Somerset House’s ‘Beard’ exhibition celebrates 80 cool dudes – and one cool woman.JOHN LEE/The Globe and Mail
I've never been entirely satisfied with the shapeless beard I started growing two years ago. And now that I'm gazing at some of the finest face architecture I've ever seen, I realize my messy chin scrag has a long way to go.
Beard is a new portrait exhibition by photographer Brock Elbank at London's Somerset House. A hirsute menagerie of 80 cool dudes (and one woman), it celebrates the kind of theatrical face fuzz that triggers double-takes on the Tube.
But while the variety of bewhiskered visions here is astonishing – from delicately waxed confections to pushed-through-a-hedge Marxian behemoths – these beardies have one thing in common: They all look deeply proud of their bristles. In contrast, I'm slightly apologetic about mine.
Recognizing that it's time for a change, I decide to dive chin-first into London's richly layered beard scene. I'm looking for inspiration and encouragement – but first I need a good barber.
Steve Murphy and Neil Scothon launched Rocket Barber Shop in East London's increasingly hip Hackney three years ago. But demand for their blokey grooming services has been so high they opened a second branch this year.
Visiting their Stoke Newington shop, I watch as four black-T-shirted fellas – with beards of varying lengths – tend to a steady stream of customers. We await our turns on mismatched old chairs, casting glances between the SMEG fridge, faded Elvis and Sinatra wall photos and a floor carpeted with hairy leftovers.
Murphy – with elaborate tattoos and a beard that could have its own walk-on part in a Hobbit movie – assesses my puny thatch. "I know where it needs to go. I can do better. This is my beard now," he says with a cheeky grin.
Snipping away, he tells me he's had a beard since he was 17 – he's now 34 – and he loves everything about them. "Beards are the only thing people talk to me about," he says, adding that Rocket offers Beard Bars on alternate Sundays where fuzzy chaps socialize and swap tips. Whipping out his phone, he flicks through some shots of the eye-popping regulars.
"You would definitely suit a longer beard," says Murphy, whose grandfather was also a barber. "You've got these great grey streaks you should show off," he adds, making a feature of what I usually dismiss as my "elderly badger" look.
But it's younger beard-wearers that are fuelling London's current craze for facial hair. Is there a danger, I ask, of the city reaching peak beard? "There's a core of people that will always be bearded, whether or not it's fashionable. Those are the people who keep coming back here."
Applying some aromatic oil he makes from a secret recipe – "it smells like a man," Murphy says – he's keen to send me out the door on a high: "You definitely look taller, skinnier and richer," he assures me with a laugh. But does he have any advice for the emerging bald spot on my head? "Just don't sit down," he deadpans.
Delighted with my cleanly shaped new look, I hit the British Museum for added inspiration. Beards were beloved of ancient Egyptians and I spend a fun half-hour perusing the hairy chins and extended goatees painted on many mummy cases. Carefully coiffed, these guys were the beard-hugging hipsters of their day.
But the fuzz really takes centre stage at my final stop. The Beard Liberation Front – a tongue-in-hairy-cheek organization of rabid whisker nuts – recently named Hackney's Cock Tavern one of Britain's most Beard Friendly Pubs, which means they have a surfeit of bearded staff and patrons and are ever-welcoming of furry-faced visitors.
On my late-afternoon stop, each of the 11 drinkers in this trad-look boozer – wood floors, wall panels and 20 beer taps (there's a brewery downstairs) – sports some form of beardage. But the best of the bunch is local baker Neil Armitage, whose manicured ginger chin could easily grace the Somerset House show.
"When I was a kid, I always thought beards were cool. But I had a few disastrous attempts at growing one in my 20s," he tells me as he puts down his book for a chat. "Now there are lots of good beards around – especially in this part of London: It gives you the confidence to go for it and grow it longer."
He makes a good point: Beards are enhanced by the company they keep. Which is my cue to stay for a drink in this haven of bristled aficionados. Making for the bar, I'm soon supping a tasty porter. Dark, full of body and with little curls of grey foam, it has many of the qualities I want my beard to have.
IF YOU GO
Somerset House's free-entry Beard exhibition runs to March 29; somersethouse.org.uk.
Rocket Barber Shop is at 401 Hackney Rd. and 118 Stoke Newington High St.; rocketbarbershop.co.uk.
The British Museum has several rooms of Egyptian mummies; britishmuseum.org.
The Cock Tavern is at 315 Mare St., Hackney; thecocktavern.co.uk.