Men: The Pride You Take In Your Hairy Face Is Worrying The Shaving Industry

(Orignaux Moose)

All that time you spend grooming, brushing, oiling, massaging and generally worshiping your hairy face is great and all, but the people who make razors and other shaving products aren’t so pleased with the increasingly popular hirsute look. From stubble to fully-flowing follicular masterpieces, facial hair isn’t just for lumberjacks and hipsters anymore.

It’s isn’t a worry for the razor blade industry in America, either — Quartz says the male shaving sector is slowing down in Europe as well, partly because having a beard is very much the thing to do these days.

That’s according to a report from Euromonitor, which shows that men’s toiletries are quickly catching up to the grooming industry, partly because if you have a beard why waste money on a razor and shaving cream? But you’re always going to try to smell nice (I hope), so deodorant is pretty key there.

The “stubble effect” is hurting companies like Energizer Holdings, which owns Schick and Edge. It reported smaller razor and blade sales in many of its earning calls.

“The weakness in some of the Personal Care categories in the US… are kind of unprecedented,” CEO Ward Klein said last month. “And I’m really talking about razors and blades in particular,” he added.

Gillette is feeling the razor burn too, as it’s pulling back on researching and developing new products and hasn’t rolled out any new ones recently. It’s newest innovation, some kind of razor “styler” thing is almost two years old.

And even that product is meant to appeal to hairy and non-hairy men alike, as it shaves as well as trims. After all, beards do need upkeep if you don’t want them to overtake your neck and join your chest/back hair. Please don’t let it do that. Please.

Shaving is still a big player, with about 40% of the male grooming market (according to Euromonitor) but it could be outstripped soon by toiletries for the first time ever this year.

The shaving industry is hurting because men think stubble is cool again [Quartz]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist