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The three men are being positioned as hair and lifestyle experts and will be promoting both Sunsilk and their roles as the Hairapy Guys in a variety of media.

They've done short segments for VH1 shows Best Week Ever and Flavor of Love 2, and will be hosting Movie and a Makeover on TBS Sept. 16.  During the segments the men are identified as the “Sunsilk Hairapy Guys” and are followed by the Sunsilk ads; which do not include the Hairapy Guys, but do feature out actor and comedian Mario Cantone in an unidentified voice-over.

The Hairapy Guys will also write hair and life advice columns for magazines like In Touch and Cosmopolitan, and will interact with potential female consumers during press and marketing events set up by the Sunsilk marketing team.

On the official US Sunsilk website gethairapy.com, they will have similar duties, giving out advice on relationships, fashion, life problems and, of course, the best Sunsilk shampoo product for your hair type.

“They have a great idea,” says Hairapy Guy McCain, “and … their idea is working.” He says that at Sunsilk events, “women are literally coming up to us and literally opening up. … [The Sunsilk marketing team] know what they're doing because it's amazing to see the girls relate right away.”

Hairapy Guy Mechare thinks the Hairapy Guys create a unique comfort zone for women. “It's really an opportunity for women to feel really safe,” Mechare says. “I also think there's a strong bond between the women and gay men … men who are not trying to prey on women in a sexual manner.”

Viewing some of the media spots the Hairapy Guys have done, their affable charisma and comic timing is quickly apparent. But it's also obvious that the humor and attitude veers toward the screaming-queen variety. This would be fine, except it sometimes appears these are the only roles large corporations are comfortable having gay men play

Asked if they feel they are being hired to play stereotypes, McCain and Mechare insist they are being themselves. “Women and their beauty inspire me,” McCain says. He admits he flips through magazines to be inspired by dresses and shoes. “If that makes me a stereotype … that's me.”

Mechare feels that worrying about stereotypes is not his issue. He says that it's simply important to be “who you really are and just let that resonate with people, because I think that's how people become inspired to be more themselves … when they see somebody who is clearly who they are meant to be.”

Tiffany Kurtz says that the long-term role of the Hairapy Guys is still being determined, but “so far the reception has been phenomenal, and we just started.”

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