Grooming isn’t just for women. As more men look for products to maintain their beards, hair, and skin, one subscription box is offering product samples giving Black men the options they need.

The founder of Bleu Magazine, DéVon Johnson is launching BeauBox in early 2019 to provide Black men with more grooming products and tools to implement into their daily routines.

“BeauBox helps products reach Black men, but also allows Black men to try out different things,” Johnson said. “We don’t all have to just use the same old product that we’ve been using for years that don’t actually work.”

The standard BeauBox costs $20 and includes about six items, while the deluxe version is $50 and features about ten items. BeauBoxes are distributed every two months, mirroring Bleu Magazine’s publishing schedule.

“There was a time when guys had to hide the fact that they like to groom and maintain themselves,” Johnson said. “Now it’s more of a cool factor.”

Johnson got the idea for BeauBox when companies began sending samples to Bleu Magazine editors for reviews on the items.

“We had so many products around the office and we didn’t know what to do with them,” Johnson said, noting a subscription box seemed like the reasonable next step.

Bleu Magazine has a readership of more than 300,000 and its main distribution sites are Black-owned barbershops. With an established audience focused on grooming and personal hygiene, Johnson wanted his new venture to shift to the younger, niche market of Black collegiate males.

“Sometimes campuses don’t have diverse grooming options in the pharmacies around them,” Johnson said. “We figured we’d just bring the box to them.”

Johnson said with Bleu Magazine and BeauBox, he will change the perception of Black men in America. He started Bleu Magazine as a way to “reimagine what the Black experience is.”

“We’re often used to market products, but are left out as consumers,” Johnson said. “I wanted to make something that showed Black men are consumers and that our dollar counts.”

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