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Brooklyn Grooming Shop Helps Bearded Men Tame Their Whiskers

By Janet Upadhye | May 21, 2013 6:47am
 Brooklyn Grooming makes products like mustache wax, beard balm and shaving oil.
Brooklyn Grooming Line for Men
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BROOKLYN — Mutton chops never smelled so good.

Founded by a former bartender, Brooklyn Grooming is the borough's first male grooming line and carries scented facial-hair-taming products like beard balm, mustache wax and shaving oil.

“Brooklyn didn’t have a men’s grooming line so I wanted to fill the void,” co-owner Mckenzie Santiago said in a Tumblr storyboard video. “I wanted to create something very genuine, and I felt like Brooklyn was the perfect place for that.”

Santiago uses the principles she learned while mixing drinks to come up with fragrant concoctions made from natural ingredients.

Each scent represents a Brooklyn neighborhood. Williamsburg, for example, is made from cedar wood with hints of anise and vanilla.

“I just love the smell of wood on a guy,” she said.

The Fort Greene scent is made from lavender and bergamot, “as a nod to its musical history," and Red Hook smells of bay rum and cardamom.

Some Brooklyn women weren't sure what to think about their boyfriend using Brooklyn Grooming products.

"Would the beard balm rub off on me?" questioned Chrissy Hagen, 29.

But others thought the idea sounded attractive.

"I wouldn't want my boyfriend's beard to smell like vanilla or cinnamon," said Leah Freaman, 19. "But something that smelled manly, like wood, would be sexy."

Beard balms, sold for $26 dollars each, tame and soften out-of-control facial whiskers while mustache wax helps men to style their 'staches. Brooklyn Grooming also carries tattoo balm that soothes the sting of new ink.

“Brooklyn Grooming aims to bring the habits of the classic man to modern times,” Santiago wrote on her website.

Santiago and Brooklyn Grooming co-owner Alfredo Ortiz work out of a studio in Bushwick. Their products can be found in Greenpoint's The One Well, Manhattan's Sustainable NYC or ordered online.