Beards, Beards and Beards
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Beards, Beards and Beards

Forté magazine had the chance to catch up with Barbers Choice’s Brayden Dorney, who has been very busy preparing a new range of products for Barbers Choice clients and is also currently headed over to the United States to compete in the World Beard and Moustache Championships.

For those of you with beards in your life, whether it is your own or attached to someone special, it’s a time to rejoice because Barbers Choice will soon be releasing three new products, a specially formulated Beard Wash and two different Hair Styling Pomades. Inspired by positive feedback from the companies Beard Oil range, the Beard Wash was born out of frustration – from using “products that are filled with cheap nasties that left [Brayden’s] beard feeling dry and itchy”. And so came the desire to make a better product.

The Beard Wash, and Beard Balm, are made for people who want to care for their beards, and are formulated to suit the hair and skin of one’s beard – “leaving it clean without stripping it of all its much-needed natural oils,” Brayden says. The pomades have the same overall motive – born into a market which has no well-functioning pomades free from all sorts of nasty ingredients, including petroleum. These pomades were created with a team of chemists to be petroleum free and to give hair a “magic long lasting hold” leaving behind a healthy looking, and feeling, hair and scalp.

The two different pomades differ as one is oil based and the other is matte-clay based, which means they function differently. However, both are water soluble and can be used either separately or in conjunction to create a range of “seriously tidy hair styles”. These new products are a further expansion of Barbers Choice’s products, and you are bound to find the perfect product for the beard in your life.

Speaking of perfect beards, Brayden is currently headed over to The World Beard and Moustache Championships which is basically the beard Olympics. This year the event is being held in Austin, Texas – with thousands of tickets sold. There are 27 different categories, ranging from just moustaches to full beards and bearded women.

“I’m really excited about it,” he smiles, “There are some amazing beards out there in this big wide world. The championships isn’t something I’m nervous about, because I know that no matter what happens it is going to be a magic time with a bunch of awesome beards.”

Due to the care Brayden has taken of his beard, no doubt with the help of Barbers Choice products, there was almost no need for special preparations to compete on the World stage – however a beard trim was necessary to qualify for Brayden’s category (beards under 20cm). Although the occasional check and trim of damaged hairs of split ends is often required to keep a healthy beard, a cut like this can be heartbreaking – but it’s for a pretty great reason.

“The category I have registered for is the ‘Garibaldi category’ which is judged on roundness and width but must be no longer than 20cm in length, measured from your bottom lip. We have a team of seven Aussies heading over to Texas to represent Australia – wish us luck,” he says.

There are plenty of great people, and beards, Brayden is bound to run into at the event, including stars from the reality show Whisker Wars.

“There are some serious champions amongst the competitive beard world, beards so long they have to worry about getting it caught in the fly of their pants. I am also really looking forward to meeting the lads from the Austin Facial Hair Club, they have put some hard work into the beard scene and even have their own reality TV series about competitive bearding. It’s called ‘Whisker Wars’ and is well worth the watch,” he says.

“The last championships was held at Austria in 2015 and had close to 10,000 people through the gate. The ‘Freestyle category’ and the ‘Full beard natural’ category would be the two I am most looking forward to seeing.”

For all those interested, there will also be some live footage of the World Championships streamed through the Barbers Choice Facebook page.

Best of luck to Brayden and the six other Aussies who are all competing in this year’s event.

You can find Barbers Choice via the Facebook page, or check out the website.

Written by Perri Digby