The Grooming Guys Blog

Nobody Can Send A More Confusing Brand Message Than Us

As you may have read in past blogs or on our site, Grooming Lounge is in the process of re-packaging its existing shaving solutions.  At the same time, we're also in the final stages of releasing a line of hair care items, of course, all developed in our stores with the help of our skilled Master Barbers and Men's Skin Experts.

In an ideal world, we were schedule to launch/re-launch all nine products in the the coming weeks.  We wanted to introduce all the packaging at the same time so the Grooming Lounge brand would be very streamlined and no one would be confused at to what's our stuff and what's not. Then a funny thing happened -- we sold out of all our "classic" Shave Oil and Face Wash -- there was none of the previous packaging left.  It also just happened to be the case that these were the only two "new" products that were completed and ready to ship from the lab.

So, what to do we queried?  Should we release the new stuff and have two different types of packaging for the time being? Meaning, the Face Wash and Shave Oil would be in the new packaging, but the other two pieces of the Shave Line, the Shave Cream and Aftershave, would still be in classic containers?

In the end, we decided to go nutty and just give the people what they want -- our Shave Oil and Face Wash.  The new packaging is pretty sharp and for those who are confused a bit... you're gonna' have to get over it. All the "juice" inside the new bottle is still the same great stuff.

Check out the new stuff here or here and stay tuned for the other new products/packaging in the coming weeks.

Somebody Got A Great Holiday Present

So the Grooming Lounge is in the final stages of opening its first outpost outside the D.C. Metropolitan area.  We're literally days away from opening our shop in Buckhead, Atlanta (gift certificates can be purchased in the building lobby until we open), when we got the following hard-to-swallow, but none-the-less still kinda' funny news.  Please note the following is a verbatim conversation with one of our contractors:

GROOMING GUYS: "Well it looks like we're almost done with everything.  Besides putting in some computers and getting our inspections, appears all that's left to do is hang up all the wallpaper."

CONTRACTOR: "Well, there's a slight problem there."

GROOMING GUYS: " "What's the problem?"

CONTRACTOR: "You don't wanna' know"

GROOMING GUYS: " "Of course we do... we want to know everything."

CONTRACTOR: "OK. Well the did install all the wallpaper all last night."

GROOMING GUYS: "Hmmmm. Don't see it."

CONTRACTOR: "That's because they installed it somewhere else by accident.  Yep, they hung your imported wall paper at some house they were wall papering. Just grabbed the wrong stuff I guess."

GROOMING GUYS: "We sure hope the people at the house like it. It's expensive enough."

Anyhoo, Merry X-mas to the family with the great new wall coverings. Hope you enjoy them. In the meantime, Grooming Lounge ATL will open next week with some extra paint and our targeted wall paper will be in next weekend.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

A Few Grooming Tips For The Kringle-Meister

He may have an uncanny awareness of the naughtiness/niceness of millions of children, an entire staff of sub three-foot-tall toy makers and the ability to soar around the world in a single night -- but that sure doesn't mean Santa's got his grooming act together.  To that end, the Grooming Guys came up with some targeted product suggestions to make Kris Kringle a bit more handsome and his big day a bit more enjoyable:

BALLA POWDER: Wearing a heavy suit, sitting in a bumpy sleigh and sliding down a bunch of narrow chimneys is a sure-fire recipe for some major sweat and chafing in Santa's "South Pole" area.  Balla Powder to the rescue.

BLUEBEARD ORIGINAL BEARD WASH: Say Santa only eats 1 of 10 cookies that are set out for him.  That still leaves a lot of cookies and a ton o' crumbs in that big, white beard.  The jolly, fat man can keep his facial hair clean with a little Bluebeard's.

HYLEXIN EYE TREATMENT: Can you even imagine the bags sitting under St. Nick's peepers after riding around ALL night? Hylexin will help eliminate those dark circles in a jiff so when Santa returns home, Mrs. Claus is certain to wanna' be marked as "naughty."

THE MAN GROOMER: If Santa's got that much hair on his face, let's just assume he's got a mess going around the bend on his back. We're gonna' do the elves a solid here and get them out of back hair shaving duty by suggesting Santa pick up his own hair removal implement.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Hold Your Horses... It's Happening

They say that "nothing great comes easy" and some of the happenings around the GL at this time illustrate that clearly.  While we're pushing to launch/introduce a few great extensions to the Grooming Lounge brand, we've run up to a few hurdles (that's a nice way of putting it).  These hurdles will in no way affect the quality of our existing stores, web service, etc., but they are a bit frustrating internally none-the-less. We'll overcome them and if you're not bored by us venting, please continue reading:

Our Atlanta Store seems to always be about a week away from opening.  When it does officially open its doors sometime very soon, the people manning the fort are going to be fantastic.  Trouble is, these folks have no finished store to work in yet.  Missed building shipments, tough (but fair) building inspectors, an entire team of dry wall guys fleeing the country... you name it... we've had it. Regardless, we're in the final stretch and the men of Georgia are certain to have our grooming services available well before Christmas.

In terms of our new Grooming Lounge Men's Grooming Solutions, they are also "in process." Slated for release at the beginning of this month, our four proprietary shave products and five home-made hair items are still being batched up and bottled and some other stuff we don't really understand.  Once that is done, all that's left is to figure out where they are being shipped and stored?  Who knew trying to make men more handsome was this involved?

Finally, and we might be boring you by now, you've never experienced anything like the GL corporate office.  To say we put all of our money into our site, stores and products would be an understatement. Going lean on the furnishings at the ole' headquarters has become something of an art for us.  These days (meaning the holidays), you are lucky to be able to navigate yourself around the boxes of incoming and out-going shipments.  It's literally like a maze... an unattractive, extremely fire hazardous maze.

Whew. That felt good.  Now we can go back to doing what we do best. No... not complain.  Just provide great service, products and advice.  See you soon and thanks for visiting www.groominglounge.com.