new thread
Over the past 25 years the number of men with long hair has grown immensely. I can not believe that the hair care industry still ignores us. Go into any metropolitan area and I'll bet that at least 25% of the people that you see with long hair are men (if not more). I think that we should use the internet to our advantage and start contacting the salons that are on the internet and telling them that we would like to make the full use of their professional skills.
In order for this to work, however, they must recognize men as a customer base. By this I mean that there should be pictures of professionaly done hair styles done on men. We shouldn't be expected to patronize places that are solely dedicated to women's needs. They might as well hang a sign outside salons stating "WOMEN ONLY". I also think that pictures of male styles should be placed in the windows so that it is clear when we enter that we are welcome.
How do you guys feel?
Bill
I think you will be disappointed, and it has nothing to do with acceptance of long hair on men. Just go into any mall and count the number of stores targeting women vs. the stores targeting men. There is a reason the first outnumber the latter 10 to 1. Women simply spend more money shopping. In short, I don't think the demand is there, although I'd be happy to be proven otherwise.
Victor: I think that the real issue here is money. The hair styling industry does not think that they can make money from men and they are dead wrong. If they opened their doors to men, they would take advantage of it but there are not many men that want to risk the embarassment of going into the "ladies room". If I walked by a store that had an equal number of pictures of men and women with long hair styles, I would have no second thoughts about entering. Walking into a store that is clearly for women is another matter.
We have broken down the door blocking men having long hair, now we should break down the door that precludes us from getting the professional services to make it look good.
Thanks for the response.
Bill
I see this conversation has spread to the Beutystore board. I'll be interested to see how the conversation there winds up.
I hope that it goes well. You have to admit that there are some guys out there with some pretty sad looking hair styles.
I also sincerely believe that if the professionals start to take an active interest in mens long hair styles that these styles will become accepted almost overnight. What do you think?
Well, that certainly couldn't hurt. I think something more likely to help would be for some person with celebrity to be a role model.
Victor,
Why not let 'your fingers do the walking'. I have checked
the yellow pages under 'Beauty Salons', and about 10% of them clearly
state 'for men and women' or 'for the whole family'. Then they could be called to explicitly ask if men with long hair would be comfortable. Perhaps this would be more comfortable since telephoning is more anonymous than walking in.
I haven't been to a salon or barbershop for years as my hair has grown out, but have recently been thinking that it would be nice to get the hair professionally washed, conditioned and blow-dried and/or braided once in a while; without them going into a twit when I don't want any of it cut.
I am surprised that you seem to have as much trouble finding salons to go to as it sounds. We probably have 30%-35% men in our salon. We don't have any male pictures hanging or signs outside but they seem to know they are welcome. I don't think any of my staff would say no to a long hair guy either.
I think it would be great if more would come in and let us at least make their long hair look healthy and attractive! Hang in there guy's. Maybe you need to call first or even walk in to a salon to find out how male friendly they are. I know it is hard for alot of guy's, but, ASK for once!
Thanks for the reply. You hit the nail right on the head! It is very hard for a male to walk into a salon, even though he may be welcome. That is why I'm suggesting that the industry recognize the fact that they are losing business because their potential clients feel uncomfortable entering their establishments.
A few photos using male models would improve things dramatically but I think that the real increase in your customer base will occur when you actively start to advertise. It will not be as hard as you may think to attract male customers. We have been letting our hair grow long for the past 25 years. We really could use your professional expertise.
Thanks again,
Bill