Welcome Home, Nerds

Blog

The Local Fox • Sidecar Supper Club

By Leave a Comment

In days of yore, the neighborhood barbershoppe was more than just your grooming and surgical specialty destination. It was also the spot to gather ‘round, confer with the community, and discuss the local happenings about town. Beardsgaard is chock-a-block full of locals who know all the best places to go around Batavia. The Local Fox is an occasional blog feature that maintains that ol’ timey spirit of barbershop camaraderie by dishing up the inside scoop on the best places to visit in town, whether you’re visiting, or are a local yourself.

It’s bluegrass Sunday and a little rain isn’t stopping anyone

…

The Local Fox • Sidecar Supper ClubRead More

The Faces of Beardsgaard • Alfheim

By Leave a Comment

Beardsgaard may be a barbershop in Batavia, here in the mortal plane, but it is also the fantasy world. In that world is an apothecary, River Peak Apothecary, that makes magic potions scented by the seasons, their scents evoking the places you will find all over the Realm.

This is Alfheim, from our 9 Realms of candles collection, smelling of the land of the Day Elves, where a pair of herbalist Dawn Elf siblings learn a timeless lesson on why you should never go with an Unseelie to a second location in the Faewild.

Taking this photo shoot to Chicago on a lovely Sunday meant that there were swarms of people everywhere to be edited out of shots. Despite the crowding, the immediate sibling-like connection between our models carried the day and we had a hoot of a day illustrating our most Elvish-smelling candle.

Dive into the magic of Alfheim with us.

COSTUMING: Local theater costumer All Dressed Up Costumes, Grimfrost, and pieces from the Beardsgaards’ personal closet.
LOCATION: ALFRED CALDWELL LILY POOL, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
MODELS: Tanya & Randy

The Faces of Beardsgaard • AlfheimRead More

New Hours & Prices This Summer

By Leave a Comment

NEW HOURS

Life has been a lot more manageable since we went from a shop working in shifts for 70 hours a week to our regular person work week on service industry hours. In our effort to fine tune our operations to our clients’ needs, we have decided to shift our later days to earlier in the week. Because duh, us, people have things to do on Friday nights, which means we need more after work appointments earlier in the week.

Beginning Tuesday, June 7th, our hours will shift just a bit to be as follows:

NEW PRICES

Beardsgaard has grown so much over the years, from always having a new barber in training, to the present day where every single barber is long experienced and superb at their craft, while living the “never stop learning” life. With a pandemic in between those early years and today, and our new normal of folks not being able to get in for six weeks despite being near fully staffed, our only remaining option is to raise our prices.

And so we present our new price list beginning Tuesday, July 19th 2022. Any appointments booked before June 6th will not be affected.

New Hours & Prices This SummerRead More

Soap & Sustainability: Hudson Made’s Eco-Friendly Approach to Cleanliness

By Leave a Comment

It may come as no great surprise that we’re crazy about small business. For every big conglomerate, there are a dozen little shops and countless creators making or doing cool stuff. One of our favorite small makers, Hudson Made, dual-wields these qualities, making handy and useful products in an entirely radical way. 

You’ve likely seen the name among our shelves attached to some of the finest smelling and performing soaps in the shoppe since the very beginning of Beardsgaard – in fact, this shop was one of the first retailers to link up with Hudson Made when both burgeoning businesses were new to the cool kids’ lunch table.

BATH & BODY AMBITIONS

Hudson Made is a bath and body goods company based out in New York state. A small operation with a big mission, Hudson Made does their best to make sustainable and naturally conscious products, sourcing a selection of their plant- and flower-based ingredients locally and organically whenever possible. They’re a unique brand in the grooming world for a lot of reasons, but Hudson Made’s commitment to continually searching for better ways to do their thing that makes us admire them so much. 

We sat down for a digital interview with Hudson Made founder and creative director Bill Hovard, a bonafide Green Knight and a good friend of the Gaard. A transplant to the land of the Catskills from the sunny western shores, Bill made his way into the world of fine soapery after a long career as a marketing and branding expert. 

…

Soap & Sustainability: Hudson Made’s Eco-Friendly Approach to CleanlinessRead More

The Faces of Beardsgaard • Niflheim

By Leave a Comment

Beardsgaard may be a barbershop in Batavia, here in the mortal plane, but it is also the fantasy world. In that world is an apothecary, River Peak Apothecary, that makes magic potions scented by the seasons, their scents evoking the places you will find all over the Realm.

This is Niflheim, from our 9 Realms of candles collection, smelling of the land of the Water Elementals, where a Mist Spirit undertakes an epic journey to become the champion of Niflheim, on a very inopportune year.

We got up well before dawn this day to take one of the former barbers of Beardsgaard to an adorable little waterfall in a local forest preserve and create one of our most difficult fantasy settings for our freshest smelling candle.

Dive into the magic of Niflheim with us.

…

The Faces of Beardsgaard • NiflheimRead More

Hirsute Historium: A Brief History of Bloodletting & Barbers

By Leave a Comment

The spinning red white and blue of a barber pole is as American as apple pie, or the melody of the national anthem, or hot dogs, or denim. By which we mean absolutely none of those things began on these shores.

In fact, that iconic image of the craft of barbering started on the other side of the pond, hundreds of years before even the Vikings found their way to these western shores, and is pretty gory. As is this dive into the history of bloodletting and barbers.

File:WMS 990 Bloodletting Wellcome L0041074.jpg“File:WMS 990 Bloodletting Wellcome L0041074.jpg” is licensed under CC BY 4.0

…

Hirsute Historium: A Brief History of Bloodletting & BarbersRead More

Captain Fawcett Parfum News

By Leave a Comment

We have some tip top news! A series of events has unfolded that has put us in the position to be a direct importer of all of the Captain Fawcett products we carry, now including fragrance.

That means we are able to skip a bunch of middleman costs, and the price of all the Captain Fawcett fragrances are now…lower? Yes indeed, lower! Huzzah!

…

Captain Fawcett Parfum NewsRead More

The Beardsgaard Coloring Book

By Leave a Comment

Hello Gaardians! Long time no see, eh? While we still have some time before we can see all of your furry faces, we do have some fun for you all while you’re stuck at home.

Batavia Mainstreet has been doing a wonderful job keeping the community strong and united through this mild apocalypse. So instead of postponing Batavia Second Fridays, they are moving the event online.

Our usual Second Friday consists of an art show curated by Shopkeep Lucky Eye, and why change a good thing? Except you get to be the artists too. Lindsey has put together some coloring book pages for you all to doodle your hearts away with.

…

The Beardsgaard Coloring BookRead More

Shower Routines: Blademaiden

By Leave a Comment

Some folks go with the same shower routine every day, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Some of us, however, have grooming needs that are a bit more advanced.

Blademaiden, for example, is growing her hair out, has psoriasis on her skin and scalp, and her skin in general reacts poorly to, like, so many things. Because of all of those things, not every shower she takes is the same. In this video, we take you to our shower and show you around.

…

Shower Routines: BlademaidenRead More

Horror Haircuts & Batfest

By Leave a Comment

Horror Haircuts & Batfest • October 26th • 9-5 PM

Looking for a monstrous bit of extra fun on Batfest day?

Beardsgaard will be going all out for Halloween with candy, a delicious bounty of lip treats on offer, haircuts from monsters, pictures your little monsters will cherish forever, and a great cause to help some fantastic beasts for good measure.
…

Horror Haircuts & BatfestRead More