Tristan Walker’s Bevel launches a head-to-toe grooming line for black men

Media darling Tristan Walker is one step closer to turning his company, Bevel, into a one-stop grooming emporium for black men.

Procter & Gamble acquired Bevel just over a year ago, and unlike most startup founders, Walker stuck around. Today, Bevel is releasing 11 new products and two new categories (body and hair), as well as announcing a nationwide distribution plan that will increase its presence in brick and mortar stores 10-fold.

1/ Today’s the day. @BEVEL becomes the first and only brand delivering head to toe grooming solutions that prioritizes the needs of black men, first.https://t.co/KAyUL4KPS7 pic.twitter.com/NZp7yf2jWG

— tristan walker (@tristanwalker) January 13, 2020

The company creates sleek products designed for coarser, curly hair types that have long been ignored by the grooming industry, ranging from single-blade razors that minimize razor bumps to a deodorant that penetrates through thick hair. Previously, Bevel’s lines included only shaving and skin products. Though far from the only grooming products catering to black men, P&G has given Bevel funding and market reach to become a nationwide brand.

Walker has been vocal in the media about his goal of prioritizing black men’s needs, and saving them from the dismal quality and shopping experience for grooming products, once telling me, “I joke about going to the ethnic shelf in aisle 40 of CVS, reaching to the bottom for a package with a photo of a 70-year-old bald black guy in a towel drinking a cognac while petting a tiger. That’s an experience that should not exist.”