A keen eye for a great pommade, enough energy to run Canary Wharf and a sense of humour (something I think we could do with a bit more of, in this industry…how did lipstick textures and men’s aftershave get so serious and sexed-up?), Regal Gentleman founders Josh and Liam have created a grooming community/hub/store that’s addictive, fresh and impeccably edited.
So it’s with the greatest of pleasure (wedding speech tone of voice) that we bring you…the Regal Gentleman interview to wrap up our Movember Men’s Grooming Week this Friday. If you’re not following them on Instagram yet, here’s their INSTAGRAM PAGE and they’ve got a new YouTube series which kicked off a couple of weeks ago.
Got a grooming question? Get in touch with them on Twitter @RegalGentleman with your question using the hashtag #ASKRG – they’re answering as many as they can on YouTube. The first one, How To Choose and Apply Fragrance, has some tips I didn’t know about – it’s great (e.g. no, the neck is not the best place to spritz your scent if you’re looking for staying power).
If you’re short of time, scroll to 2:39 mins in the video below, you won’t want to miss that bit…
HOW TO CHOOSE AND APPLY FRAGRANCE – YOUTUBE
MEN WE LOVE
THE BEAUTY SHORTLIST MEETS REGAL GENTLEMAN
“If we can inspire people to become better gentlemen, then even if they buy our products or not, we have achieved something special”
Q&A
Beauty Shortlist: You’ve built a really strong social media grooming community with Regal Gentleman, what do you most enjoy about that achievement?
Liam – I enjoy the relationships we’re able to build. I don’t think we realise how lucky we are in this generation that we have the ability to use social media to do this at scale! It’s still amazes me as much now as it did the first time that people take their time out to get involved with something with us and especially when someone takes a picture with our box or the products! It’s such a great feeling.
Josh – I love how we are sharing the journey with people, it’s like having one big family. It would also be amazing to create a movement that goes a lot further than just grooming. If we can inspire people to become better gentlemen, then even if they buy our products or not, we have achieved something special. We have a long way to go but we have an amazing community and we appreciate them all.
2. If a brand was interested in approaching you, are you taking on new brands and if so, are you looking for any particular products, or to expand on a “sector”?
L – Yes we are always considering new brands, and love to hear from brands! I think the one we’re looking to push at the minute is our hair range, so hair styling and hair care. These are doing really well for us right now, so want to expand on this. We’re also both massive fans of fragrances, and love to see niche fragrances!
L – It’s a lot of fun. I think we’ve luckily found early on that just being ourselves is the best way to go. We tried a few formats, but we weren’t happy with the way they came out, so we’re happy we’ve hit on that very early. We just hope everyone has as much fun as we do!Obviously it’s early days, so we’ll see what works but you can expect more #ASKRG’s (where we answer your grooming questions!), vlogs from events (such as the Gentleman’s Grooming Show in December), grooming how to’s and tips & tricks, videos from barbers and a lot more! And just me and Josh being us (without anything else in my eye hopefully!)
L – I think we’re pretty similar in our tastes etc.., have the same vision here of what will work for us. But we have different concerns. My main concern is dry skin and I have a sensitive scalp, so my product selection is obviously different there. We’ve both become really big fans of fragrances and hair products!
5. Looking ahead to 2017 – and a BIG thank you for overseeing the Men’s Grooming judging for our Awards on 2nd March by the way! – what do you see as one or two of the biggest trends to come, next year?
Liam – It’s our pleasure, can’t wait!
I think trends are really interesting right now, it’s kind of in between with some people going one way, others another. For example every few months for the past 2 years I see articles “The beard is going to die” etc.. and it is still going strong. I think people are more prone now to just doing what they want and especially with social media and so many different inspiration outlets out there I think it’s harder to pin down one specific trend. It used to be that whatever David Beckham was doing was what everyone was doing as these were the only types of people we were exposed to, but now we are all looking at different people for inspiration!
But I do think men’s grooming as a whole will continue to grow!
L – I never have really had one specific person personally. I’ve always been one to get inspiration from all over, and then form my own opinions on what I like and I think will suit me. My main source of inspiration now though is 100% Instagram!J – It’s a tough one – over the years one that would pop to mind is, James Dean. His style seems to last the test of time. Now I would say on a whole for me it’s more Instagram and Look-books as well.
