Why male facials are luring even bearded men to salons

If you’re one of his 128K followers on Instagram then you’ll know that flame-haired blogger Gwilym Pugh (@gwilymcpugh) has a strong selfie game. By his own admission, this is due, in part, to his now signature beard and impressive eye-browage. ‘When I posted a before and after photo of myself with and without the beard I was surprised to read more comments about my brows than the beard,’ says Gwil, who relies on professional brow tinting to make sure his two (or is that three?) prized assets are perfectly colour co-ordinated. We grabbed five minutes with him as he had his…

Men’s beauty is a booming industry. To give you a little insight into how big that boom is: 2017 saw a 56% increase in male beauty treatment bookings. Why, then, do some men feel that the treatments open to women aren’t for them? It’s a gristly subject, shaped by centuries of gender stereotyping that we wouldn’t deign to unpack in the next four hundred words, but at the core of it are some simple truths. And – what do you know! –  here they are. By Hannah Donovan

It’s cold outside, and while an extra layer of facial hair may do little to protect us from the harsh cold of every single day in the UK, a beard does look pretty good. Our beard trim bookings increase month-on-month throughout the year, with a hefty lot of barber appointments in December, so we know you’re grooming come chilly season. If the ‘growing out’ bit is tricky (and taming unruly hairs is tough), we’ve got advice to help. Here’s your guide on how to grow a beard. By Rachel Spedding