When it comes to men, we tend to take pride in a few things: money, cars and the amount of hair on our head. The first two we can gain or fix throughout our lives, but the latter, that is the one we always end up losing without being at fault.
The hair on a man’s head represents youth. Once you start losing it, well for many, it is downhill from there. Once it happens, you can’t reverse hair loss. Your age and diet can play a factor, but we cannot solely place the blame on the man’s lifestyle choices as it also can be a result of hair shedding or hair fall caused by breakage. The modern day gentleman is experiencing physical and environmental stress on his hair all the time. That physical stress alone can contribute hair fall due to breakage.
Stressors don’t always refer to the environmental factors. In fact, our daily grooming routines play a big part in hair fall due to breakage as well. Dermatologists agree that physical stress on hair such as pulling, aggressive grooming or combing, can contribute to hair fall due to breakage in men. How do we fix this? Selecting right shampoo and hair care products is imperative for men to maintain strong and resilient hair that can withstand those everyday activities. By choosing the right moisturizing shampoo, men can help guarantee that their hair will be strong enough to hold up to their dynamic lifestyles. Dove Men+Care hair care includes a range of fortifying 2-in-1 shampoos and conditioners designed to meet their specific needs. I recently had the opportunity to interview pro skater and YouTube star, Andy Schrock to get his take on how he manages stress, the importance of looking well, and his relationship with Dove Men+Care.
As a YouTube star and pro-skater, how important is it to look your best and why?
I recently reached one million subscribers – that’s a lot of eyeballs watching you! I absolutely am more focused on keeping up on my physical appearance. My weight, my hair, all of it. The amount of views my videos get is for sure a motivational key towards helping me do this, but it also just feels way better and I skate way better when I’m feeling fit.
What led you to the partnership with Dove Men+Care and why not other hair care brands that tend to target skateboarders like yourself?
Dove Men+Care is a brand that I’ve trusted and admired for its stance on fatherhood and masculinity for a long time. To me, being a dad is the most important job I have and it was great that their priorities aligned with my own.
What’s cool about it all is that even though I got the chance to appear in the campaign video, I wasn’t acting. I really do worry about my hair now that I’m in my 30s, and I’d have to say that the educational takeaway was far greater than I ever anticipated from the whole experience. I don’t think any guy would know simple things like brushing my hair or aggressively towel drying are going to actually cause it to break or fall out of your head! I had the opportunity to show real guys and busy dads like myself, that there are simple, preventative solutions for taking care of your hair and keeping it strong, which was very cool.
Authenticity is the most important thing to my personal brand, and at the end of the day I’m a guy in his mid-30s and the Dove Men+Care brand and campaign speak to me on many levels. That real connection to the overall campaign is key as to why I’m here and delighted to be part of it all.
Also when it comes to brands that target skateboarders specifically… that seems gimmicky to me. Dove Men+Care targets Men in general no matter what physical activity they get into. To me, that is honest. That resonates with me.
As a father, what have you learned about being a man that you would like to pass down to your son about taking care of one’s appearance and reputation?
I want to set a good example for my son Ryden, who is always watching and absorbing the things I do – and this includes my hair care routine, which I’m teaching him every time I give him a bath. There’s so much talk about the “rite of passage” a father/son go through with the removal of hair (Ryden’s first shave), but the care of his hair is actually something that has been bonding us from the day he was born.
The best thing concerning this aspect of our relationship is that while working with Dove Men+Care and being in the campaign video is that he has seen it first hand in a way that he will never forget! He is in the video himself!
I think what I really learned from reading all of this research and being a part of this campaign is not that I need to change my life or stop living it, but just that part of living this fuller life and experiencing unavoidable physical and environmental factors on my hair means I need to take better care of it – for me and for my son.
82% of dermatologists agree their male patients live more stressful lifestyles today than ever before. Which leads to hair fall caused by breakage. As a pro-skater and father, how do you balance stress? What do you feel men can do to follow suit?
As a dad who’s juggling a skateboarding career, family, travel, work and my most important role – being a father – there’s not a lot of time to think about your hair until you’re already worried about it falling out. I would have never made the connection between what’s impacting my hair and what I can do to make it healthier before working with Dove Men+Care.
As far as living a balanced life specifically, I make sure that every day I do something that I enjoy for at least 30 minutes, even if it means losing a little bit of sleep. You have to enjoy and live life! So put effort into taking care of your hair by treating it right, that goes with your health in general, and do something that makes you happy every day and that does a ton for balancing stress.
If we all could go back in time to change things I am pretty sure we would all be in a different place by now. But that isn’t how life works. The only thing we can do moving forward is to start making better lifestyle choices to prevent future hair loss. Thing like outside stressors we can’t control, but healthy eating habits, exercise and using the right products such as the Dove Men+Care line can help you win against the hair fall battle.
Great article!