You may have noticed that beards are very much back in fashion among young men and hipsters, and that's been the case for several years now. That's excellent news for people who like the rugged look, bad news if you find beards prickly, and terrible news if you're a company who sells razors. Grooming giant Gillette's own research indicates that the average number of times a man shaves his face each month has fallen from 3.7 times to 3.2 times during the last ten years, and small margins like that make a big difference to sales figures. Theirs are down over 5% year on year.
As millennial men no longer seem inclined to shave their beards off, Gillette is trying to find different ways to reach them. Instead of promising 'the closest shave ever,' they're now selling a wide range of professional beard trimming and sculpting tools, which they hope will plug the hole in their income.