A walk through London’s square mile is a testament to the male grooming boom that has been steadily growing over the last few years.  Come lunchtime on any given weekday, and the queues at most barber shops are, quite literally, out of the door.  

This may be stating the obvious, but men have always required regular haircuts (more so than women) and the habit of growing facial hair isn’t exactly a breakthrough practice, although perhaps made more cyclical with the exposure of Movember and Decembeard in recent years.

So what’s inspired this sudden resurgence in male grooming and where is this trend going?

From Mo Bro’s feature on Dragon’s Den to David Beckham’s launch of House99 at Harvey Nichols, the male grooming and wellbeing industry has gathered pace to the tune of over £608million¹ in the UK alone. 

The knock-on effect is exciting and good news for the industry as a whole, with Europe representing the largest market in this sector worldwide².  In 2015, 25% of all salon customers were men³ with male-only salons in London also gaining in popularity.

Ted’s Grooming Room now boasts 14 locations across the capital offering shaves, haircuts and brow threading.  The Refinery confirms that hairdressing and shaving are their most popular bookings, closely followed by massages, facials and hair removal⁴.

Rather than a fleeting trend, this shift in men taking confident ownership in their wellbeing looks set to continue.  On average, men in the UK spend almost three times as much on their body than on haircuts⁵.  In fact, LSBM (The London School of Beauty & Makeup) introduced two male waxing courses (facial and intimate) with the renowned Andy Rouillard in September after growing interest from current students to be qualified and officially certified in the skill, as well as increased industry sales in this sector.

From barbershops to male-only salons and spas, the next obvious step, to MINT, seemed to be an ondemand app.

The MINT On Demand Grooming service launches in London on 1 November and allows the user to book the following services direct to their home, office or hotel: haircuts, shaves, massages, facials, nails, waxing, threading and makeup.  All for men.

“Beauty services for women are promoted and sold in a way which links products and routines with looking attractive and feeling confident.  Our aim is to make treatments for men accessible, whilst highlighting the importance of self-care and reinforcing this message as a positive, acceptable attribute.  We’re already being touted as the UBER of male grooming” states MINT who were shortlisted and highly commended by GQ’s 2019 Grooming Awards in the Best Wellness Experience category.

“We are keen to build a great team of expert barbers and talented beauty/massage therapists who would love the opportunity to work on a freelance basis for our app users as well as at our private and corporate events.”

Look out for MINT! For further info contact: http://www.mintondemand.co

______________________________________________

¹As of January 2018/Beauty Magazine, August 2017
²www.strategyr.com 2015
³Salon Services for The Independent 14 January 2016
⁴Deborah Gayle, Manager at The Refinery, Mayfair for The Independent 14 January 2016
⁵£534 on their body compared with £180 on haircuts annually/www.beautyresource.org.uk 2014 statistic