Updated:
Readtime: 11 min
Every product is carefully selected by our editors and experts. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more. For more information on how we test products, click here.
Men’s grooming has grown into one of the most competitive corners of digital publishing, with skincare, shaving, beards and fragrance each supporting serious specialist titles alongside the heritage men’s magazines. The best grooming blogs, sites and magazines combine expert-led product testing with the kind of everyday routine advice you actually act on. Below is our pick of the publishers worth reading, whether you want a five-minute skincare routine, a clean shave, a better beard or the latest cologne launches.
How we ranked these: our editors assessed each publisher on editorial authority, publishing consistency, depth of product expertise, and genuine usefulness to readers. Every title on the main list is actively publishing. Titles that have wound down or pivoted are noted further down the page. Man of Many appears as a bonus entry at the end, with the disclosure that we publish this list.
1. Men’s Health
Men’s Health is the most-read men’s lifestyle title in the world and its grooming desk sets the pace for the category. The site covers skincare routines, shaving, beard care, hair and fragrance with proper product testing and a long bench of credentialled writers and dermatologists on call. Annual grooming awards give readers a shortlist of the products worth buying, and the magazine’s scale means it gets first access to most major launches.
Founded: 1986
Based: New York (US edition), with 35 editions in 59 countries
Covers: skincare, shaving, hair, fragrance, fitness, nutrition, style
Standout for: annual Men’s Health Grooming Awards, dermatologist-led skincare features
Owned by: Hearst Magazines
2. Esquire Grooming
Esquire has been writing about how men live well since 1933, and its grooming section brings that same cultural authority to skincare, fragrance and barbering. The writing is sharper than most of the category, with reported features on the people behind the products and cologne reviews that assume you care about the story, not just the scent profile. The annual Esquire Grooming Awards are a reliable signal when you want a product recommendation from editors who actually use the stuff.
Founded: 1933 (magazine); grooming section maintained digitally
Based: New York
Covers: skincare, fragrance, shaving, hair, barbershop culture
Standout for: reported features, long-read fragrance and barber profiles
Owned by: Hearst Magazines
3. FashionBeans
FashionBeans started as a UK men’s style and grooming blog in 2007 and has since grown into one of the largest men’s lifestyle sites on the web, with around 20 million monthly visitors. Its grooming coverage is unusually service-led, leaning on expert contributors and a no-nonsense approach to product recommendations. If you want clear answers on skincare for your skin type, the best electric shaver this year, or how to fix a receding hairline, FashionBeans is the first stop.
Founded: 2007
Founder: Ben Herbert
Based: originally UK, now operating from the US
Covers: grooming, skincare, shaving, hair, men’s style
Standout for: exhaustive buying guides and best-of shortlists
Owned by: Multiply Media (private)
4. Urban Beardsman by Beardbrand
Beardbrand grew from a $30 Tumblr in 2012 into one of the most recognisable independent grooming brands in the world, and its Urban Beardsman blog is still the best single resource for anyone growing or maintaining serious facial hair. Founder Eric Bandholz and his team have published more than a thousand articles on beard care, shaving, style and the lifestyle around it, and the accompanying YouTube channel passed two million subscribers in 2025. It is the clearest example on this list of a grooming company that earned its authority through content.
Founded: 2012
Founders: Eric Bandholz, Lindsey Reinders, Jeremy McGee
Based: Austin, Texas
Covers: beard care, shaving, men’s grooming, style
Standout for: the most comprehensive beard-specific editorial on the web
Owned by: Beardbrand (independent)
5. Man For Himself
Robin James launched Man For Himself in 2012 and has since built it into one of the most authoritative independent grooming voices in the UK. The site and YouTube channel cover hair, skincare and fragrance with practical, demonstrable advice that has earned more than 450,000 YouTube subscribers and 250,000 monthly site visits. In 2023 James launched his own haircare line, Anforh, which has only strengthened the editorial’s credibility on product reviews rather than diluted it.
Founded: 2012
Founder: Robin James
Based: Edinburgh
Covers: men’s hair, skincare, fragrance, grooming reviews
Standout for: hair tutorials and product reviews with video proof
Owned by: Robin James Media (independent)
6. Sharpologist
If your grooming interest is classic wet shaving, Sharpologist is the most thorough resource on the web. Mark Herro, better known as Mantic59, has been covering safety razors, straight razors, shaving soaps, brushes and technique since 2009, built on the back of his long-running YouTube demonstration videos. The site still has a forum feel, in the best way, with specialist reviews and deep-dive guides that assume you’re happy to nerd out on blade metallurgy and bowl-lathered creams.
Founded: 2009
Founder: Mark Herro (Mantic59)
Based: United States
Covers: traditional wet shaving, safety razors, straight razors, soaps, brushes
Standout for: the deepest shaving-technique archive on the web
Owned by: Sharpologist (independent)
7. The Modest Man
Brock McGoff built The Modest Man into one of the most-read men’s style and grooming publications on the web, with a particular focus on men 5’8″ and under. The grooming coverage sits alongside clothing and footwear advice and holds up on its own, with honest tests of shavers, hair products and skincare routines written for readers who want things to actually work before they are cool. McGoff sold the business in 2023; the site has continued to publish regularly under its new owner.
Founded: 2013
Founder: Brock McGoff
Based: United States
Covers: men’s style, grooming, hair, skincare, fitness
Standout for: practical product reviews written for shorter men
Owned by: acquired from Brock McGoff in 2023
8. The Trend Spotter
The Trend Spotter is the strongest Australian-founded title covering men’s grooming in depth. Husband-and-wife team Dasha and Colin Gold have run the site since 2011 and it now pulls more than two million monthly readers across fashion, hair, beauty and grooming. The men’s grooming section leans into beard trends, haircut guides and the skincare routines Australian men actually use, with a clean visual layout that makes the best-of lists easy to navigate.
Founded: 2011
Founders: Dasha and Colin Gold
Based: Sydney
Covers: fashion, men’s grooming, hair, beauty, tattoos, lifestyle
Standout for: accessible Australian-audience grooming and hair guides
Owned by: The Trend Spotter (independent)
9. MANFACE
MANFACE was the UK’s most prominent men’s skincare blog through the 2010s, breaking product news for The Guardian and the Sunday Times before founder Thom Watson stepped back from full-time blogging. Watson, a level-three beauty therapist with nearly two decades in luxury beauty retail, has since returned to MANFACE as a passion project. The archive alone is one of the most detailed independent skincare resources you will find, with recent posts through the end of 2024 and into 2025 showing the site is back to active publishing.
Founded: 2011
Founder: Thom Watson
Based: United Kingdom
Covers: men’s skincare, shaving, fragrance
Standout for: credentialled, honest skincare reviews with long archive depth
Owned by: Thom Watson (independent)
10. Gentleman’s Gazette
Gentleman’s Gazette sits at the classic, heritage end of men’s grooming. Founder Sven Raphael Schneider, now the title’s editor-in-chief, has built more than 600 articles and videos on classic style, shaving, fragrance and the broader territory of cultured living. If your grooming interest runs to wet shaving with a straight razor, mastering cologne layering, or understanding how a traditional barber works, this is the site to bookmark.
Founded: 2010
Founder: Sven Raphael Schneider
Based: United States (also published in German)
Covers: classic men’s style, shaving, fragrance, grooming etiquette
Standout for: heritage style and traditional wet-shaving depth
Owned by: Gentleman’s Gazette LLC (independent)
11. Balding & Beards
Balding & Beards is a niche pick that earns its spot by doing two under-served things well. Founder Domen Hrovatin and his team write practical, experience-led guides on male pattern baldness, hair-loss treatments and beard styles, and they update their product guides regularly. The site has built a sizeable community across Instagram and Facebook, and the 2025 privacy policy refresh confirms the editorial operation is still actively maintained.
Founded: 2014
Founder: Domen Hrovatin
Based: United States
Covers: beard grooming, shaving, hair care, male pattern baldness
Standout for: hair-loss and beard styling for the same audience
Owned by: Balding & Beards (independent)
12. Noah (formerly Men’s Biz)
Noah is the Australian specialist grooming and niche fragrance retailer that operated as Men’s Biz for close to two decades before rebranding. Its editorial hub, The Herald, publishes regularly on skincare, shaving and fragrance, with a clear local sensibility and a useful lean towards the traditional end of wet shaving. Bricks-and-mortar stores and barbershops in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra sit behind the content, which keeps the advice grounded in what people actually ask for in store.
Founded: 2006 (as Men’s Biz); rebranded to Noah
Based: Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra
Covers: men’s skincare, shaving, fragrance, barbering
Standout for: Australian-focused grooming editorial tied to physical stores
Owned by: Noah (independent)
Other Worthy Mentions
Two more titles that sit just outside the main ranking above, worth a follow for specific interests.
- Men’s Journal – Founded in 1992 by Jann Wenner. Now owned by The Arena Group, which acquired the digital assets in December 2022. Relaunched its print quarterly in July 2025. Grooming coverage sits alongside adventure, health and gear.
- GQ Grooming – Conde Nast’s fashion-led men’s title runs a well-resourced grooming desk that covers everything from best-of skincare rankings to barber profiles. Less specialist than the titles ranked above, but essential if your interest leans towards luxury and trend-led products.
Closed or Dormant
Pampered Prince. Andy Millward’s original Pampered Prince blog has been retired. Millward, a qualified facialist based in Birmingham, now publishes his skincare advice directly under his professional practice at andymillward-facialist.co.uk, with new posts continuing into 2025. We have left the entry here for context given how influential the original blog was on independent UK men’s skincare writing.
Groom+Style. The original Groom+Style grooming review site has pivoted away from men’s grooming coverage and now publishes broader luxury, style and beauty reviews. The legacy grooming archive is still readable, but the title no longer sits within the active men’s grooming category, so we have moved it out of the main ranking.
Birchbox Man. Birchbox’s dedicated men’s grooming subscription and editorial hub wound down alongside the wider Birchbox restructure. The main Birchbox brand was acquired by Retention Brands in 2023 and relaunched as a unisex box with customer-customised skincare, hair, body and makeup, without a standalone Birchbox Man product or content stream.
Bonus: Man of Many
Full disclosure: we publish this list, so we’ve put ourselves at the end rather than ranking ourselves against the publishers above. Man of Many is Australia’s largest independent men’s lifestyle publisher, with a dedicated grooming desk covering skincare, fragrance, shaving, hair and barbering for a monthly audience of several million readers. If you’re reading this, you already know the drill.
Founded: 2012
Founders: Frank Arthur, Scott Purcell
Based: Sydney
Covers: grooming, fragrance, hair, skincare, style, culture, tech, watches, cars
Standout for: Australian men’s grooming coverage with full product testing
Owned by: Man of Many Pty Ltd (independent)
You’ll also like:
50+ Best Short Hairstyles & Haircuts For Men
21 Best Men’s Street Style Blogs
30+ Best Barbers in Sydney: A Complete Guide
Grooming Blogs FAQs
A men's grooming blog or site is a publication dedicated to skincare, shaving, beard care, hair and fragrance for men, usually combining product reviews, routine guides and reported features. The best ones are written by credentialled reviewers who actually test the products they recommend.
The leading men's grooming sites by editorial authority are Men's Health, Esquire Grooming and FashionBeans, followed by specialist titles like Urban Beardsman by Beardbrand, Man For Himself, Sharpologist, The Modest Man, The Trend Spotter, MANFACE, Gentleman's Gazette, Balding and Beards, and Noah.
The main Australian-founded men's grooming titles are The Trend Spotter in Sydney and Noah, the rebranded men's grooming retailer formerly known as Men's Biz, which publishes The Herald from Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. Man of Many also runs a dedicated Australian men's grooming section.
Birchbox Man was wound down alongside the wider Birchbox restructure; the main Birchbox brand was acquired by Retention Brands in 2023 and relaunched as a unisex customer-customised box. Pampered Prince has been retired, with founder Andy Millward now publishing skincare advice under his professional practice at andymillward-facialist.co.uk.
Comments
We love hearing from you. or to leave a comment.