By Rob Kotevski June 17 2009
Australian men are more likely to experiment with longer hair than their American counterparts, according to a men’s hairdressing expert.
Speaking to myhairdressersearch at Hair Expo, American Crew educator Al Urbanowski said he saw more men with longer hair in Australia than in the United States.
“I think it’s a culture of the beach and the surf,” he told myhaidressersearch. “You’re surrounded by water. Guys are OK with wearing their hair long. I think it goes with the culture, the surfing and all of that. You’re a surfer, you want to have longer hair. That’s my interpretation of it.
“In the States, you’ll probably see it in the Rocky Mountains, around the skiing culture, the snowboard culture. It’s OK to have the longer hair. Now, in the cities where it’s warm and hot, I’m not going to have that much hair in Phoenix, Arizona because I’ll roast!”
American Boy ... Al Urbanowski flew in direct from the US to present American Crew's new Revere collection.
The educator from American Crew may know a thing or two about men’s hair. As an international guest that had flown in direct from the US, Urbanowski led a presentation that showed a brand new audience at Hair Expo the new Revere collection from the men’s hair care supplier.
After graduating from barber school in the mid-80s, Urbanowski worked closely with American Crew founder and president, David Raccuglia. Born and based in Colorado, Urbanowski quickly rose to become one of American Crew’s leading educators and now travels the world, sharing his knowledge of men’s cutting with others in the hairdressing industry.
He noted some of the differences in men’s style between his graduation from barber school and today.
“If you go to a magazine store and go the section for men, there’s a lot. The fashion magazines, the health magazines, the sections on how to dress, how to match your clothes. There was none of that [in the 80s]. I think the whole concept of men’s grooming has come on strong. Guys are going for more services.”
"Education breeds confidence."
Urbanowski said men aren’t as strong followers of trends and they will be quite happy with “what makes them look handsome and what brings out the best silhouette they can support. If they’re going to go extremely short, we have to pay attention to bone structure.
“We’re not dealing with a drape of hair, like women. We want length but not big volume. We want to be able to move our hair and make it do something.”
American Crew places an emphasis on education: education for clients as well as education for hair stylists.
“American Crew can give hair stylists something they can use in the salon and on the customers haircutting-wise to make themselves better professionals then the products come with that. It’s a win-win situation.
“We’ve always felt that education is our way of communicating with people that communicate to the consumer.
“Men’s hair styles have changed and so has the product line. It’s a process of togetherness with the hair stylists.
“Education breeds confidence.”
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