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The Faces of Beardsgaard • Spiritbrook IRL {Video}

July 23, 2017 By //  by The Beardsgaards Leave a Comment

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.

The Spirit of the Season

Why are we taking bearded fellas into the woods and shooting them? It’s all about the beard, friends. Our very own River Peak Apothecary beard oils, balms and waxes, that is.

We have a scent for every season – Fjordmist for spring, Dragonsea for summer (coming up next), Hearthstone for autumn and Frostwood for winter. So WTF season is Spiritbrook?

Photos: Natalie Anderson

There are four seasons (which we have in spades here in the midwest) and four elements, but in many magical fandom canons (notably the Wheel of Time, and many others) there are in fact five elements – earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. We’re sure you can see where we’re going with this.

Spiritbrook is created for fellas with sensitive skin, made with small amount of gentle, calming Blue Tansy essential oil, smelling like a breath of herbal freshness, then it’s gone. If your skin turns pink when you touch it, this is your blend.

But just because a blend is gentle, doesn’t mean the gents who wear it are.

The Gaard & The Apothecary

While our recent photo shoots have been of a slightly more fantastical variety, this blend has a bit of cheekiness to it. In the Spiritbrook mythology, we introduce Kevin, the only creature in the realm whose name is not derived from proper Sindarin Elvish – a gerbil with an accidental infusion of god-like powers, rainbow wings, and a lust for world domination.

For the real world photo shoot, we translated that into a grown up Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes vibe, a bearded beast made of mischief running about in the woods and climbing trees, as you do.

Photos: Left: Lindsey Roussel / Right: Natalie Anderson

The Model

We had a couple of choices for the perfect model for this shoot (as always, not an actual model, just someone who was willing to let us dress him up and take pictures of him). Andy here was an ideal choice, because that full sleeve of rainbow Zelda tattoos was about as rainbow flying gerbil as you’re going to find in a human.

Photos: Natalie Anderson

Because we don’t use actual models, our models never quite know what to expect when they agree to participate in these photo shoots.

Photos: Lindsey Roussel

Well, for any future fellows we tap for these photo shoots, here’s the low down. You will likely be changing clothes outdoors at some point. Things will get physical. You will get sweaty and kind of filthy while we towel you off on occasion. You will likely feel weirdly objectified but in a low-key way.

Photos: Left: Jim Richards / Right: Vinc Cintron

Someone nearby will always doing their best to make you break (which does tend to produce the best photos). Other than that, just kind of exist in your surroundings and do your best to make sure you have some light uncomfortably hitting your eyes. We do the rest.

Photo: Jim Richards

The Crew

For the first of these shoots, Hearthstone, it was just Blademaiden and the model out in the canyons of Starved Rock. Frostwood brought with it second and third shooters for behind the scenes footage/video. This time we had a small army with us, because the more the merrier.

Of course when everyone’s hot and swarming with bugs and tromping around in the woods, things get a little slap happy. We have fun here.

Check out all the fun in moving picture form.

Explore more of the story over at River Peak Apothecary.

Filed Under: Beards & Facial Hair, Beyond the Barbershop, Blog, Channel Beardsgaard, Hair & Cuts, Products & Grooming, Series Tagged With: Behind the Scenes, Evergreen Terrace, From the Apothecary, Haircuts, Local, On Location, Photo Shoots, Pillar, Shop News, Video

About The Beardsgaards

The Beardsgaards are a pair of mom-and-pop barber nerds with a shared obsession with perfection. We built this old school barbershop to feel like home to everyone who enters beneath the Elvish script above our door. If we and the Gaardian army can give you a better handle on your grooming routine, all the better.

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greetings, nerds!

welcome home
We built this place for you, to bring you everything you ever dreamed you could find in your friendly neighborhood barbershop, and a stupid amount more. Beardsmith and Blademaiden, the mom and pop founders, invite you to explore the realm.

Our Little Slice of Valhalla

In historic downtown Batavia on Route 31 between 1st and Main

117 S Batavia Ave, Batavia, IL 60510

PHONE: ( 630 ) 454 - 4820

EMAIL: shop@beardsgaardbarbers.com

Appointment & Walk-Ins Both!

Parking

Loads of free parking here, both on the street in front of the shop, with an even more substantial parking lot in back.

get at us on instagram

beardsgaardbarbers

Family owned & operated since 2014. There be nerds here. And dragons.
💈Classic Haircuts • Epic Beards • Razor Shaves💈
House brand @riverpeakapothecary

Beardsgaard Barbers
It’s official everyone! Beard trims are back and It’s official everyone! Beard trims are back and open for booking. While we know it’s been months and everyone is looking a bit scruffy please be patient as we try and squeeze all the beard trims we can into the schedule. We’d also like to thank everyone who’s been diligent with keeping our shop a safe and healthy environment. 
If you’re already booked in the schedule we can’t guarantee we can add a beard trim to your service but we can definitely try booking you for a different time to get that beard in. 
{Link to book in bio}
Our news friends at @nbcchicago popped in for some Our news friends at @nbcchicago popped in for some street interviews. You can see what our clients and barbers said at 4pm and 6pm today!
We were deeply saddened by the news of Christopher We were deeply saddened by the news of Christopher Tolkien passing a year ago, and still are to this day. Our love of his father and Lord of the Rings is ever present here at Beardsgaard. So tonight we, and hopefully the rest of you, will take a moment to remember one of the greatest authors of all time, his son, and the impact the Tolkien family has had on our lives. 
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
While we appreciate all the self sufficient kids t While we appreciate all the self sufficient kids that come into the shop, we still need an adult with them to sign our liability waiver. We know it’s a bit of a pain but it’s really to appease Phydeoux the shop dragon. He has a hunger for children and waivers, and we’d rather feed him waivers.
You don’t have to wear it after your cut, but do You don’t have to wear it after your cut, but don’t forget your hat. It’s cold outside.
The product goblin (and the rest of us) think @soa The product goblin (and the rest of us) think @soapdistillery body oils smell good enough to drink. We promise the oils will make you feel much better if you put them on your outside instead of your inside though.
Well hello to those with wild beards who heard whi Well hello to those with wild beards who heard whispers of moving out of Tier 3 Mitigation! Please pause, we're not there yet. 

This does not apply to the entire state of Illinois, only certain regions. As of now, we are still in Tier 3. We will announce when we have moved to Tier 2 on all of our social media channels as well as our email list, so sit tight until then!

Because knowledge is power, you also can go to http://dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics?regionID=8 at any time and look at Region 8, which contains Kane County. As of this posting, we are not meeting the metric on hospital bed availability. 

We promise, we want to get everything under your mask looking and feeling great, but we cannot do that until it's safe. Thank you for understanding, and please keep an eye out here, on Instagram or sign up for our email list at the bottom of www.beardsgaardbarbers.com to get updates.
And you? Do you like the barber shop? We like you. And you? Do you like the barber shop? We like you.
We may specialize in short, traditionally masculin We may specialize in short, traditionally masculine haircuts, but Beardsgaard has always been a place for everyone; girls, guys, gays, theys - all identities and orientations find acceptance and a barbershop home here. If, however, you are looking for the luscious salon locks that are far less in our barberly skill set, we are the lucky next door neighbors of the incredible @coasthairsalon
Between the two of us, we have heads of every sort covered in spectacular hair, and positive vibes.
While we would love to see more than half of your While we would love to see more than half of your faces, until Illinois is out of Tier 3 we are just not allowed to do any face services. That means all beard trims and face shaves are not a thing for the foreseeable future. We know that’s a bummer for most of you but think of how epic and wizardry your beards will be once we can do trims!
For beard updates we will be posting across social media and sending an email out to those of you that are on the email list as soon as we know anything. Hang tight Gaardians, your face gardens will be pruned again some day.
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Our Little Slice of Valhalla

In historic downtown Batavia on Route 31 between 1st and Main

117 S Batavia Ave, Batavia, IL 60510

PHONE: ( 630 ) 454 - 4820

EMAIL: shop@beardsgaardbarbers.com

Appointment & Walk-Ins Both!

Parking

Loads of free parking here, both on the street in front of the shop, with an even more substantial parking lot in back.

Current Hours

Closed for Shop Lunch 2-3 pm weekdays, 1-2 pm Saturdays

• Monday - Friday 9 / 8 • Saturday 9 / 5

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Copyright © 2021 Beardsgaard Barbers

All full for the day! (Closed Sundays & Mondays. Call or book online )
For the safety of our staff and clients, we must refuse service to anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms.
Actually there’s a whole list of questions we’re gonna ask you at the door, brace yourself.
Shop closes for lunch weekdays 2-3 PM and Saturdays 1-2 PM
Shop our entire shop online, for shipping worldwide or curbside pickup! {CLICKY HERE}
Beard trims are back! Book Here!
While you’re here, peruse our sibling shop right next door or in the Webs of Inter, River Peak Apothecary!