George Clooney can do no "manscaping" wrong

The young ladies who come into my salon taught me a new term for their men’s constant changes in facial hair: Manscaping. I thought it perfectly embodies what we men do with our ability to grow, sculpt,  shave off, and then re-grow our facial hair, and just like “landscaping” it can be used to accentuate or disguise natural features and contours.

George Lucas

Sam Elliot

Facial hair can disguise a weak chin or otherwise undistinguished face (George Lucas), a too-long upper lip area (Sam Elliot), a thin upper lip (Tom Selleck), and change the proportions of the face.

Tom Selleck

Christian Bale

It can balance out a too-prominent nose (Christian Bale), sculpt contours that create the illusion of prominent cheekbones, camouflage the beginnings of a double chin (Zach Galafiniakis), and even bring back a youthful look by the careful and professional application of darkening agents to facial hair, which often begins to grey long before the hair on a man’s head.

Zach Galafiniakis

Here we present to you a series of side-by-side images of men, with and without their trademark facial hair, and ask you to tell us which look you prefer, and what you would change if he were YOUR man (for the ladies), or if it was YOUR face (for the gents).

Jake Gyllenhaal

Full beard, just a moustache, or clean shaven? A little bit of scruff, or not? Goatee, chinstrap, or sculpted and groomed full beard? No facial hair at all?

Adrien Grenier

For some of these celebrities, facial hair is grown for a role (Jake Gyllenhaal), or grown in between roles when they don’t have to attend to their grooming (Adrien Grenier, Steve Carell).

Steve Carell

Some of them are so attractive that anything they do is going to look good (George Clooney).

Josh Hartnett

Some of them choose to look deliberately scruffy to downplay their looks (Josh Harnett, John Mayer, and most famously, Brad Pitt) or to

John Mayer

make themselves look older or “manlier” (Burt Reynolds in his early career, when he was thought “too pretty,” and androgyny was NOT a ticket seller).

Burt Reynolds

Now, gentlemen, look in the mirror, and ask yourself, “Could any of these facial hair ideas work for me?” Then, the next time you visit your stylist, ask him or her if it is something you should consider.

Unlike when a woman invests hundreds of dollars in a new cut or haircolor and has to consider that she’s likely to incur another round of spending if she changes her mind, you, my friend, can always shave it off…

Until next week, ciao!

Salma Hayek

Ali Larter

Oh, to be a celebrity.

Who else gets to change her look on a whim, be a stylist/colorist’s muse, or better yet, get PAID to change her looks for a role? They’re the hair chameleons that sell magazines, the ones whose pictures we tear out and run to our salon, begging, “make me look like this!”Or in the case of one of our favorite celebs featured here today, “if my hair comes out like this, I will never step foot in this salon again. Ever.”

The Bounce: Since our last “Cinderella Transformations” post, a surprising number of stars have cut off a collective couple of yards of hair – Ali Larter, Salma Hayek, Emily Blunt, Julianne Hough, Emma Roberts, and Selena Gomez, with half of them opting for the long bob, or “lob.”

Emily Blunt

Julianne Hough

Selena Gomez

Emma Roberts

Others who fall into our other categories have cut their hair shorter as well, but this is the group whose primary change was hair length, although Miss Gomez went right back to waist-length extensions just a week or two ago for the MTV Europe Music  Awards.  I think they all look wonderful, and their accompanying color changes (warm caramel highlights for Salma, some lowlights for Julianne and Emma, a deeper chestnut for Emily, and a slightly lighter brunette for Selena) are universally flattering.

Mila Kunis

The Bangs: Nicole Ritchie, Jenna Dewan, Rachel Weisz, and Mila Kunis jumped on the bang bandwagon, although Mila’s MAY be clip-ons added to her up-do for the Marine Corps Ball.

Rachel Weisz

Rachel and Nicole both cut some length from the bottom as well, with Nicole returning to her

Nicole Ritchie

signature Bohemian eye-grazing fringes and Rachel opting for a wispier bang.

Jenna Dewan

Jenna cut long blunt bangs, and somehow ended up with longer hair – salon magic?

The Color: The color changes were certainly drastic!

Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue went from decades sporting a variety of blonde shades to a deep reddish brown. By abandoning the “fake bake,” dying her brows the recommended shade darker than her new color, and changing her makeup colors, she handles the transformation well, and her skin looks almost translucent. Women of a certain age don’t often go darker (it can be too harsh), but she makes this work.

Kristen Wiig

Funny lady Kristen Wiig tends to prove that point; her bronze-y strands and amber highlights were much more flattering than her new one-dimensional espresso brown. Her old color warmed her skin and made her blue eyes sparkle.

Demi Lovato

Former Disney teen star Demi Lovato debuted her fiery red strands via Twitter , and it’s hard to judge between a heavily styled and made-up “before” picture and a very candid shot sans makeup. It would appear the shade works with her natural coloring, but we should probably reserve judgment until we see her in equivalent circumstances.

Drew Barrymore

And finally, we have the most puzzling transformation of all. The perfectly lovely and down-to-earth Drew Barrymore, Cover Girl Cosmetics’ “face,” is certainly known for her eclectic style and willingness to play around with her hair’s length and color, but this is inexplicable. I’m not even going to address whether it suits her skin tone or even name the shades, and whether she matched her brows or her makeup to her new look. It’s just awful, unflattering, and as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, any other woman would take one look in the mirror, burst into tears, and swear to “never step foot in this salon again. Ever.” Her red hair was beautiful. This is the first truly awful misstep we’ve seen from her, and I just hope Cover Girl has a clause in her contract that forces her to change it, or she’s cast in a role and is paid to.

Until next week, ciao!