed comb to keep your beard smooth and free from tangles. Don’t forget to use a shampoo and conditioner on your beard. One of the most beneficial products that you should invest in is a clear shaving oil, as it will allow you to see what you are shaving and will ensure clean lines around your beard. This will also sooth your skin in the early stages of growth, which will help eliminate the itchiness.
Trimming
To neaten your look further, it is important to trim your neckline, upper cheeks and moustache lip. Men usually trim their beard too much, which leads to mistakes being made and then shaving the whole beard off. Wait at least a month before you begin trimming, as you are simply trying to shape the beard, not remove it.
Beards for different face shapes
Square: Men with square faces should opt for styles that make their faces appear less box-like and slender. The best style is a light, but full beard.
Round: In order to add shape to the face, it is important to ensure the length of the hair on your chin is longer than the sides. Try to avoid bushy sideburns and keep the sides of the beard short.
Triangular: Men with triangular-shaped faces tend to have pointed chins. Having a longer, fuller beard will make the face appear more masculine by adding weight along the jaw line and chin.
Truefitt & Hill
- Product : Pre-shave oil.
- USP: Pre-shave oil contains 10 essential oils for glide, moisturising, healing and conditioning.
- Trend: Beard grooming has never been so easy. There was a time when growing a proper beard required only one thing – not shaving. With time, men have started taking beard maintenance seriously and make an effort to look well-groomed.
- Marketing strategy: Our products speak for themselves and the clients get a hands-on experience of the products while they experience our services. Additionally we provide information on our products via PR and social media.
- Challenges: The biggest challenge ahead of us is to build a team that will execute and implement our expansion plan. In our business a passionate,trained and self-driven team is key to the growth and success of the company.
- Educating the consumer: Our barbers are well trained and educate the clients on how they can maintain a well-groomed look. They offer detailed information about the beard grooming and also educate them on the respective products we offer to maintain the same.
- Market presence: Our products are exclusively available at only Truefitt & Hill outlets. Future plan: The brand will have more than 12 open operating stores across five cities by March 2016. We plan to set up more than 15 new corporate stores across 10 new cities pan India in FY2016-17. Our aim is to be personally present at every touch point for our clients.
- Grooming market in India: Indian men’s grooming market will grow at a CAGR of 22 per cent by 2020. This growth is mainly due to the rising need to look well-groomed, increasing per capita income and rapid urbanisation.
Kiehl’s : Sowmya Nagarajan, Marketing Manager, Kiehl’s India
- Products : Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate and Kiehl’s Facial Fuel.
- USP: Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate softens the beard daily, so that it doesn’t prick. A few drops in the morning daily is enough to coat the beard. Combing the oil into the beard is also effective. When the beard is long, the facial skin tends to be dry, hence using Kiehl’s Facial Fuel keeps the skin underneath healthy.
- Trend: A good beard is a great way to style your vibe. Want to be considered casual and easy-going? Grow a bushy beard. Want the world to know you’re on trend? Try a stubble shaved into shape. Stuck in the 90s? Goatee, the possibilities are endless.
- Educating the consumer: Since the 1960’s, our founding family member, Aaron Morse, has been inviting male patrons to try out Kiehl’s products from our flagship store in New York. One of our formulas, the Blue Herbal Astringent Lotion gained notoriety as an after-shave and has been rumoured to have been a skin care-favourite with Andy Warhol. Today, we have a lot of men walking into our stores asking for skin care solutions and beard grooming solutions. We give each of our male patrons a complimentary skin care consultation so that we can check the health of their skin. We then recommend the Kiehl’s formulas that are most appropriate for their skin. Our Kiehl’s Customer Representatives demonstrate the product on the customer’s hand and if the customer would like, then on their face. This helps the customer see for themselves how the formulas layer on their skin and their beards. We also educate the customer on application techniques and usage guidelines.
- Market presence: In India, Kiehl’s has eight free-standing boutiques in Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore, Pune and Chandigarh. Our products are also available online on Nykaa.com/Kiehls.
Ustraa
- Products: Mooch/Beard tonic, Beard Wash and Mooch Wax.
- USP: These products have been formulated especially for
Indian conditions and are free of harmful chemicals like sulfates or Parabens. The ingredients are top-notch and formulated by experts. We are benchmarking against the best in the world. - Trend: India has always been a beard and mooch loving nation. We have the highest per capita of men with moustaches in the world. To add, globally well known stars and sports men are sporting a beard or a stubble. Among the younger men in big cities, the hipster look is in vogue and adding to the number of bearded men.
- Marketing strategy: Apart from the usual advertising on social media. we are depending on our superior product quality to do the talking. A lot of our repeats are coming from existing customers and their friends.
- Challenges: The challenging bit was to reach as many people as possible. Media is expensive.
- Educating the consumer: We are working with grooming experts to help our customers. Apart from that we have plans to hold sessions and conduct workshops. We have videos explaining the use and benefits of products on our website and social media.
- Market presence: They are available online on our website www.happilyunmarried.com and at all Happily Unmarried outlets.
- Future plan: We plan to extend the distribution network, but as of now it is only available online and in our own stores.
- Grooming market in India: Since no formal study has been done to ascertain the market size the numbers, it will be mere speculation on our part. However, our feeling is that this market is far bigger than the market estimates.
Beardo
- Products : Beard Oil and Beard Wash, available in five blends of The Black Velvette, The Classic, The Old Fashioned, The Blood and Sand and The Irish Royale; The Dark Shadow.
- USP: Beardo was the result of a need to introduce products that are especially meant for the beard. It’s not advisable to use regular products for beard hair. Our main USP is the mix of blends and the purity of the oil and other formulations we use for all our oils and washes. Other concern people often have is that beard gives off a bad odour, Beardo helps in that respect through the options of various fragrance oils and washes.
- Trend: Keeping a beard is not just a trend, but a tradition. In most parts of the world you will see communities with different beard styles, such as, biker groups tend to keep a more dense beard. The beard has always been in fashion, it was just that the
realisation came in a little later.
- Marketing strategy: We have gone with basic and guerilla ways of marketing our products. Our focus is on placement and exposure. We run a lot of contests on our social media page that helps us garner attention. We are also using various media vehicles to review and introduce them to give everyone a better idea of our product line. We are also in process of making video tutorials on grooming and maintainence of beards and what kind of products to use along with some information of our products and how Beardo will be helpful in the process.
- Challenges: To create an actual product, which really makes a difference and importantly, ones that people like and accept.
- Educating the consumer: Most of the men who sport a beard know about beard grooming, it’s just that they are unaware of the availability of the grooming products and how to maintain the style for a longer period. We are working on this through social
media and blogs.
- Market presence: We are available online at Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and other major platforms.
- Future plan: Our aim is to be available across all major salon chains pan India. Our distributors and agencies are working on making the products available on as many shelves as possible.
- Grooming market in India: As per our research, there is a huge potential. Though this industry targets over 25 millions users and is worth over Rs.2,000 cr, it is continuing to increase.
Trending Styles
Thick moustache, thick beard
Silvery chin hair suit a face with a narrow forehead and broad jawline (pear-shaped), with coarse hair, similar to that of George Clooney and Simon Cowell. Time and patience is needed, as well as using a trimmer with adjustable settings every other day.
Thick moustache thin beard
This works for men with straight, fine hair, on an oblong shaped or rectangular face like Ryan Gosling. A rounded chin is even better. To achieve this just let it grow, but purchase a pair of moustache scissors to keep the strays from getting too wild.
Touch of scruff
This looks like it doesn’t take too much effort, but, indeed it does. It works on oval, symmetrical faces with coarse, straight hair, similar to that of Chris Pine. Absolutely
necessary is to go over your beard with a trimmer every day to keep it looking fresh.
Ranveer Singh Raises the Bar
Ranveer Singh is not afraid to experiment, especially when it comes to his character or its style. The man surely knows how to nail a WOW moment with his unbeatable swag! Post Ram-Leela, he has again set a new standard style, by sporting the rugged moustache and beard for the film Bajirao Mastani. Reminding us of Captain Hook from the story Peter Pan, his curled up ‘mooch’ look totally reflected his fear-free attitude towards styling. Najeeb UR Rehman, PPS Director India at Schwarzkopf Professional says, “To me, it’s an extension of the trend called ‘Handlebar’, which has a longer length from the edge of moustache, so it’s even longer when it’s turned up at the ends. It demands a strong gel to maintain it, like OSiS Gelastic becomes stiff after drying.”
The handlebar moustache and how to get the look Ranveer Singh’s handlebar moustache can work very well for men in their early 30s.Here’s a step-by-step:
- Don’t trim your moustache. You’ll need at least six weeks growth at the bare minimum before your ‘stache will be long enough to be styled into the proper handlebar shape.
- Bringing in the right shape begins with brushing your mooch during the initial stages of hair growth. Get a quality brush and start giving it the style. Comb it once a day and create a part by combing the hair out from under the nose to the left and to the right respectively.
- Starting in the middle of your lip, with your fingertip, apply a small dab of moustache wax to the upper edge and use comb to spread it down through the hair.
- Depending on the length of your beard, the rate of growth and style, you can tweak the amount to suit.
- To add that distinctive handlebar curl, apply wax to the ends and twist the hair together with your fingers. It also helps in moisturising and your beard look fresh.
