I bet you didn’t know that this Friday, August 19, is National Men’s Grooming Day! I didn’t even know there was such a thing, but if we can have Talk Like a Pirate Day and National Donut Day, then heck, grooming is more important than either of those for us guys, right? Thing of it is, a lot of guys pay almost zero attention to their appearance — as far as I can tell — and leave the house with a scruffy unshaven beard and hair that even Einstein might be concerned about.
Which is daft because there are so many great products on the market for us men that make it a breeze to get just the right look so you look your very best, whether it’s the morning after a killer party or a post-work cocktail with that attractive young intern in marketing.
Chief among the companies offering grooming products at the intersection of quality and price is American Crew®, and sure enough, the company sent me some products to try out, products that proved perfect for my morning grooming habits. The timing was optimal because like a lot of professionals, I spend a fair amount of time on the road and was just heading down to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a conference when they arrived on my doorstep.
Here’s what I took with me: American Crew® Daily Shampoo, Daily Conditioner and three of the great line of American Crew® Elvis Presley haircare pucks. Here’s they are, ready to use in the hotel bathroom:
The three “pucks” are Forming Cream, Grooming Cream and Defining Paste and the company describes them as follows. Forming Cream makes hair look thicker, offering all-day hold and a natural shine. Grooming Cream adds high hold, high shine and a straight, sleeker look. Defining Paste adds texture and definition to hair.
Before you become too puzzled about how I could use them all, rest assured, I didn’t use all three simultaneously! I tried a different puck each morning to see how they’d differ. Here’s the result of my 60 seconds of grooming one morning in the hotel with the Forming Cream. Heck, might have been 30 seconds, actually:
Haven’t used this sort of hair cream? it’s easy: put a dab on your palm, rub your hands together to have it spread evenly on both palms, then just run your hands through your hair enthusiastically. Done. Now just brush or comb your hair and it’s 20x more neat and attractive than your bed head!
Every traveler also knows that you really have no idea what kind of shampoo and conditioner are in those tiny containers left in the hotel bathroom, but ya gotta figure that they’re designed for women, not men, simply because women purchase a lot more haircare products than we guys do. Here are the mysterious products we had at my four-star hotel in Santa Fe:
Nice little bottles, but good for my hair? The right way to put my best foot forward and honor National Men’s Grooming Day? Not so much.
Instead I simply put my own bottles in the shower and was ready to go every morning, a quick wash and condition for my hair to easily achieve the look I sought:
Someday high quality men’s hair care and grooming products might be the standard found in hotel rooms, products from brands like American Crew®, but until that happens, it’s a good idea to travel with your own gear in your kit bag. Because you never know when you really need to look your best.
This is what I want to see some day when I check into a hotel, perhaps because the concierge was smart enough to check guest gender and preferences at check-in and correctly figure that I’d appreciate a more masculine product than the lavender shampoo and mystery conditioner:
Oh, and the Daily Shampoo and Daily Conditioner? They worked great!
Now, it’s National Men’s Grooming Day. How’s your hair looking? How’s your beard?
I thought so.
Check out AmericanCrew.com to learn more.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by American Crew® who supplied me with the haircare products and a small fee in return for this coverage. And gave me the tools to look good.