The rise of beard trend has certainly taken over and become one of the biggest male trend in the last few years. Originating from Victorian era and kept alive by hipsters, beards have become one of the grooming industries most profitable sector. The male grooming market more than $6 billion in annual sales thanks to products such as beard balms, oils shampoos, conditioners and the no shave November movement. To hear more about the beard trend we spoke to Rico Alexander, the self-proclaimed cutthroat samurai of Southampton.

 

How did you get started?

I was a chef a year and a half ago and I injured my hand and I couldn’t work, so at that point I decided to do something else. I was sick and tired of cooking and cutting food as I was doing it for 7 years as a head chef in Oxford street and at that point I could either go Michelin star or stay there and do that for the rest of my life.  

I had never cut hair before, never even picked up a pair of clippers as I always went into the barbers to get my stuff done. I walked past here and saw they were hiring so I swept floors for a good 3 weeks when my hand was in a cast and for 6 months I was doing that as well as my head chef job. When my hand fully healed, I stopped being a chef and began to cut hair.

 

What do you enjoy about your job?

The social aspect and that I’m self-employed, I’m my own boss and I get to do what I want. My dad was a tattoo artist for 20 years and it a similar business, if you’ve got the personality you will be able to sell haircuts as well. So, people buy into the person that cuts their hair, not the haircut itself.

 

What is the most outrageous request you’ve had as a barber?

Funnily enough before a festival a guy came to me and said he wanted the word Ket as in the drug, shaved into the back of his head. That was probably the most craziest thing I’ve had anyone ask me for.

 

When did you start to notice the rise of beards, as a trend?

Yes, beards have been really big thing and that’s why when I first started cutting hair I taught myself how to use a cutthroat first. I started on beards that was the first thing I was really into, because to start something you’ve got to find where the trend in going and follow that in order to make money. Nowadays everyone wants a beard, everyone want to grow a beard, beards are a really big thing. 3 years ago, beards were more of hipster thing to have a big outgrown beard whereas now, if you can grow facial hair people want it left, if you can get a half decent, consistent beard, more people want a beard over those that don’t. There’s definitely been a spike in trend for beards becoming a new thing, who knows there might be change. It all comes down to TV shows and celebrities, guys obviously follow trends just like girls do. For example, Skin Fades became big after that movie Fury with Brad Pitt.  All these 1940’s based films are where all these haircut trends started growing. There are a lot of barber shops that base themselves around the classic cuts so the classic beard cuts, the classic gents cut and those are based around the 40’s and 50s trends. There has really been a huge spike in beards and if you’re a barber who can use a cutthroat and can do a really good beard shape you will make money as a barber right now.

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Rico in his natural hairdressing habitat

 

Speaking of trends, was this the same for eyebrows?

For guys, it’s not necessarily shapes but what has changed is that guys definitely want them done. You get your eyebrows done, I get my eyebrows done I get them threaded now. Back 4/5 years ago I never touched my eyebrows, I didn’t give a shit. Me being of middle eastern descent the hair was wild, but most guys didn’t ever care about their eyebrows then again you had guys on reality TV shows looking real clean and getting their eyebrows done. Threading men’s eyebrows is massive in the middle east, you’ve got to remember that most of these trends in the Western world come from elsewhere. There Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan where guys always take care of themselves, they have their eyebrows done, their beards shaped and their hair tidy. So, these trends are already going on somewhere else in the world, it just takes a little time coming here.

 

What would you recommended for those who want to grow a beard?

There is no product that we know of yet that realistically that will make it grow faster, hair growth is down to genetics it’s as simple as that. If your genetic makeup allows you to grow facial hair, you will grow facial hair. If it doesn’t, you won’t just like that. It’s the same aspect as training in the gym, if your genetic makeup allows something to happen without steroids it will always be that way. When it comes to beards it’s down to simple genetics as well.

 

Now there are ways you can help the hair grow thicker and stronger for example, oil conditions the beard, it makes the hair softer. If you’ve got a missus and have a bristly beard you don’t want her to be spiked every time she goes in for a kiss so the oils will soften it up a bit. Balms help you shape your beard, any balm based product is there to help you manipulate the hair and hold it. Moustache wax does the same thing it’s there for manipulation and holds the hair in a certain direction. Then you’ve got stuff like Argan oil, Jamaican Black Castor oil which are caffeine based and are proven to help stimulate hair growth.

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The only other thing that can help hair growth is to shave, don’t be afraid to shave if you want a consistent beard the hair needs to be cut down to skin. Actually, shaved off with a blade many, many times before because every time you shave the hair comes back a little thicker, a little stronger too.  

 

For someone with a patchy beard like mine, I lost hair to Alopecia and it hasn’t fully grown back in some areas or is a little sparse, so what I realistically need to do is shave my beard off for the next 6 months every other day with a blade and it will then grow. However, me like most people, once you get a beard you all of a sudden forget what life is like without one so we become scared to shave it. I’m actually growing my moustache out so I can shave my beard off for 6 months in order to grow it out again. That’s the only thing I can say, don’t buy into the hype of miracle growth beard oils or growth this in 14 days because it all a bunch of lies.