• Ad Age, Friday, April 3, 2009 11 AM

New York salon owner Rodney Cutler, who doubles as Esquire's grooming editor, is now tripling as a Philips Norelco spokesman. And he has a theory about what he calls the "recession beard." Men are growing facial hair as an act of "playful rebellion," he feels. It's a sign of defiance and of not being a "corporate slave."

Off-hand, you wouldn't think that's good news for a manufacturer of razors, but think about it. Guys are not walking around looking like Walt Whitman. Those stubbles are carefully coiffed. And that takes devices for facial-hair grooming, which grew 3% in 2008, according to Philips. And multipurpose kits that address beard trimming grew 4%, compared with flat sales for electric razors. Norelco itself had a disproportionate 24% lift in sales of grooming products last year.

"Everything points to a very healthy category with new users coming in," says spokeswoman Shanon Jenest. But, as we know, most fashion trends have the lifespan of yesterday's five-o'clock shadow. The recession beard could actually mark the peak of a decade-long trend to be followed inevitably by a shift toward clean-shaven faces down the road, Cutler says and Jack Neff reports. Back to the grind.

Read the whole story at Ad Age »