Surfer Bros Talk Beauty

The West Coast has always taken surfing extremely seriously. It’s not that you can’t be the next Kelly Slater if you grow up in a small East Coast surf town; it just feels more realistic if you learn how to surf in Huntington Beach. That’s probably why Mike and Alex Faherty, the 31-year old twins who opened their eponymous shop, Faherty Brand, in NYC in March, are so nonchalant about the whole thing. “We grew up a block from the ocean so naturally we all started surfing,” says Mike. “We played a lot of other sports, so it was really just a hobby.”

This is a dream job for Mike. “I wrote my college essay about starting this company and majored in fashion design in college at Washington University in St. Louis,” he says. Alex, who studied politics at Yale and (happily) gave up a career in finance to launch Faherty with his brother, had no problem readjusting to the surfer lifestyle. “I would shave my head for football in college, and when I worked for an investment firm there was a line; every time it got to a certain point my boss would be like, ‘OK, you have to get a haircut now,’” he says. Now, the brothers have softly layered sun-kissed hair verging on long bobs, courtesy of their Brooklyn-based Japanese barber, Tochi, who’s been cutting their hair since they were 14.

Both Mike and Alex have noticed a surge in grooming savvy amongst their friends. “You go to a wedding and everyone has a stocked dopp kit with a full line up,” Mike says. “Every guy I know has face moisturizer, their razor, shave cream, pre-shave oil, after-shave, especially being in NYC, it’s more common.” In truth, each goes as long as he can without washing his hair.

“Not that we’re dirtbags, it’s just that we’re always in the water so we’re always kind of clean,” Mike says. “I’d rather be salty. [My hair] always looks better when it’s salty and greasy than it does when it’s dry. It’s just easy, unkempt, but not too unkempt.” The one thing they are serious about is sunscreen, specifically Native Maui, an organic SPF 50 stick that’s easy to take on the road and even easier to apply.

The brothers don’t rely only on ocean water—they like Juniper Ridge soap and use Cetaphil moisturizer on their face. Alex has a thing for Kiehl’s and Harry’s Shave Co., “My dad used Art of Shaving and we’d always get a kit from him, but my mom got me Harry’s for Christmas and I like the razor.”

Mike, who worked at Ralph Lauren’s RRL before starting Faherty, spent most of his time researching vintage trends, which is how he discovered his go-to cologne, Ogallala Bay Rum. Alex’s preferred scent? “Old-school Speedstick, the old musky one in the super basic green and white packaging. It’s what our dad always used.”

Perhaps the most important part of their beauty routine, however, is meditation, something the boys fail to mention but Mike’s sister-in-law, Alex’s wife, chimes in to tell me. They host monthly mediation parties in their store, which helps explain their incredibly relaxed attitude toward launching a new brand in New York City in the midst of a recession. “Part of what drew us to meditation is that it’s similar to being out in the ocean. You’re chilling and relaxing,” Mike says. “It shaves years off of our lives.”