The Grooming Guys Blog

Got A Good Tip... We'll Give You A Good Shirt

At Grooming Lounge, we're always looking for ways to improve our online and in-store experiences. Since you're online right now, let's focus on this segment for a moment.

We want your feedback on how we can make our online destination even better.  Think there is more advice needed, a wider selection, a specific product brand?  Let us know your thoughts.

What's in it for you?  Possibly a first-rate Grooming Lounge T-Shirt.  It's a nice one.. American Apparel to be specific.  Just send your thoughts or suggestions to info@groominglounge.com.  From there, we'll choose five folks at random and send them a shirt, together with some generous samples.

What are you waiting for?  Tell us what you think.

Anniversary & Unrelated Event

Happy Birthday wishes to the Grooming Lounge store in Virginia, which celebrates its first year in business this week.  GL, VA has come a long way in this past 365 days -- developing a first-rate team of professionals who have in turn attracted a first-rate following of guests.  Our sincere thanks to every guest we have had the pleasure of taking care of over the past year.  Please help continue to spread the word about all we have to offer.

On the D.C. front, held a nice little event this week to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.  Dozens of generous ladies and gentlemen showed up to lend thier support -- and also to indulge in some food and drink.  The food and drink was supplied by our good friends at BLT Steak and Peroni Beer.  To view a small sampling of photos from the event, just click here (please ignore the unflattering photo of one of the Grooming Guys shoving a delicious steak on stick in his mouth).

Thanks for listening.

NPR... She's Was Quite Verklempt

One of the Grooming Guys was in his car this past weekend when he got a call from his lovely and talented mother in law (only one of the Grooming Guys has a mother in law... so it's not difficult to deduce who it was).  "I just heard your name and Grooming Lounge mentioned on NPR.  I had to pull off the road. Wahooooo!"

This is, of course, a true story and our way of bragging about a recent media mention without being too self congratulatory (throw the proud mother-in-law in there).  Anyway, our nice little company was the answer to a question on NPR's popular "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me" program.  They quoted our grooming suggestions for the potential Presidential candidates (see last blog).

To listen what got Mama2 so verklempt, just click right here.

Grooming The Next President

At our flagship Grooming Lounge store in D.C., we have the unique privilege of handling the personal grooming for many of the nation's most powerful men.  Because of the great number of politicians, lobbyists, and lawyers we are proud to call guests, Grooming Lounge has amassed some unique insight into how grooming affects the way our nation's leaders are viewed by the public and what these leaders should do to maintain or gain additional public support.

Recently, Grooming Lounge released its grooming tips for the 2008 Presidential front runners.  Here's how a national daily paper summarized our suggestions:

One knows presidential campaigning is shifting into a higher gear when Washington's grooming experts start offering the top candidates image-makeover advice.

Not that they need any.    

Who will forget in 2004, when Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts resorted to Botox shots? Meanwhile, his running mate, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, was criticized for being "way too interested" in his hair.

Nevertheless, Washington-based Grooming Lounge owners Mike Gilman and Pirooz Sarshar say voters historically choose the better-groomed candidate, particularly after the "perceived weaknesses" of their opponents "are played out in the media."
   

Without further ado, here's the pair's advice for a few of 2008's contenders:

Sen. John McCain: At age 72, the Arizona Republican needs to play up his youthful spirit by growing a goatee, skipping the tie occasionally, and wearing his top shirt button undone.

Sen. Barack Obama: The youngest candidate at age 42, the Illinois Democrat has the opposite problem from the aging Mr. McCain, and needs to exude wisdom beyond his years. Wear glasses full time, senator, and let some gray hair show through.

Rudolph W. Giuliani: The Republican former New York mayor should grow a beard and don sweaters for an enhanced "father-figure" imagery, which he lacks on all fronts.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: Instead of changing her looks, the New York Democrat needs former President Clinton to look more the "First Husband." Standing six inches above his wife, "with a full head of sometimes unruly white hair, dressed in a power suit with a bold tie, Bill often steals attention away from his wife." Cut the hair and wear neutral-colored clothes.

Although a bit tongue-in-cheek, we betcha' some of our advice gets followed.  Stay tuned.

Where Does The Money Come From?

You would be amazed, yes amazed, at the amount of grooming products we are sent on a weekly basis for consideration to be carried on our site and in our stores. Apparently, there are people all over the world with lots of money to spend developing super-expensive lines of men's lotions, scrubs, etc.  They send us elaborate packages, first-rate collateral material and almost always follow up these initial packages with a second and a third box of the same.  The amount of money they must be dropping on the development and the sales calls to us (and undoubtedly dozens of other retailers) is mind-numbing. For some, we'd like to just tell them to save their time and money as the market doesn't need too much more of the same.  But... that's not our decision.

All this said, the amount of products we are sent isn't what REALLY tickles us.  Instead, it's the "creativity" of some of the individual items we receive.  We have been sent some doozies -- products we had never even thought  necessary -- much less that someone would spend money creating.  Below are the top 6 grooming goof-ups people have asked us to carry over the past seven years. Please note brand names have been withheld to protect the innocent:

1. TheSideburn Even-er:  A pair of glasses adorned with sliding ruler on each side.  The rulers are directed to be utilized to measure and taper appropriate side burn length.
2. The Hairbrush Brush:  A brush to brush the hair out of your hair brush. What then gets the hair out of the brush that brushes your first brush?
3. Fingernail Covers: See-through finger covers to stop men from biting their nails.
4. Hat/Hair Massager: A hat equipped with batteries and a massager designed to massage the scalp en route to increased hair growth.
5. Chest Hair Shampoo: This one is not a joke!
6. Toilet Drops:  How crazy is this?  Drops you place in your toilet to offset your business?  Who would carry something like that?