Draper's Grooming

By Adam Bennett

I loved Stephen’s Don Draper piece so much that I wanted to back it up with a grooming feature. The classic 50’s/60’s styling isn’t going anywhere and when it comes to grooming, the lines between beard or no beard are merging! On one hand we HAVE beards – a massive trend as we saw in all their frozen glory at Westwood’s menswear show in Milan and on the other, we have the clean shaven, square jawed looks at Salvatore Ferragamo (or both at Oliver Spencer’s show!)

You can put your own twist on the facial hair trend (just steer clear of the thin tram lined beards) but it’s imperative you get the hair right for fear of looking like Joey Essex! Not that I have anything against him, I just think that informed choices of hair fashion as opposed to, clone like following of perceived “cool-factor” will help you massively.

The GOOD

The BAD

Classic men’s hairdressing is what’s required! No fading or clippered barbering is going to give you the classic Draper look. Make sure your hairdresser keeps it square up top instead of rounded, you don’t want to look like a microphone when it grows out. Keeping it square is also a good way to keep that jaw line looking more emphasised. You may need a few shape-ups allowing the top to grow before you achieve the full on Draper effect! Probably best to try and find a hairdressers as opposed to a barbers for this one although in the 50’s these gents would have gone to a barbers more modern barbering seems to have moved on from these more classic looks. Then again, I’m not a barber so feel free to correct me if you think I’m wrong! There are also mixed opinions when it comes to whether this look suits guys with thinning hair, allow your stylist to make this choice. I always judge it on a case-by-case basis but most of the time keeping the hair that bit shorter around the sides can give the appearance of slightly more on top but be careful when styling. You don’t want a comb over (perhaps adapting the style more and keeping it flatter on the top would help stop giving it that appearance!)

You may need to blow dry your hair at the beginning stage but if it’s long enough it should just take some gel and a comb. A good quality gel like Bumble & Bumble (www.uk.spacenk.com) or James Forwards, The Gatsby (www.maisondanu.co.uk) should be used as to avoid the sticky crunch of the early backstreet boys.

1. Shampoo and condition your hair.
2. Towel dry your hair to get rid of most of the water
3. Whack a 50p piece amount of gel in your hair and comb it through away from the front hairline and you’re done.

**If you want a less product – heavy look then follow steps 1-3 and then blow dry the gel into the hair and use a small amount shaping paste or finishing cream over the top to shape it – I use Bumble & Bumble Brilliantinen(www.uk.spacenk.com)