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The Local Fox • Sidecar Supper Club

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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

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The Faces of Beardsgaard • Alfheim

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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

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The Faces of Beardsgaard • Niflheim

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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.

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Shower Routines: Blademaiden

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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.

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Tricky Tricks for Barbers • Pointy Mustaches {Video}

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Barber demo videos are great, but what about when you encounter some hair that doesn’t fit the mold? In this series, the barbers of Beardsgaard are going to show you some tricky tricks for barbers to make your life behind the chair a little easier.

Mustaches come in all shapes and sizes, but most are pretty easy to shape up. But what about those pointy ones that grow STRAIGHT OUT? Those types are pretty pokey to be on the other end of (just ask our shop manager/model’s wife).

But for barbers, cut it too long and it gets awkwardly pointy again real quick, but take off the slightest bit too much in the wrong place, and this crazy unforgiving mustache hair is going to look like it’s missing a chunk. So let’s make Vinc’s lovely wife a happy lady.

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They Came From the Parking Lot Part IV: Seeds of Evil {Video}

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Everybody loves pumpkins. That is, until they…TURN. Featuring the crews of Beardsgaard and Poke Your Eye Out Games, with endless thanks to our brave hosts, Sugar Grove Pumpkin farm. Beardsgaard Barbers is proud to present, a D-movie horror movie disasterpiece: “They Came From The Parking Lot Part IV: Seeds of Evil.”

We feel we should explain how all this came about.

It all started in 2014 with some pumpkins given to us by Batavia Main Street, carved epically by our OG shop neighbors at Fallen Star Tattoo. After Halloween weekend in the front windows, we returned to find pumpkins that looked like Walking Dead extras.

Someone made a joke about how we should “smash some pumpkins.” It all kind of spiraled from there, now for four years in a row. We even made T-shirts.

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Tricky Tricks for Barbers • Cowlicks & Patches {Video}

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Barber demo videos are great, but what about when you encounter some hair that doesn’t fit the mold? In this series, the barbers of Beardsgaard are going to show you some tricky tricks for barbers to make your life behind the chair a little easier.

Big, full beards are great to work on, but what about a patchy beard that changes density, texture and direction all over the damn place? Alex, one of our barbers, has just such a beard. He’s never going to have the face of a mountain man, but we can keep it well-shaped, respectable, and keep it within its appointed bounds.

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How to ReWhip Melted Beard Butter {Video}

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Our beard butter is made with just butters and oils, and is a dreamy, creamy treat for your beard (or skin, great as a body butter too).

But without the beeswax that balms contain, it is rather heat sensitive. Depending on the climate or time of year, we cannot guarantee your beard butter will arrive unmelted.

But rather than cut off shipping of this product during the summer months, as some companies do, we’ll just show you how to bring a melted jar back to life!

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The Faces of Beardsgaard • Spiritbrook IRL {Video}

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The faces of Beardsgaard series takes you inside the story and the world of each of our products ~ our real live regular clients, cut by the Beardsgaard barbers, groomed by River Peak Apothecary, and on location, often just off the beaten path. Journey to our realm, nerds.

Photos: Left: Natalie Anderson / Right: Jim Richards

We often say that Beardsgaard is the D&D game to River Peak’s LARP tournament, and that is demonstrated nowhere as fully as these fantastical photo shoots we do sometimes.

So while everything is magical and polished over at River Peak Apothecary, at Beardsgaard we get down and, in many cases, pretty dirty. Or at least Blademaiden did this time, skittering up trees and tossing herself in the dirt at every opportunity to get the good angles with the camera.

Photos: Lindsey Roussel

Let us tell you the rest of the story, and get to the bottom of the post for the full video.

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From the Apothecary • Beard Oils, Butters, Now Balms & Waxes

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Two years ago your barbers were struck by a bug. But not the germy sort, the idea sort. They had a great many grooming products on their shelves, beard and otherwise, but nothing that was fully Beardsgaard.

Here, you see, in this place in the world, we have seasons. In abundance. For ourselves and those who may not be so blessed/cursed (Chicago winters are no joke), this bug kept our minds on beard oils made to smell like the very essence of the seasons, and with formulas made for the next-level beards that grace our hallowed halls.

And so we launched River Peak Apothecary on Beardsgaard’s first anniversary, September 9th, 2015 with five beard oils. Then we added lip butters to sate our crippling Chap-Stick addiction, mixing in some refined, yet unexpected flavors. Then came the obscenely popular Deepwell Beard Butter, by far the biggest selling item in our shop and online.

But upon trying our beard oils, gents would always ask if the scents came in beard balm form as well. The answer for some time was, unfortunately, nope. But now, friends, the answer is a resounding yep. With styling balms too.

But which of our beard products is best for your beard, and how do you use them? Allow us to elaborate.

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