At Gear Patrol, our inboxes flood with news of brand launches, each company promising to offer something totally fresh that’s-bever-been-done-before. And while that’s a very hard bar to clear, we find that some brands really do offer an interesting angle or unique edge that helps raise said bar.
Below are some of our favorite new grooming brands of late. You’ll have to forgive our extrapolation of the word "new," too, because some of them launched last year, while another is new merely to the U.S. market. Either way, there’s freshness flowing through all of these companies, and you’re sure to find a new product or two to help elevate your self-care regimen.
Snif
No-Frills Fragrances
Snif wants to make it easy and cost-accessible for you to find a fragrance you love — but they don’t want you to get too attached, either. The brand sends a free sample pack to your door, currently featuring their three launch scents. This box also includes full-size 30ml bottles of the trio, which you are able to keep or send back. (They’ll charge you for whichever ones you keep.) However, they’ll keep things fresh by ‘retiring’ each scent after long (though they may bring fan-favorites back for more) which means you’re always surprising your friends and colleagues with something new.
Try this: Way With Woods
Typology
Customized Skincare Never Looked So Good
Color me not so shocked that this beautifully designed skincare brand comes from Made.com co-founder Ning Li. His French-based company takes the now-common process of customizing a skincare regimen for you but does so in an elevated, Aesop-eat-your-heart-out kind of way. The formulas in each product themselves are not necessarily unique from one person to the next, but Typology’s à la carte offering is so expansive (and not so expensive, I should add), that they can hand-pick the best serums, sprays, moisturizers and more that fit your specific need. So, you can shop one-offs, or enroll in a regimen program that best matches your skin goals. Typology is a couple years young, but has newly landed in the U.S.
Try this: Diagnostic personalized routine
MANTL and GEN2
Scalp Care for Bald Guys
There’s a lot of real estate on the top of your dome, and needs just as much attention when there’s no hair — but it also needs a specific kind of care. MANTL and GEN2 have assortments targeting bald heads, which address things like sun care, anti-shine, anti-aging, and more. MANTL prioritizes daily hydration, balance, and skin firmness, while GEN2’s lineup provides you with a comforting shave and moisturizing regimen.
Try these: Invisible Daily SPF 30 (MANTL) and Exfoliating Scrub (GEN2)
Cleverman, Color & Co, and Colorsmith
Custom Color for Hair and Beards
We’re in the era of customized hair coloring, with brands promising to deliver the color you want for hiding grays, "thickening" facial hair (by filling in blonde whiskers), or even trying something radically unusual. Each of these brands will walk you through a series of questions to find the formula that’s right for you: Color & Co provides salon-caliber colors (any and all, even allowing you to meet with a colorist), while Colorsmith and Cleverman have beard and hair offerings that even ask you how much you want them to cover your grays. It’s all a step above those nostalgic days of walking into a drug store, holding the box up to your head, and asking a friend if it seems to match — not to mention, getting a block-color, unnatural-looking dye job as a result. These three solve all those problems.
Ingredients
Line-Item Labels with Impactful Results
Here’s a new skincare line from The Art of Shaving founders Myriam and Eric Malka. As its name implies, the focus here is on radical transparency of ingredients, seeing as so many of us slap things onto our skin with no real understanding of what’s in our products. With Ingredients, the label is brought to the front of the bottle, always highlighting whether the formula is wholly plant-based, natural, certified organic or naturally sourced. With everything from a cleanser to a throat spray to a deodorant spray and even an assortment of teas, Ingredients is proof of how one’s grooming regimen ought to be centered on wellness.
Try this: Oil Complex
HIKI
Salvation for the Stinky and Sweaty
HIKI is a hero for anyone haunted by things like chafing, swamp crotch, damp socks, stinky shoes, aggressive sweating, bad B.O. and more — or even for one-off instances of the above. Their moisture-absorbing and -shielding powders, refreshing face and body wipes, defensive deodorants, and blessed anti-chafe sticks are godsends, especially at the height of summer.
Try this: Anti-chafe stick
STMNT and R+Co BLEU
Hair Essentials from the Best
These two bold hair brands made headlines with their launches, and both offer assortments for hair care and styling.
From the barbershop: STMNT comes from the barbershop trio that is LA-based Julius Arriola and Sofie Pok along with London-based Miguel Gutierrez (who also founded the much-adored Nomad Barber shops in Berlin and London).
From the salon: R+Co BLEU builds on its parent company’s outstanding assortment, with a more edited offering that centers on both sustainability and luxury. If you’re armed with a blow dryer or a big mop of hair, then there is a high-quality, eco-conscious product with your name on it. Each color of its assortment focuses on a different need, from dyed hair to restoration to increased volume and density.
Try this: Shine Paste (STMNT) and Ingenious Thickening Shampoo (R+Co BLEU)
Adipeau
A Skin-Firming, Leave-On Mask
I wouldn’t usually include a single-product brand in a roundup of the best, since I prefer to see a full assortment from each company. However, Adipeau has made such a strong impression with its debut product, that I stocked up on multiple bottles. It’s technically a leave-on mask that you slather generously onto your face, and it steadily soaks in (leaving your skin plumper and fuller). However, I like to use it as a daytime moisturizer in cool weather, or as a night cream any time of year. It gives your skin a radiant glow — I think women tend to appreciate that concept more than men, but you’ll instantly understand why, when you see your skin look so healthy and nourished. With ingredients like safflower seed oil and black ginger extract, its focus is on long-term skin "fitness" through active subcutaneous renewal and toning. But those short-term glows are equally as wonderful.
