The Grooming Guys Blog

Hair Products Developed In A Barbershop... Not A Boardroom

When the Grooming Lounge launched nearly 10 years ago, there weren't many male-specific grooming brands on the market.  In reality, we were lucky to round up a few of the good ones and focus on quality rather than quantity. Since then, the men's market has been flooded with new product entries, some good and some not-so-top-shelf. A lot of brands have come and gone since then, but no matter what has transpired over the past decade, us Grooming Guys have always felt our little company had a distinct advantage.

You see, no disrespect, but 90% of the male brands out there were/are created by folks with no real background or "skin" in the men's grooming game.  The majority are dudes and ladies who saw a burgeoning market (the men's grooming market) and reasoned that their MBA diploma or venture capitalist background could make them a success.  Some made the dream work while others have realized that at the end of the day... this business is about more sizzle than steak. The products have to work and work well. Guys don't buy crap more than once.

That brings us to boasting about ourselves and what we think is the unique point of difference with Grooming Lounge Men's Grooming Solutions.  Bottom line... these products are developed by Master Barbers and Men's Skin Experts in our stores. They are tested by us Grooming Guys, two dudes who were born into the grooming industry, have a passion for it and are committed to raising the standards. Every product bearing the Grooming Lounge name is created with major input from our team of Grooming professionals and no product gets made until our crew gives it the unanimous thumps up. After all, they're the ones who have to use it on our guests everyday.

So why the hell are we telling you this? Well, we've just introduced a few new products that are great for just the reasons stated above. The new products are the first three additions to the Grooming Lounge Hair Care lineup and do the trick for guys with thick and thinning hair alike.

We could waste more of your time, but why not just check out the products. They are packed with best-in-class ingredients and are already a hit in our stores.

• The Best Shampoo
• You Need Conditioner
• Some Hair Cream

Thanks for listening to our propaganda. Although, can it be called propaganda if we're telling the truth?

The Grooming Guys Out List

The crew here at groominglounge.com likes to think we know what's in and out. Here's our take on some randoms whose time has passed.

1. Walking around with a bluetooth headset attached to your ear when you're not on the phone
2. Bragging about getting your car "detailed"
3. Making goofy gang-like hand signals while posing for group pictures (enlarge above photo)
4. Answering the phone by enthusiastically saying "yell-o"
5. Brandishing a toothpick in a non tooth-picking or photo-op scenario
6. Referencing a Seinfeld episode surrounded by the words, "did you see the the one where...?" (everyone saw every one)
7. The new celebration pro athletes do involving jumping up in the air and banging their sides or rears against one another (un-necessarily replacing the totally cool, classic and acceptable jumping chest bump)
8. Heidi & Spencer
9. Uni-sex group bathrooms (not novel anymore... just kinda' creepy)
10. Drugstore shaving cream

Stayed tuned for the Grooming Lounge "In" list next week.

Listen Up. Our First Podcast Is Here. Press Play!

Grooming Guys Podcast #1 – The 10 Immutable Laws Of Good Grooming
Press Play Below To Listen Or Download Here

Wanna' See Our New Joint In Atlanta?

The goal of this blog is make make you more handsome and more well groomed.  So, we're trying to determine how showing you a recent TV clip profiling our NEW Atlanta Grooming Lounge accomplishes that?

Oh yeah... you'll look at the Grooming Guys featured and pick up some tips.  You'll also see what our Grooming Lounge stores are all about and say to yourself... "I've got to get into one of those stores and make myself even more handsome." 

Mission accomplished.  Check out the below link from the Grooming Lounge Atlanta on CBS-TV:

Grooming Lounge Television -- Click Here!

Sore Teeth, No Cash & Homeless Guys With Our Tickets

Before we get any backlash, please note that this blog is in no way meant to demean the homeless or the plight they face.  It's a serious issue and although approached a bit off-center and not exactly pro-active this time, we recently did a bit to help a few of NYC's less fortunate look a bit better.

So the Grooming Guys are heading back to DC from NYC last week after a few days of meeting with editors to chat up our new Grooming Lounge Hair Care Solutions. Great trip and we were lucky enough to have sit downs with the who's who of the publishing world to review what our company is doing, our new products and the Grooming Lounge's view on the men's fashion industry as a whole.

Throughout the trip, one Grooming Guy was battling severe mouth pain, which later would be remedied by no fewer than three root canals (good times) and a healthy heaping of Codine. Anyway, that plays into the whole story as by the time sore-toothed Grooming Guy hits the NYC Train Station, he's a bit out of it.  After picking up the pre-purchased train tickets for the duo, sore toothed Grooming Guy stumbles somewhere and loses the train passes for both himself and other Grooming Guy. Crap.

Grooming Duo tries to get new ones printed, talks to customer service, re-traces steps, but to no avail. Turns out the only solution is to buy brand new tickets. That's no small price for a few guys trying to build a burgeoning business -- but with taking a bus out of the question and duties awaiting at home -- they dig in and buy brand new tickets. Root Canal boy complains the whole time both about oral pain and financial irresponsibility.

When it gets good is about 10 minutes before boarding when the Grooming Guys are paged (they used our real names -- not Grooming Guys) by Amtrak Customer Service. After snaking into the Customer Service office we are greeted by the Amtrak Representative and two guys who appear to be homeless and a bit out of their minds (mumbling to selves, not particularly fragrant). The following conversation ensues:

HOMELESS GUY #1: Are you Pirooz and Mike?

GROOMING GUYS: Yes.

HOMELESS GUY #1: We found your tickets and want to give them back to you.

GROOMING GUYS: Wow... thanks so much (hand extends to take tickets).

HOMELESS GUY #2: So how much you gonna give us for these?

GROOMING GUYS: You mean you're not just returning them out of the goodness of your heart to do the right thing? We would certainly give you a few bucks anyway.

HOMELESS GUY #1: Nope, they are $20 each if you want them back.

From there the Grooming Guys thrust hands into wallets only to find that between them they have $5 in cash. Both Homeless Guy 1 and 2 get angry looks and appear ready to walk away when:

GROOMING GUYS: You look like you could use a great shave.  In our bags we've got two Grooming Lounge Greatest Shave Ever Kits and two Grooming Lounge razors.  The retail on these is about $100 each and we've gotta get on the train.  Deal?

HOMELESS GUYS: If that's all you can do, OK.  How much do you think we can sell these razors for?

So we got on the train, returned the un-needed second tickets and made it safely to DC. Not sure what the moral of the story is, but thanks to those guys in NYC and hope you:

A) Got a great couple of shaves

B) Sold those razors for some dough.

Thanks for listening and for visiting www.groominglounge.com