Furry Friends: Hair Grooming 101 For Men

Complete grooming for the modern, stylish man goes well beyond getting a good haircut and shaving your face. Too often, men overlook the importance of also maintaining the hair on the rest of their bodies. As men age, they often start to lose hair on their head while at the same time seeing hair grow more in places where they don’t want it – the nose, ears, eyebrows, neck and back. Chest hair, too, and become unruly and need trimming. It is just as important to manage excess body hair as it is the thinning hair on your head.

To look your best, follow these grooming tips.

(1) Thinning Hair. Don’t kid yourself – cut it off. Growing thinning hair longer only accentuates it and makes the scalp look more bare. NEVER try to hide it with a combover or any other “combing trick” you may come up with! This makes hair loss even more noticeable. Keeping the hair shorter on top with the sides and back high and tight, actually makes the hair look thicker. Creating a square shape cut also makes the face shape appear more square which tends to look thinner and younger. Hair products can also help. XFusion is a hair powder made up of organic keratin fibers that can hide the scalp and help thinning hair look thicker and fuller. A very light pomade or gel works best to style thinning hair. Be careful, though, not to use too much gel or pomade as this clumps hair together and exposes the scalp more.

(2) Maintain the sideburn. Sideburns affect the overall shape of the hair cut and face shape and should be cut at approximately mid ear depending on ear size and face shape – not too long and not too short. To maintain the length when shaving, turn your head to the side, place razor straight and then down stroke. Turning your head to the side ensures keeping the razor straight so you won’t cut the sideburn at an angle.

(3) Nose and Ears. There is nothing more unattractive than sprouts coming out of your nose and ears! Get a good nose/ear trimmer and trim both areas as often as you shave.



(4) Trim your bushy brows. Your stylist should trim your brows as part of your haircut. To do it yourself, comb the brow down and while holding the comb flat against your head, clip any hair that comes through the comb.

(5) Don’t’ look like a Bear. Too much hair on the back and chest is not a good thing. Especially if you’re spending any time at the beach. Invest in a clipper with a guard like the one’s a barber may use. You should shave the hair short(cropped) but don’t shave it off (unless you are in great shape and have the pecs and abs to show off) No shiny bellies or man boobs please! Use the #3 guard on the chest and #1 on the back. Waxing is an option for your back, but it can be painful, expensive and cause irritation resulting in in-grown hairs that can become infected resembling acne. If you go the waxing route, see a licensed professional.

Most of the overall grooming listed above can be done by your stylist or barber (excepting nose, back & chest) and simply maintained by you in between visits. Your stylist should cut your brows down, clean hair from ears, trim and shape sideburns and shave the neck. The rest, is up to you.