It never ceases to amaze me how far male grooming has come in the last ten tears. Who’d have thought, for example, that concealers for men, fake tans and a neatly waxed trunklines would become commonplace? But despite all the advances in the art of ‘manscaping’ one taboo has remained. No, not ball shaving (that’s already a common phenomenon) but hair dying. Yes, the seemingly simple act of dying your hair has always been considered either naff (Paul Calf), vain (Philip Schofiled) or…. just plain sad (Macca).
But times are changing. I’ve just finished a piece for Beauty Magazine (a trade publication for the Beauty industry) about the rise of the male hair dye and it suddenly struck me how many are now available to men. Mankind itself stocks the Just For Men range (which happens to be the UK’s top selling hair colourant for men) alongside the brand’s beard dye range (enabling men top do their own ‘collar and cuffs’ thing). With products like these getting rid of the grey is a cinch.
But it’s not just older men trying to disguise the ageing process who are snapping up these products. According to a recent Trevor Sorbie survey more young men are reaching for hair dyes to cover up the first signs of grey than ever before.
The reason? Seems we’re all terrified by (if you’ll excuse the pun) not getting ahead in these increasingly competitive times. There’s no better evidence of this than the fact that a third of 20-34 year olds said they’d consider dying their grey hair specifically for a job interview so as to appear young and vibrant.
So dyes it seems, are the latest make grooming must-have. My advice is start using one as soon as you see enough grey hairs to warrant disguising them – that way your surreptitious attempts to hide the ageing process will go largely unnoticed. Oh, and always wear the plastic gloves provided. Trust me, a pair of black palms is not a good look as I know from biter experience.
Lee, Mankind Grooming Editor
PS. Is it just me or does the man on that Just For Men box above look a bit like Nick Clegg?
