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https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-mens-holiday-grooming-gift-guide/
The experience of holiday shopping changes completely when you shop with care and cultural awareness and intentionality. The Black men’s grooming industry exists at the crossroads of cultural care and intention because it has historically lacked representation. However, Black founders have driven innovative developments.
This guide features grooming brands that develop products that truly cater to textured hair and melanin-rich skin and the daily routines that build Black men’s confidence. Supporting Black-owned grooming brands represents a year-round commitment to wellness, dignity, and community development.
Bevel
Tristan Walker established Bevel as a high-end grooming brand specifically designed for men of color. The brand delivers specialized shaving systems together with haircare and skincare products plus beard and body care items which target typical problems of coarse and curly hair. Through its online platform and expanded retail presence Bevel delivers specialized grooming solutions to customers. Recipients of Bevel gift cards can create personalized grooming systems which work perfectly to enhance their shaving and beard maintenance and skin care practices.
Scotch Porter
Scotch Porter is a grooming brand for men of color that was started in 2015 by barber-entrepreneur Calvin Quallis. It’s products are specifically designed for textured hair and skin to maintain healthy beards and soften hair while reducing dryness and irritation. Scotch Porter offers beard kits and cologne + body-care bundles as complete holiday gift sets through their website and multiple retail locations.
Golden Grooming Co.
Golden Grooming Co. provides a grooming product line specifically designed for men of color that includes beard care products along with hair, skin, and body care items. The product range includes beard oils, balms, shampoos, body washes, and bundles that deliver nourishment and hydration to textured hair and melanin-rich skin. The “bundle” packages from Golden Grooming Co. serve as thoughtful complete grooming gifts that help people establish their grooming routines.
Solo Noir
Andrea Polk, an entrepreneur and licensed aesthetician, founded Solo Noir to provide a clean beauty grooming line that includes multitask skincare along with beard care and shaving essentials. The product line aims to reduce grooming routines while solving typical skin issues for men of color including dryness and ingrown hairs and uneven skin tones through natural carefully developed products which exclude harsh chemicals. Customers can purchase Solo Noir products through its website in addition to their grooming kits and skincare and beard-care products. Solo Noir makes perfect gifts for people who want minimalistic grooming routines or straightforward effective systems to start their grooming journey.
Aaron Wallace
The grooming brand Aaron Wallace presents “The Grooming Trifecta” a special bundle for Black men. The three-step grooming set contains a cleanser together with facial moisturizer and beard and hair oil to simplify beard and skin and hair care. The products deliver hydration and detoxification and nourishment to textured hair and melanin-rich skin while protecting against dryness, razor bumps, and ingrown hairs. The Trifecta bundle is an affordable and practical gift choice for people who want to establish a basic daily grooming routine.
Levi Fisher
This men’s grooming brand under Oyin Handmade provides beard and hair care products. The product lineup features a black-soap and honey-based cleanser alongside a hydrating leave-in “Go Tea” spray, featuring tea tree oil and softening beard butter and serum. Levi Fisher delivers natural ingredient-based products without harsh chemicals at affordable prices which makes it perfect for people who want mild grooming solutions at reasonable costs. Products can be purchased through its online store.
Go Nutz
Go Nutz markets its personal-care grooming brand through a “360°” trimmer system which extends body grooming capabilities beyond traditional hair and beard care. Men who practice full-body grooming can find practical and distinctive grooming upgrades through Go Nutz devices which make excellent holiday presents.
Frederick Benjamin Grooming
Michael James established Frederick Benjamin Grooming after spending 10 years in the beauty-care industry to enhance grooming services for men of color. The brand provides complete grooming solutions through scalp treatment and hair/styling products, shaving essentials, and beard care products that address coarse hair and dry scalp and razor irritation and ingrown hairs. It’s all about delivering clean ingredient products with specific solutions for men of color. Originating from a barbershop-based concept, Frederick Benjamin sells its products through online platforms and plans to extend its retail presence.
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Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively’s court drama continues as Baldoni and his Wayfarer studios are trying to get out of a court case. But Lively isn’t backing down and believes she deserves her day in court.
During the filming of It Ends With Us, Lively alleges that Baldoni reached out to her trainer, body shamed her, and created a hostile working environment on their film that extended into the press tour for the film. It has since heated up in a legal battle between the two.
You’d think a movie about robots punching each other would be fairly easy to write. Sci-fi actioner, maybe a sports movie, with charismatic human stars. Hell, Real Steel did it in 2011. But the road to getting Mattel’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots movie off the ground has apparently been pretty tough. Fast and Furious franchise star Vin Diesel came on board the project all the way back in 2021 but nothing happened since then. Now, according to Deadline, Diesel is “Fine, I’ll do it myself”-ing it, adding writer to his list of credits along with star and producer.
Robbie Brenner, President of Mattel Studios and Chief Content Officer, who is also producing the movie, said, “Vin is a powerhouse storyteller with an unmatched understanding of action, heart, and world-building. His creative vision for Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots is bold, human, and deeply cinematic—exactly the kind of storytelling we love at Mattel Studios.”
Vin Diesel added, “I am excited to expand the Mattel universe by bringing this classic toy from my childhood to a modern audience by telling a story that examines the role of competition in a world often measured by strength and dominance that dares to reveal the power of compassion at its core.”
Mattel is hoping their Masters of the Universe live-action film does well next summer. The He-Man movie starring Nicholas Galitzine has a lot riding on it with perhaps the most name recognition following the success of Barbie. Also on the docket for the studio are movies for Matchbox, Polly Pocket, and the just-announced View-Master movie. Those are but three of the dozens of TBA projects. Mattel also owns the IPs Thomas the Tank Engine, Barney the Dinosaur, and Magic 8 Ball.
Mattel also owns Street Sharks, and we all know Vin Diesel knows all about those.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
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Quentin Tarantino has never been afraid to stir controversy, but his recent comments about Paul Dano mark a new level of unnecessary cruelty and they reveal something deeper about the filmmaker’s long, troubling pattern of belittling others while refusing to examine himself.
Appearing on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, Tarantino unloaded on Dano’s performance in There Will Be Blood, a film he still considers one of the best of the century. But admiration didn’t stop him from attacking one of its central actors.
“And the flaw is Paul Dano,” Tarantino said. “Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, and it’s also so drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander. He is weak sauce, man. He’s a weak sister.”
The director went on, insisting, “I’m not saying he’s giving a terrible performance. I’m saying he’s giving a non-entity performance. I don’t care for him. I don’t care for Owen Wilson, I don’t care for Matthew Lillard.”
These remarks aren’t film criticism. They’re derision masquerading as discernment. Tarantino wasn’t engaging in thoughtful analysis of Dano’s choices, his interpretation of Eli Sunday, or even the dynamics of the film. Instead, he chose to insult him personally, positioning the actor not simply as miscast but as professionally worthless.
The irony, of course, is that this comes from a director whose own career has been defined by persistent criticism and not for minor acting decisions. Tarantino’s body of work is praised for its cinematic flair, but the controversies that surround him are just as iconic as his movies.
His public issues go back decades. Spike Lee famously rebuked him for his overzealous use of the N-word — a signature of Tarantino’s screenwriting that too often feels less like subversion and more like indulgence. Then there’s the unending debate over Tarantino’s long list of cinematic “inspirations.” Even he has admitted, “I steal from every single movie ever made.” And anyone who has watched a Sergio Leone film can see the direct line between Leone’s compositions and Tarantino’s bravado.
But the criticisms most damning are the ones involving his treatment of women on set. The stunt-driving crash on Kill Bill Vol. 2 left Uma Thurman with permanent injuries, a stunt she should never have been pressured to perform. There is also the story of Tarantino choking Diane Kruger during filming, insisting on doing it himself to “get the shot.” These aren’t anecdotes about artistic passion; they’re evidence of a director who too often disregards the safety and autonomy of the people who bring his vision to life.
Then there’s the elephant in the room: his 25-year relationship — both professional and personal — with a known sexual predator whose name has dominated the entire film industry. Tarantino’s repeated defenses and excuses over the years have aged poorly, to put it mildly.
And yes, even the “Tarantino foot fetish” discourse, often treated as a joke, is part of the larger narrative. The persistent, lingering, almost reverential foot shots in Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Death Proof, Jackie Brown, and beyond cease being charming quirks when stacked against allegations of inappropriate behavior and boundary crossing. Patterns matter. In Tarantino’s case, those patterns point to a filmmaker whose obsessions often blur into discomfort.
So when Tarantino calls Paul Dano “weak sauce,” it lands differently. Not because Dano can’t handle criticism, he’s one of the most consistently compelling actors of his generation, but because the attack comes from someone who has long avoided accountability for far more serious issues.
Dano’s work in There Will Be Blood has been praised for years. He was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, one of the most meticulous filmmakers alive, and held his own opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. To reduce him to a “non-entity” is not only unfair; it ignores the nuance and quiet devastation that made Eli Sunday a core part of the film’s emotional power.
Ultimately, Tarantino’s latest tirade isn’t about Dano at all. It’s about Tarantino — a director who has thrived on controversy, who sees provocation as a brand, and who seems to believe that cruelty equals candor.
But there is a difference between honesty and hostility. There is a difference between critique and contempt.
And as Hollywood continues to grapple with power imbalances, unsafe working environments, and the mistreatment of performers, Tarantino’s comments remind us that some of the industry’s most celebrated voices still haven’t figured out that punching down isn’t art, it’s insecurity.
Tarantino’s films may be legendary. But his behavior, again and again, reveals a creator far less bold, far less innovative, and far less insightful than he imagines himself to be.
The post Tarantino’s Cruelty Toward Paul Dano Isn’t an Outlier, It’s a Pattern appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.