As I continue my endeavor into the men's grooming world, I am constantly looking for my way into all of your every day routines in order to educate myself [and hopefully some of you] on just how to properly complete your daily looks and maybe gain a little more confidence along with it. So, when American Crew reached out and asked TRENDSTYLED to collaborate as a Brand Ambassador, I knew I had to take full advantage of partnering with a brand that is the epitome of men's grooming and without a doubt, an American staple!
In order to jump start my collaboration with American Crew, I had the pleasure of sitting down with the brands Creative Director, Paul Wilson, to ask some important questions about the brand and of course some grooming tips that I have always been curious about:
TS: What is the biggest challenge in creating men’s grooming products?
Paul Wilson: I would say that the biggest challenge is the fact that there is so much out there and things are so specific. So I guess it’s both the fun and the challenge - thinking of what the specificities or what the relevance is of a new product, like what’s the amount of hold or shine or the pliability factor? Those are all of the fun parts in thinking about what we need to create. And being the leader in men’s grooming I feel like we sort of have that responsibility to have the most relevant new products for men.
TS: Do you think that men’s trends for the coming years change what you create?
Paul Wilson: It does for sure. This is one of the first years that we haven’t had a launch of products that support a new collection specifically. So what we have done is, we are asking this new collection (The Independent) of shapes to be styled in so many different ways we just found that we had everything we already need in the brand. We used to have six great products and now we have an arsenal. So now we really just figure out how to layer and combine products to get the specific looks and that has worked well.
TS: What is the one American crew product every guy need is his daily arsenal and how is it used?
Paul Wilson: I would say Alternator. If I had to pick one that would be the one, largely because of versatility and the fact that it never sets up. You have this constant texture and hold, sort of all built in. There are so many of the classic products from the brand like the Pomade, Fiber, the Firm Hold Gel that I think are key components that guys should have in their bathroom, but if you had to have one, I would choose Alternator because of its versatility.
With Alternator, when it’s first applied you get this cool texture and you would think that it sort of sets up and that it would become some kind of a placement product, but it doesn’t do that. Later in the day or at any point it could just literally be pushed in another direction. So you could go from something groomed and off the face, and then come back and just use your fingers to do something that’s looser and lets gravity get a hold of it a little bit. When I talk about versatility with Alternator, I really mean the ability to restyle the hair.
TS: Sleek or messy, how should a guy groom this spring?
Paul Wilson: I’m going to say both. The Independent collection and all of the technique, the looks we were trying to go for are all underlying statements about the message of men’s hair which is complete versatility so all the cuts can be styled in legitimately in three different ways.
TS: How important is the guys cut before he decides on the style?
Paul Wilson: The cut is critical. The concept of the cut is critical. When you are asking hair to do different things there’s just a lot of things that need to be considered with the quality of the cut.
TS: Does changing seasons warrant changing your do, or hair regiment?
Paul Wilson: I think it generally does. Again, when we talk about this versatility of men’s hair I think it sort of speaks to that. We release this collection in the spring basically and it kind of leads up to spring fashion and that sort of is our platform. I would say maybe it’s slightly less important that there be spring haircut and a fall haircut, but again the versatility gives you the ability to ride through all that.
TS: What gives American Crew is trademark smell?
Paul Smith: I think the fragrance is distinctly masculine. The product has been around since 1994. The first time you open American Crew product it’s so specific and it just made such a statement and it’s been a part of the brand for a very long time. I think that as we are starting to ask guys not to wash their hair as much the fragrance helps that process because guys still need to smell good and you want your hair to feel clean and not smell dirty. I think that the fragrance helps that.
TS: How often should a guy wash his hair?
Paul Wilson: We are trying to get guys out of the predisposed idea that you hair has to be squeaky clean all the time. I think it sort of is a society thing that developed making everyone thinks that hair has to be super clean. Alternator is a great example of a product that makes the hair feel lived in. Hair just works better when it has that quality second day hair. Some guys are never going to get away from washing their hair everyday because they go to the gym, so alternator does a great job creating that. We are also encouraging guys to shampoo their every other day, just to let some of that natural oil live in their hair. We are finding that the majority of our guys, if you can get them into that regiment, like their hair better on that second day.
Stay tuned for much more to come including a sneak peak into the brands current and future grooming collections, product reviews, how-to tips, and, of course, some amazing grooming giveaways!
