Sly Bald Guys in the Miami Herald

On December 14th, I was contacted by Christina Hoag, a reporter for the Miami Herald, to ask if I would do an interview regarding the growing popularity of products for bald men. I agreed to the interview and as a result was quoted in an article on December 15th.

Entrepreneur has a head for business -- if it's bald
Howard Brauner launched a product line to help restore self-esteem in bald men.
BY CHRISTINA HOAG
choag@MiamiHerald.com

It used to take Howard Brauner half an hour, a special comb and two hair sprays every morning to carefully plaster a sheet of hair from one side of his head over his bald dome.

''I did it for 12 years,'' he recalls. ``I couldn't walk in the wind, I couldn't wear a hat in the winter.''

Until one ultra humid day in South Florida in 1993, when the comb-over drowned in a sea of sweat and Brauner's patience along with it. 'I went to the barber and said, `Cut it off.' Who am I fooling? I'm a bald guy, and I'm going to be proud of it.''

Pride doesn't begin to describe Brauner's passion for his Friar Tuck tonsure. It his mission in life to restore self-esteem rather than hair to the hairless.

His year-old New Jersey-based company, Bald Guyz, markets a line of products designed especially for the hairless. There's a shampoo, a 30 SPF sunscreen, head wipes, a moisturizer, a shaving gel and a cleanser/conditioner.

South Florida is a key market, says Brauner, 49, who lived in Coral Springs for 12 years before moving back north: ``It hits the young metrosexual in South Beach, the older retirees and the baby boomer.''

Brauner, whose title is ''head bald guy,'' developed the products himself over a dozen years and talked to hundreds of shiny-pated counterparts.

''The people speaking to bald guys are Hair Club for Men, Rogaine, hair transplants. They're all saying it's not cool to be bald,'' he says. ``It's a market no one's speaking to.''

35 MILLION MEN

About 35 million U.S. men are in some stage of male pattern baldness, ranging from about 20 percent in their 20s to about 65 percent in their 60s, according to Brauner's research. Hair restoration is a $1.7 billion a year business.

But in recent years, it has become more hip to be hairless, especially among the young and receding. ''Shaving your head is a lot sexier than a bald patch,'' says Tyler Smith, the 29-year-old founder of slybaldguys.com, a website for the follicly challenged.

The cachet of the egghead has been boosted by NBA superstar like Shaquille O'Neal and actors like Bruce Willis and Vin Diesel. People magazine has even run a ''Bald and Beautiful'' page.

Bald Guyz isn't the only company lured by the heady prospect of a bald market, but no one else has quite the same products. HeadBlade sells special razors and related products mainly aimed at the head-shaver. And Smith says his website has been contacted by two other companies preparing to launch special head-shaving creams.

The need is there for specially formulated scalp cosmetics, Smith said. Wiping your head with a paper towel or using regular shampoo can make the pate peel.

'Once your head is shaved, a lot of guys are like, `How do I clean it?' Your old shampoo will dry out your scalp pretty bad,'' he says.

Bald Guyz also capitalizes on the growing niche of cosmetics for men.

Brauner's more hirsute partner, Michael Nyman of Weston, said he opted in when he saw the metrosexual trend taking hold with products such as moisturizers and cleansers for men.

''This whole men's grooming category is exploding,'' Nyman said. ``Before it was just shaving cream and deodorant. Now retailers are devoting a lot of shelf space to men's grooming.''

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16247661.htm

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