Being a stylish guy is about more than the clothes on your back.
You can be wearing the slickest suit, but with a sloppy haircut or a ragged beard, you’re still going to look a mess.
Weekly Trim True is one of the city’s finest salons, and they’re in the process of opening up their second Edmonton location over on East Whyte. Who else other than them would we ask for some expert advice on men’s grooming?
We sat down with Weekly’s owner, Craig Boa, to talk beards, brows, skincare, and of course, hair. We asked him 15 questions, and he had 15 insightful (and easy-to-follow) answers.
From misconceptions and grooming sins to hot tips for getting the most out of your haircut, Craig walks us through the essentials of looking fresh every day.
15 Grooming Tips from Craig Boa at Weekly Trim True
1. How often should a guy get a haircut?
If you invest in a good cut, you should only need to go every four weeks, depending on the length of your hair. People with rubbish haircuts will feel the need to go more frequently because there's no structure to it, so it doesn’t take long before everything goes to shit. Haircuts are a game of millimetres and they all have to add up.
If you’re finding yourself going every two weeks, you’re probably suffering from a bad cut. If it’s taken to the proper height and tapered nicely, you should be able to get at least 4 weeks out of it.
2. How can a guy keep his hair looking fresh in between cuts?
People think they need a full haircut because they’ll get the neck fuzzies, but there’s a lot you can do by just cleaning up the hairline between cuts.
We offer complimentary neckline cleanups at Weekly, because often that’s enough to keep you going. If you wait 4-6 weeks a neckline cleanup may not do it.
3. What’s your biggest hair pet peeve?
We see it all the time where a guy will do their own neckline cleanup, or their partner will do it for them, but it’s such a detailed part of the haircut and so it deserves some special attention. There’s a fine art to cleaning up the nape and the lower hairline. You don’t want it too heavy or blunt back there. A good haircut should never have hard lines.
When out at events with a large sample size of people, such as Oiler games for instance. You’ll see tons of these blocked off hairlines. Whether its people doing it themselves, or they just have weak barbers you can always count on seeing them.
It’s almost like they have a hat on. There’s nothing natural about it. I’d rather have a fuzzy neck line than a poorly groomed hairline. Keep the fuzz until you can get in to see your hairdresser.
4. Where do you see the worst haircuts? Oilers games or Eskimos games?
Esks.
5. How often should a guy wash his hair?
It kind of depends on what you’re using in your hair. Someone that uses a stiffer product shouldn’t go more than two showers without washing their hair.
A lot of people have the issue where they’ll use a product for a while, but over time it won’t work like it used to. Usually it’s because it slowly starts to build up in the hair and you can't manipulate like you used to because it’s so bogged down.
A good shampoo will take care of getting rid of build up, but a good shampoo is essential. Not a drugstore shampoo, because they have waxes and fillers, so when it’s supposed to be cleaning your hair it’s also creating build up. Get a professional shampoo from a salon.
6. What can be done about thinning hair?
First, be careful with the cut. You can really expose certain areas if it’s not done properly. When you don’t have a lot of hair, little mistakes can make a big difference.
And don’t leave it too long. There's a common misconception that if it’s thinning you should grow it out, but the longer hair gets, the more it starts to fray and separate. Short hair stays together and appears denser.
Then in terms of styling product, you wouldn’t want to use anything that really clumps your hair together or that adds shine. You want something with a drier feel to it that will create texture. And you don’t want to use lots of product.
Blow drying also adds volume and density, so you can add that into your routine.
7. What’s something small but significant guys can do to their hair to look better?
It sounds weird, but pay attention to your hair. Set it how it wants to be set using a comb while it’s still damp. If someone has a cowlick, you’re never going to win the battle of trying to overpower it by using a ton of product. You have to just let the hair do what it wants.
8. Which Oiler has the best hair?
Nuge. Hands down.
9. What are some common mistakes guys make when doing their hair in the morning?
If you give your hair a rough towel toss after showering and then let it dry, you’ll never be able to get it back to a controllable state.
Right out of the shower, blot your hair dry with the towel and immediately comb it into the position you want. That way if you don’t get to it for another half hour because you’re eating or getting dressed, at least your hair is drying in its natural state. Then you can go back in with product after.
Try not to let your hair get too dry before adding product, because you’ll lose control of it. If you can catch it at the damp phase, it’ll lock the look in without needing to use too much product.
10. If you’re rushing out of the house, what’s the ONE hair thing a guy must do?
If there’s one single thing you need to do before leaving the house, it’s combing your hair. Even if you don’t use product, combing your hair into a position that you like is one of the most important things you can do to keep the hair looking presentable.
11. If you could only have one hair product, what would it be?
I really like a salt spray. The nice thing about sprays is that it goes on evenly. Any time you put product in your hands, the first point of contact gets the most of it.
Give it some time to set after spraying it. An hour later even. If you mess with it right away, your hands will pull some of the product off. If it looks too crunchy after it’s dried, run your hands through it.
12. What do guys tend to overlook when it comes to personal grooming?
Eyebrows are definitely one thing that gets overlooked. A lot of people might not even know that their eyebrows are getting long. We don’t wax, thread, or shape brows at Weekly, but we’ll take the long eyebrow hairs and shorten them down.
13. What’s a good skincare routine?
My wife got me hooked on a local brand, Pura Botanicals.
Just like you don't want to let your hair get too dry, I feel the same way about my skin. Too wet and it’s like you’re painting a wet wall. Nothing adheres to it. Too dry and you’ll lose control of it and use too much product.
Start with a spray-on toner, which dampens your face a bit and helps the other products spread. Let that set in for a minute or two, then I’d follow up with the Pura Botanicals under eye cream and face cream. I also like their Noblemen oil for drier days.
14. What’s the key to a good beard shape?
There’s a fine line between keeping your beard clean and looking too sculpted. There's an element of softness that has to be worked into it so it looks natural. I always say “no hard lines.” Trim any straggling hair to keep it looking full.
15. How can a guy maintain a good looking beard at home?
If you’re trying to keep a beard going but also keep it clean, it’s tough to do a really good job yourself. A good set of clippers helps you create clean line, not a hard line.
Too many people buy $30 clippers from London Drugs. Get a professional set, which you can order from most salons or barber shops. If you want to keep a bit of length and maintain that softness, get the big trimmers with adjustable blades that you can attach guards to. Those are around $200-$220.
Also, if you’ve got a big beard, take care of it. Quit being so attached to the length and cut into it every now and then. It’s all about shape!
Bonus question: Tell us about the new location you’re opening for Weekly Trim True!
We’re opening up a salon and fully functioning cafe at 9621 82 Ave NW in Edmonton.
Hair is definitely our strong suit but we wanted to shake things up a little and try to create something that could tie into the neighbourhood as well as heighten the overall experience for our clients. So with that, we are incorporating a fully functioning coffee shop called ‘Take Care’.
We were very fortunate to work with such talented local designers (Dub Architects, Oliver Apt, Shaun Brandt and Studio Tipi) on this project and can’t wait for everyone to see it.
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Thanks so much to Craig Boa and the crew at Weekly for letting us spend some time in their space. We can’t wait to check out the new location when it’s open!
