Until recently, the only real cure for baldness was a good hat. But the future of hair loss (or, better, hair restoration) looks brighter. Shampoos are being made to to enhance hair growth. Robots are being developed that use your own blood to regenerate dead follicles.
And then there’s the Barber Surgeon’s Guild (345 West Broadway, at Broome/Grand), a new spot coming to Soho that weds old-world barber tactics with plastic surgery to create a one-stop-shop for all things cosmetic, from tattoo removal to hair growth to premium in-house products.
It’s a revival of a very old kind of barbershop — one that dates back to the Middle Ages, in fact. At the time, barbers and surgeons were one in the same, tasked with everything from trimming hair to pulling teeth to amputating limbs. Obviously the two professions eventually diverged, leaving behind just one symbol of their shared origin: the red-and-white barbershop pole, which once signified blood and bandages.
So what can a guy expect from a barber surgeon in 2019? We caught up with founder Ari S. Goldberg to get the scoop on BSG ahead of their November 18th opening.
InsideHook: What kind of services can I expect at BSG that I won’t find elsewhere?
Ari Goldberg: The new Barber Surgeons Guild Soho Outpost is a state-of-the-art facility featuring the latest technology in men’s hair care. We offer robotic hair restoration, PRP (platelet-rich plasma) treatment and Scalp Camo (also known as micropigmentation), alongside our luxury Barber Shop featuring haircuts and shaves from the BSG Master Barbers, and a retail showcase for the new BSG HCO1 Edition product line.
BSG is also an industry leader in robotic hair restoration, as well as other advanced medical grooming services that we offer. We are one of the only providers of robotic hair restoration in New York City that uses the renowned ARTAS robot — and the only one in downtown New York City. We have been recognized as an ARTAS center of excellence for the quality and volume of procedures we perform.
What are the biggest technological advancements currently going on in men’s grooming?
Over the past few years, the advancements in men’s grooming have been significant. Being able to provide a guy with a full head of hair after he has experienced hair thinning and hair loss is a modern marvel — let alone an unbelievable way to give him back his confidence.
The PRP treatment is something that is new for hair care, and has been used extensively throughout the sports world to treat injuries in professional athletes. Applying similar techniques to hair has the power to strengthen hair and promote healthy growth.
How did you get into all this hair-science stuff in the first place?
The beauty and grooming industry is a vast opportunity that big and small brands recognize. With so much opportunity comes innovation, but also exploitation. We started BSG with a mission to provide the highest quality products and services backed by medical research and science. This is more than just a business to us, it’s a mission. It’s a dream to provide ourselves, our friends and our family with the products and services they deserve. Not the ones that create the most profit, but rather the ones that create the best results. We believe if we continue delivering on this vision, we will create an industry leader and — more importantly — increase the confidence of men around the world.
What’s on the horizon? What do you think will be available in five or 10 years that isn’t now?
Over the next 5-10 years, we’re going to see an increase in the speed and quality of these treatments and products. Over the next decade, we will see improved efficiency and accessibility for men around the world to improve their look and style through the power of having a healthy head of hair and, in turn, a confident appearance. Beyond that, we are going to see advances in the way that your own hair follicles can be harvested and implanted using similar techniques to what we use now.
What grooming products do men waste their money on the most?
There are a lot of snake-oil salesmen out there, selling half-truths. The basic fact is you need to be using high-quality products every day that have no parabens, no mineral oils, no phalates and no sulfates. Men should be getting PRP injections once a month to protect and promote healthy hair growth. And if you have experienced hair thinning or hair loss and want to get back to having a full head of healthy hair, you can do it through a near painless and scarless robotic hair-restoration procedure. If you ever wonder about the half-truths that are being promoted by other brands, ask yourself why they never show a picture of the back of the guy’s head the next time you see a hair transplant commercial from one of the old brands.
What are a handful of your favorite new products or brands?
The BSG HCO1 Edition product line is my favorite; it’s all I use. I’m the company’s founder so I am supposed to say that, but I can also say it as a client, because the reason we started this business was to create the highest-quality products and services that we wanted. If we were going to be using products on our own heads, we wanted to know they were the best, and we spent years researching and testing the best ingredients to create the highest-end products in the market. When I hear from my friends that they are using and loving the products it reconfirms that we are about to revolutionize the men’s grooming industry.
Nota bene: You can get a free $500 gift card to put toward the cost of any advanced medical grooming service at Barber Surgeon’s Guild right here.
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