Too many guys have been instructed that midlife is a disaster, and that every little thing is downhill from there. That was not my very own expertise or the 1000’s of males I’ve seen in my scientific apply at MenAlive since we launched in 1972. I’ve written seventeen books to enhance the psychological, emotional, and relational well being of males and their households since my first guide, Inside Out: Changing into My Personal Man was printed in 1983, the 12 months I turned 40.
In his guide Studying to Love Midlife, my colleague Chip Conley, co-founder and CEO of the Fashionable Elder Academy, says,
“In my view (and that of a rising variety of sociologists), on this planet with increasingly centenarians, midlife could final from 35 to 75. Simply as adolescence is a transitional stage between childhood and maturity, possibly a part of the midlife function is to be a transitional stage between maturity and elderhood.”
Conley reveals us that midlife needn’t be a disaster, however a chrysalis to probably the most passionate, highly effective, productive, and purposeful time of a person’s life. But, we are able to’t do it alone.
In a current article, “Gameday is a Recreation Changer within the Rising Males’s Well being Subject,” I launched you to Dr. Evan Miller, who I had the pleasure of interviewing a few extremely efficient program that had the potential to assist tens of millions of midlife males. I requested Dr. Miller how he got here to be concerned with males’s well being points.
“Much like you, my background is on the scientific aspect,” he instructed me, “I’m a PhD in scientific psychology so I come at this complete medical well being care world from a really psychological angle. After grad college I bought proper into the dependancy remedy trade and began a remedy heart.”
He went on to inform me how he got here to appreciate that it was higher to assist tackle males’s wants earlier than they have been having critical well being issues. After having his testosterone ranges checked and discovering they have been very low, he was in a position to head off potential issues and later based Gameday Males’s Well being.
“I needed to forged a wider web,” Dr. Miller stated, “and needed to get the typical mainstream man feeling higher.” Gameday Males’s Well being has turn into a hit with facilities all through the nation.
Hammer & Nails: From Shark Tank to Mainstreet, Males Are Trying and Feeling Nice
Once I met Aaron Meyers, the President and Chief Working Officer of Hammer & Nails, I discovered one other kindred spirit who cared concerning the well being and wellbeing of males. The imaginative and prescient started with Michael Elliot and his unsuccessful request for funds on the favored T.V. collection Shark Tank in September 2014.
Life for younger Michael Elliot was laborious. The previous ward of the state was solely twenty and had been homeless in Philadelphia for nearly two years. He had no formal training, no household and no help. As an alternative of letting the circumstances that led to his troublesome life drag him down, the younger man used his appreciable dedication and intelligence to make his life a hit.
Elliot had quite a few enterprise concepts that failed, however he by no means gave up. An uncomfortable expertise throughout a manicure and an concept stemming from it led him to open a nail salon with a distinction, it was focused in direction of males reasonably than girls. Solely months after conceiving the idea, he opened his first Hammer & Nails salon in Los Angeles in November 2013. After six months working the enterprise he utilized to look on Shark Tank, primarily to curiosity one of many sharks in serving to him to franchise the enterprise nationally, and was accepted.
Although he couldn’t persuade any of the Sharks to spend money on his concept of a salon for males, Aaron Meyers understood the imaginative and prescient, believed within the concept, and had the experience in franchising to make the enterprise a hit. I not too long ago had the nice fortune to interview Aaron Meyers and study extra particulars about this revolutionary and distinctive program for males.
“We’ve constructed a person cave, and it has every little thing you’d count on and extra,” Aaron instructed me. “You get your personal TV and distant, noise-canceling headphones, a complimentary frosty beverage, and each seat is customized crafted along with your consolation being precedence primary. You will really feel like a modern-day king. And, oh yeah, you will get a haircut, shave or a manicure & pedicure, to assist maintain your look on level.”
Aaron instructed me they concentrate on profitable mid-life males, however they’re seeing increasingly youthful males. Males of all ages are in search of a male expertise the place guys can calm down and get the sorts of pampering we would get at an costly well being spa. No matter our age and no matter we do for a residing, we need to be at our greatest. Hammer & Nails is manly look after the person who is able to embrace complete care and wellbeing.
As of 2025, the variety of franchises had grown from 13 to 41. There are actually 10 areas in California, 9 in Ohio, 3 in Virginia, 2 in Texas, 2 in North Carolina, 2 in Connecticut, 2 in Florida, 1 in Arizona, and 1 in Pennsylvania. And there are extra coming. Suggestions from prospects have additionally been optimistic. Take their West Hollywood location, for instance, it at the moment has a 4.8-star ranking out of 365 critiques, with many praising the barber store for its talent and repair. Some have even described their barbers as having “magic palms.” You possibly can try their areas right here.
I keep in mind my very own experiences with grooming. Rising up, I didn’t assume a lot about haircuts. I’d get one when my mom complained I appeared scruffy and I’d all the time go to the identical barber store near our home. The proprietor, Eddy, would often lower my hair, typically a fast buzz lower. It has solely been in recent times that I’ve come to see the worth of a full-service expertise.
I had the nice fortune to seek out Martin who was an old-time European barber in my hometown. He and his spouse, Helga, owned a bit of store in Willits. Helga took care of the ladies and Martin helped the boys. He took his time and labored to provide the type that might make you look good. However the very best half was the pinnacle, neck, and shoulder therapeutic massage that accompanied the lower. It was the very best a part of the expertise. I’d usually see him as a substitute of getting a therapeutic massage, he was that good.
As I’ve gotten older, my ft have turn into extra necessary. I stroll on daily basis to remain wholesome and getting my toenails clipped is troublesome to do myself. There’s a salon on the town the place girls get their fingernails and toenails clipped, however even strolling by on the road you possibly can odor the chemical substances. A pal stated he went to get his toes clipped and I gave it a attempt. The expertise left a lot to be desired. All of the workers wore masks to assist them breathe. The patrons bought used to the poisonous chemical substances, however I care an excessive amount of about my very own well being to simply accept a poisonous setting. I’d reasonably look forward to Hammer & Nails to come back to my city.
“Immediately’s extraordinary man deserves a grooming expertise that tends to the entire man,” Aaron instructed me in our interview. “In an area that’s removed from take-a-number haircut farms and pedicure stations that reek of acrylic fumes. It’s time to care concerning the care that goes into males’s grooming. And it begins at a spot the place males’s care is all we care about. That, and drink.”
To study extra about Hammer & Nails you are able to do so there. To look at the in-depth interview I did with Aaron Meyers, you are able to do so right here.
If you need to learn different articles on males’s well being and wellbeing, come go to me at https://menalive.com/.