Before opening the first Gent Cuts and Grooming location with his wife, Crystal, in 2011, Michael Boyle had experienced the full gamut of hair salons. Boyle says he’s endured everything from reading women’s magazines at women’s salons to cheap chop shops where he felt he was taking a gamble on his hair to over-the-top men’s salons that were more cheesy than machismo.
The couple wanted a “happy medium” specifically for men and became committed to creating it. “I really liked the old-school barbershop feel but wanted to make it modern and relevant,” Boyle says. Out of this desire grew Gent, a place where men can receive quality haircuts and grooming in a casually masculine environment. The barbers and cosmetologists at Gent undergo continuous education and offer services beyond haircuts, such as classic straight-razor shaves, gray blending and hair removal, which, according to their website is “the well-groomed man’s solution to the unibrow.”
Last summer the Boyles opened their third Gent location, this one in Edina. And the month of love may be just the right time to treat the gentleman in your life to a new and improved look. According to Boyle, the hottest men’s hairstyles at the moment are a result of “the Mad Men effect.” The popularity of the period television drama initiated a rise in traditional men’s hairstyles like the pompadour. Beards are also really popular right now, although Boyle jokes that overgrown facial hair is a fad and there will eventually be “a certain contingent of women who have a problem with it.” Luckily, Gent has a stylish solution for most any man, be he bearded or beardless.
