I’m here to get my unruly beard groomed at Vienna’s first authentic barbershop.
The fact that it’s the first makes me wonder where men went to get their beards beautified in the past. Along with the revived craze for facial growth – especially burly lumberjack beards – the craze for barbershops has come along with it. And now Vienna has one of its own.
Upon entering we’re asked about what whiskey we’d prefer by two bearded men behind the smart looking counter, located within the smart looking space. Leather couches, an Italian racing bike, an electric guitar – all props in a very convincing setting for testosterone to run free. Not in a mates-at-the-football kind of way, but a place where men can compare the curls of their moustaches, and the shapes of the tattoos crawling down their arm, speak about beard oils, and still feel like manly men.
It turns out the guys behind the counter are brothers out of Russia, and the owners, Ivan und Ilya. This explains the name. We talk beards and their decision on opening a barbershop.
“It wasn’t an idea, it was the answer to a necessity,” says Ivan with conviction.
“It was like a desert here in Vienna in terms of barbershops. We had experience with the trade back in our home, Russia, and Vienna needed one.”
Ivan tells me my dense beard is a perfect canvas.
“The thicker the beard, the better it is to shape and create something out of it.”
There’s two kinds of beard grooming packages offered here. There’s the deluxe, which is like a beard spa treatment, during which the beard is cleaned, trimmed, brushed, treated with various products, and a wet shave. Then there’s the light grooming which is like a tidying up of the beard’s shape. My mangy bush is destined for the deluxe grooming. Patrick, the slicked-back hair, head barber of this outfit invites me over to sit in one of the retro-style barber chairs. It’s my first time, I tell him. Be gentle, you handsome man.
He walks me through what he’s going to do to me which can be summed up as the following – bring order to the hairy mess. I tell him I trust him, and to be mindful of the colony of birds I think may be living in there.
The trimming back of the beard is like getting your haircut … but on the other end of your head. The trim is followed by a steaming hot wet towel that’s wrapped around my head. Patrick explains it’s to open the pores. Patrick learned his trade in London, where barbershops have always been common place.
“There’s huge competition in London so you have to be really talented to get a job there as a barber,” Patrick tells me.
Then comes the moment we’d all been waiting for – the wet shave with the flip blade razor. I feel for a moment like a Hollywood actor out of the Bogart era. There is something Frank Sinatra about this whole scene. It’s the modern day version I conclude, which has been mixed with a Rockabilly biker gang style.
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