The British Beard Club Exclusive Interview With How To Grow A Moustache

The British Beard Club Exclusive Interview With How To Grow A Moustache – March 16, 2013

Now it’s time to stop in and pay a visit to The British Beard Club and speak with the groups Honorary President David Dade. The BBC, since its inception has always fascinated me. This bearded brotherhood seemed to have popped up out of nowhere four years ago yet carried themselves like they had been on the scene for decades. This is partly due to the fact that they are an off shoot of The Handlebar Club, the worlds oldest moustache organisation. David himself is the webmaster for the Handlebar Club, so with a background such as this it’s no wonder this band of bearded gents commands the respect reserved for elder statesman of the facial fur community…for they are. This interview was an honor and a pleasure to put together, so let us waste no more time and get to it. Cheers! 

The British Beard Club Exclusive Interview With How To Grow A Moustache

HTGAM: When I explore the home page of The British Beard Club I immediately feel put at ease. It’s so welcoming, hard to believe it’s only four years old. What has the last 4 years been like as fully fledged organization? Can we get a brief history, more than what one can find on your site?

David: At the 2007 World Beard and Moustache Championships in Brighton, the British beard contestants got talking and we realised that while there was the long-standing Handlebar (Moustache) Club, where beards are prohibited, there was no Beard club in the UK.

So big-bearded Russ Sherwood took a few names and he later sent out preliminary inquiries to some of those ex-contestants about forming a beard club. Then tragically, Russ passed away suddenly, and the impetus was lost for six months until the European Championships in September 2008.

In conversation between visiting British bearded contestants and Handlebar club committee members at that event, my name was suggested, having been the Handlebar Club’s substantially- bearded webmaster, as a catalyst for creating and developing a new British Beard Club.

So we officially formed The British Beard Club in November 2008 with myself as Honorary President and Organiser and had our first meet in February 2009, where there were 10 members. 5 years later we currently have over 650 members in the UK and around the world, and Meets take place somewhere in the country at least every month.

HTGAM: Some rather snooty moustached types seem to look down on the bearded for they think them lazy. Do you ever experience this in the circles you run in?

Dave: Unfortunately the stereotypical image of a man with a full beard is that of a hobo or down-and-out who may not have the choice to be bearded or not. A man who is bearded-by-choice will spend a lot of time grooming and taking care of his beard so that he feels and looks comfortable with himself. We always get asked, “Doesn’t food get stuck in it?”, and the answer is that a bearded-by-choice man is always very fastidious about keeping his beard clean and fresh, so eating ice-cream with a full beard requires the same care as is needed by a man with a Handlebar Moustache. Napkins always at the ready! So laziness doesn’t come into it for the beard growing enthusiast who may spend just as much time on his appearance as one of our moustached brethren.

[pullquote] “We always get asked, “Doesn’t food get stuck in it?”[/pullquote]

HTGAM: How much maintenance actually goes into the care and upkeep of a beard?

Dave: Day to day maintenance usually involves washing the beard and possibly conditioning. Most beard growers (I always avoid the expression “beard-wearers” – which implies that one’s beard is something you can sequentially take off and put on again at will!) will wash their beards in their daily shower or bath. There is a movement towards avoiding commercial harsh shampoos and conditioners that contain the dreaded bubble-forming Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. This is a skin-irritating detergent that is also used for cleaning up engine oil spills!

Far better is a herbal shampoo without that ingredient, or even just plain water as a rinse-through. Our members also recommend a simple rinse of apple-cider vinegar well-diluted with water, which cleanses and removes excess oil, followed by thorough rinsing with clean water, which takes away any vinegary after-odour.

HTGAM: This may seem a silly question David, but I ask it for my readers, in what ways does a beardsman use moustache wax?  Is there a beard wax too on the market?

Dave: Many beard growers cultivate styled moustaches as well, and so require the same properties of a moustache wax as gentlemen with moustaches only. Obviously the extent of a full beard is much greater than that of a moustache, and as most full-beard growers prefer a natural appearance when they are not appearing in a special style – such as Musketeer or Freestyle which may require stiff or exaggerated shaping – so not many would want to apply a stiff moustache wax to the body of a beard.

There are several softer beard wax and conditioning products available which are intended to condition and tame the beard without stiffening it or reducing its natural softness. I personally use Professor Edward J. Fuzzworthy’s Beard Care Gloss from New Zealand company Beauty and the Bees. Another product I like is Mr Natty – Frank’s Beard Elixir which has a very gentlemanly and pleasant perfume of beeswax, old leather and book-bindings.

Now that there is a resurgence of interest in and acceptance of the bearded appearance, products for the care and condition of your beard are entering a fertile market, so there are and will be many others.

The British Beard Club Exclusive Interview With How To Grow A Moustache

 HTGAM: Looking around, anyone can see the stache is making a huge comeback among the youth, have you noticed a similar trend with beards? What are the ages of some of your youngest members?

Dave: Yes, I would say that among  today’s younger men there is an equal if not greater interest in growing interesting styles of beard than moustaches. Not perhaps what you want to hear!

A ‘cool’ beard style can say just as much about the individualist character of ‘its’ grower as a moustache, and offers a large area for creative styling. An up-and-coming trend is the barber-etched beard, where intricate patterns are carefully shaved down to the skin through a few days’ stubble. Darker haired men can show off this style to great advantage, and as only a few days growth is needed, there’s little waiting time for an interesting result!

 As far as I know, because we do not require our members to tell us their exact age other than that they are 16 years or over, one of our youngest members who has just joined us is 17  years of age, with a brown Natural Full Beard.

HTGAM: For our readers that compete, what are some tips you can pass along to them in regards to preparation for an event? Are all beardsmen as “serious” as Jack Passion?

Dave: Jack is a lovely man whom I first met in Germany at WBMC2005, and provides all bearded men with a competition hero’s beard to aspire to, but most of us in The British Beard Club enter the competitions to experience the wonderful camaraderie of facial hair enthusiasts and just for the “taking part”. Winning anything is an extra!

Having said that we do have a World Championship Musketeer-category winning Founder Member, Frazer Coppin, and several other serious beard category top-title contenders for the next WBMC this year in Stuttgart, Germany.

For preparation, talk by any modern means to other previous and hopeful contestants to swap techniques and product use in competitions. Take a ‘second’ or companion with you if you can as we all need encouragement, independent appraisal and a last-minute extra spray or dab of wax before you go on!

HTGAM: Do you notice a difference in the moustachioed temperament in comparison to the bearded?

Dave: Not really – I think all facial hair aficionados tend towards a laid-back attitude combined with an easy facility to make friends. Growing a beard or moustache is however a character-building event in one’s life that helps one to cope with future situations of everyday existence, because you need independence and strength of will to change your appearance. That is why growing a beard doesn’t give you something to hide behind, it pushes you forward into the limelight.

HTGAM: Your club seems to have a lot of chapters or, “thatches” as you call them. How do they operate? The system to us seems to be modeled after the Catholic Church and that, David, makes you the Pope!

Dave: Bless you my son!

No, I do not think of myself as a figurehead at all, more of a “facilitator” who helps to bring members of our beard fraternity together.

The Thatches are local groups that can arrange meets and activities locally because it’s unreasonable to expect members of a national club to gather in one place all the time. Thatches are essentially autonomous but are expected to keep to the unwritten tenets of gentlemanly behaviour and charitable intentions of the Club as a whole.

HTGAM: What events are on the horizon for your organization and “thatches”? Are there any fundraisers or charitable soirées coming up?

Dave: We have plans for some local competitions this year, and “Yorkshire Beard Day and Beard Competition” has just taken place, with all proceeds going to charity. This local event has been reported in TV and other media, and we have around six ‘fixed’ Meets each year, as well as monthly meets in various locations. We have an annual Sunday lunch meet in mid-summer on the UK’s Father’s Day that we call Midsummer Beardness. This year it’s on 16th June, and our Essex Beardsmen thatch will be once again hosting Pith in the Park; a celebration of tropical headwear and fine ales at Chelmsford summer beer festival. We also meet at The Great British Beer Festival in August at the London Olympia hall.

Ann Parrett from Prostate Cancer UK receives The British Beard Club members’ donation of 600GBP from Club Hon. President David Dade on February 9 2013.

HTGAM: Over the last few years how much money has your club raised?

Dave: At our 5th anniversary Meet in Essex recently we presented a cheque for UKP600 ($900) to Prostate Cancer UK, which was the surplus from members subscriptions over the last two years. I chose that charity on behalf of the Club because Prostate Cancer UK had helped me during my own prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Last year we had great success with our British Beard and Moustache Championships in September 2012, which made headlines all over the world and resulted in a donation of nearly UKP2500 ($3600) to UK cancer and hospice charities. This event was jointly hosted by The British Beard Club and the Handlebar Club, and will probably take place again in 2014.

HTGAM: Any advice for the newly bearded that may be considering joining a club or organization such as yours?

Dave: Almost all of our members have been through the same stages of growing a beard, self-doubt, thoughts of shaving, giving up, ridiculing by mates, pressure to trim at work, etc. Join your local Beard Club to get their support and for the great camaraderie of the Bearded Brotherhood. Tell your mother, workmates, and most of all yourself: “Men have beards. I’m a man, and I’m growing my beard! Get over it!”

HTGAM: Great! Now how do I sign up?

Dave: Just go to:

http://thebritishbeardclub.org/join.php

Have a read of the advantages of our 10UKP annual membership and check the notes in the sidebar, then click/tap on the Membership Application Form Button. There are more notes to help you fill out the Form on that page as well. We recommend that prospective international members choose the PayPal subscription option, as any other payment method costs us more to process than the subscription!

 On the scene at the British Beard and Moustache Championships

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Special thanks To David Dade et al over at The British Beard Club. Dedicated in memory of  Russ Sherwood. All photos property Of The British Beard Club. For further information on The British Beard Club please check out their Official Homepage: www.thebritishbeardclub.org also visit them and “like” on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thebritishbeardclub

 Interview By Douglas Smythe

Contact Douglas: whiskers@howtogrowamoustache.com Please Befriend Us on Facebook too! www.facebook.com/pages/How-To-Grow-A-Moustache

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