Jefferson Hack (April 2005 - April 2010)
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.telegraph.co.uk
Barber-shop virgin Jefferson Hack puts his life in the hands of a man wielding a cut-throat blade for a traditional close wet-shave
I let my girlfriend do it once. I even once let my five-year old-daughter have a gentle stroke over my chin with a safety razor. But never, until now, have I let another man come near my face with a blade.
Step back in time with close wet-shave
I have often walked past Murdock, the gentlemen's grooming shop in the East End of London, and wondered what a traditional men's wet shave with cut-throat razor would feel like.
Murdock, which has been open since April 2006, mixes discreet, Jermyn Street charm with a chic eye for style. It's a neighbourhood hangout.
With its scattering of first-edition books and curiosities, its pre-war lounge music and complimentary espressos, it has established itself as a first-stop shop for men looking for advice on grooming or guilt-free pampering, and without the private-members' feel or fuss of a West End day spa.
"I wanted to bring back the heritage of the barber's shop in this country for the contemporary man who appreciates the past and appreciates style," explains owner Brendan Murdock.
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And so it was that I booked myself in for an ultra-clean start to the week.
While the rest of London was gearing up for a Monday morning at work, I was lying back in the soft leather arms of a 1950s barber's chair, listening to Stan Getz and having mint ointment rubbed into my weekend party stubble by the soft hands of a Jordanian cut-throat expert.
"Ahh! You are a virgin," he proclaimed with a wry smile after I told him it was my first time before the blade.
Like the first time in a strip club or at a gaming table, I felt like I was crossing a bridge of initiation; the experience would reveal itself as suspiciously simple once the mystique was peeled away.
The proceedings started with pre-shave oiling, followed by the iconic hot towel treatment that I associate with the opening scenes of the original Scarface, when the police walk into the shop to take Tony Camonte for questioning.
The steam opened my pores and made my hairs stand to attention. Then, deploying a traditional badger's brush, the barber fluffs the classic Santa Maria Novella Crema da Barba, created by Dominican Friars in the 13th century, into my skin.
The barber's first pass, as it is known in the cut-throat businesses, began from my sideburns, the barber gliding his way to my lips, leaving room for the occasional flourish as he wiped the cream from the stainless steel blade (I could see him brandishing the blade from the corner of my eye).
After a fresh coating was lathered on using the badger's brush, he cut against the grain of the hair to give me the super-smooth finish that the wet shave is famous for.
More towelling was used for the post-shave cool down, along with a non-alcoholic astringent made of olive oil and witch hazel extracts to soothe and calm the skin. Through the towel my face was gently massaged, reminding me that I had survived the blade without nick or burn; I felt suitably relieved.
He then rubbed the Santa Maria Novella cologne between his palms. The shock of the light sting woke me up. I didn't know what to expect, but I felt like a weekend of stubble was now far behind me.
"Do your remember your first time?" I ask Brendan.
"Yes, it was terrible," he replies. "I came out with razor burn all over my face, I really didn't enjoy it. It was at an old-fashioned place that used the wrong products for my skin."
Brendan, with his namesake shops in Shoreditch and at Liberty in W1, has more than made up for it since then.
• Murdock is at 340 Old Street, London EC1V, 020 7729 2288, murdocklondon.com
Barber-shop virgin Jefferson Hack puts his life in the hands of a man wielding a cut-throat blade for a traditional close wet-shave
I let my girlfriend do it once. I even once let my five-year old-daughter have a gentle stroke over my chin with a safety razor. But never, until now, have I let another man come near my face with a blade.
I have often walked past Murdock, the gentlemen's grooming shop in the East End of London, and wondered what a traditional men's wet shave with cut-throat razor would feel like.
Murdock, which has been open since April 2006, mixes discreet, Jermyn Street charm with a chic eye for style. It's a neighbourhood hangout.
With its scattering of first-edition books and curiosities, its pre-war lounge music and complimentary espressos, it has established itself as a first-stop shop for men looking for advice on grooming or guilt-free pampering, and without the private-members' feel or fuss of a West End day spa.
"I wanted to bring back the heritage of the barber's shop in this country for the contemporary man who appreciates the past and appreciates style," explains owner Brendan Murdock.
advertisement
And so it was that I booked myself in for an ultra-clean start to the week.
While the rest of London was gearing up for a Monday morning at work, I was lying back in the soft leather arms of a 1950s barber's chair, listening to Stan Getz and having mint ointment rubbed into my weekend party stubble by the soft hands of a Jordanian cut-throat expert.
"Ahh! You are a virgin," he proclaimed with a wry smile after I told him it was my first time before the blade.
Like the first time in a strip club or at a gaming table, I felt like I was crossing a bridge of initiation; the experience would reveal itself as suspiciously simple once the mystique was peeled away.
The proceedings started with pre-shave oiling, followed by the iconic hot towel treatment that I associate with the opening scenes of the original Scarface, when the police walk into the shop to take Tony Camonte for questioning.
The steam opened my pores and made my hairs stand to attention. Then, deploying a traditional badger's brush, the barber fluffs the classic Santa Maria Novella Crema da Barba, created by Dominican Friars in the 13th century, into my skin.
The barber's first pass, as it is known in the cut-throat businesses, began from my sideburns, the barber gliding his way to my lips, leaving room for the occasional flourish as he wiped the cream from the stainless steel blade (I could see him brandishing the blade from the corner of my eye).
After a fresh coating was lathered on using the badger's brush, he cut against the grain of the hair to give me the super-smooth finish that the wet shave is famous for.
More towelling was used for the post-shave cool down, along with a non-alcoholic astringent made of olive oil and witch hazel extracts to soothe and calm the skin. Through the towel my face was gently massaged, reminding me that I had survived the blade without nick or burn; I felt suitably relieved.
He then rubbed the Santa Maria Novella cologne between his palms. The shock of the light sting woke me up. I didn't know what to expect, but I felt like a weekend of stubble was now far behind me.
"Do your remember your first time?" I ask Brendan.
"Yes, it was terrible," he replies. "I came out with razor burn all over my face, I really didn't enjoy it. It was at an old-fashioned place that used the wrong products for my skin."
Brendan, with his namesake shops in Shoreditch and at Liberty in W1, has more than made up for it since then.
• Murdock is at 340 Old Street, London EC1V, 020 7729 2288, murdocklondon.com
www.telegraph.co.uk
Our top fashion moments of 2007
Jefferson Hack
My fashion moment has to be Kylie Minogue wearing a Gareth Pugh shredded leather dress, and dancing on the bar at the now legendary BoomBox; a defining moment for London style and its fashion influence.
Original, overdressed, trendsetting or trying too hard...
The judges of the inaugural Daily Telegraph Style Awards sift the wow from the woeful
Week in, week out the public is bamboozled with the conflicting opinions of fashion experts on which celebrity is in, out, best-dressed, worst-dressed or off the radar altogether. That's why we have launched The Daily Telegraph Style Awards, inviting three of the industry's sharpest commentators - our columnists Sarah Mower and Jefferson Hack and this paper's fashion director, Hilary Alexander - to decide which celebrities deserve our fashion trophies. Each judge comes at fashion from a very different angle - and that is the intention. Debate was often heated, but the overall decisions were, as you will see, impassioned, informed and incisive.
Throughout the awards, the same names kept cropping up. Was Dame Vivienne Westwood most Glamorous Grande Dame, or Eternal Rebel? Should Keira Knightley get the Best Red Carpet Dresser gong, or that of Most Improved Style? And which fashion Oscar did Kate Moss most deserve: Best Dresser-down, Most Prolific Trendsetter, or the Best Red Carpet accolade?
Hack thought that Moss should win the latter. "For ripping the red carpet up! Kate and John Galliano together at the Golden Age of Couture was a great moment for British style," he said. "They're two mavericks who are true fashion originals. Kate evoked old-style Hollywood glamour in vintage Dior Couture - and then tore it up later that night. That's rock and roll."
Alexander and Mower felt that Moss should be honoured, but for her ability to inspire a thousand imitations, a knack she capitalised on with her successful Topshop collaboration.
"Kate's ability to turn clothes into items that everybody wants to wear makes her outstanding," argued Mower. Alexander agreed: "Whatever she wears - wherever it's from - it's sold out in an instant, and all the big chains copy it by the million, like the star-print shirt from Jaeger."
Next up was the award for Best Red Carpet Dresser. Hack's second choice for this trophy was Keira Knightley, who he said looked "fabulous" at Atonement's premieres. However, he was outvoted by Alexander and Mower who put their combined weight behind Cate Blanchett. "The stars seem to be scared that if they don't wear strapless dresses like everyone else, the critics will tear them apart," observed Mower. "But Cate breaks the rules and wears tailoring. She never looks as if she's posing in someone else's jewellery and she wears young designers."
"She's looked gorgeous in Armani Privé," added Alexander, "and she doesn't wear tons of make-up."
Instead, Knightley won the Most Improved Style award. After some disastrous choices last year, both on the red carpet and casually, she has, everyone agreed, come into her own in the past six months. "The white goddess Rodarte dress she wore to the UK premiere of Atonement was amazing," said Mower.
Agyness Deyn, the 21-year-old model, had all the judges purring with approval for her relaxed, girly style. "She never looks scruffy, but always original in stripy leggings, boys' shoes and a trilby hat," said Hack. This won her Best Dresser-down: they agreed that she has replaced Sienna Miller as the girl most others want to look like. "Riding off from the Oscar de la Renta show on her bicycle, she looked so natural in a pretty dress and knotted vintage shirt," said Alexander. "I loved the way she called her mother on her mobile as she went to receive Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards," said Mower.
At the other end of the scale, nominations for Glamorous Grande Dame included Dame Helen Mirren, Joan Burstein (founder of Browns boutique) and Dame Judi Dench, but the accolade went to Vanessa Redgrave. At the Venice Film Festival in October, everyone loved the way her silver Vera Wang dress echoed her hair colour and how she had accessorised with her daughter Joely Richardson and granddaughter Daisy Bevan, who both wore complimentary lustrous shades.
Westwood was also a nominee for the award, but the judges felt her unique style was better suited to the Eternal Rebel title. Like Zandra Rhodes - another contender for the trophy - she has retained a unique style, which some might call eccentric.
Stella McCartney won the Most Stylish Pregnancy title for her outfit at the British Fashion Awards, which was, of course, one of her own creations. "The dinner jacket worn over what she called a 'babygrow' looked fabulous," said Alexander.
For Best Dressed Man, Hack fought off support for more conservative dressers such as George Clooney, and argued that Johnny Depp's bohemian attire deserved the gong: "he never looks as if he's dressing up, just well-dressed. It helps that he plays such stylish characters, like Captain Jack Black. He has created his own kind of bohemian dandy."
Mower nominated David Hockney for the Lifetime Achievement award for consistently setting the agenda. Hack agreed: "he has been a recurring influence on many designers from Christopher Bailey to Paul Smith. It's his quintessential Britishness, and his knack of casually mixing and matching colours, that have enduring appeal."
There were also less desirable gongs. Some people are consistent Fashion Victims - a category in which Victoria Beckham had few rivals for trying too hard. She seems to have rubbed off on her friend, Katie Holmes, who often appears beside her looking like she, too, takes fashion rather seriously. So they share the title. "Many of the LA girls lean on bad stylists for advice," said Hack. "Trying too hard shows a lack of confidence."
Holmes, 29, was also considered for the rather sad Lamb Dressed As Mutton category. She and Kelly Osbourne, 23, both seem to choose clothes more suited to 40-somethings. But despite protestations that "she's a lovely girl", the judges felt that the actress Emma Watson, 17, should be warned against putting on everything Chanel offers her, and awarded her the title.
The reverse category, Mutton Dressed As Lamb, descended into a battle. Hack nominated Russell Brand, 32: "I think he should now cover up his hairy chest." However, Mower, whose Mutton Monitor caused such a stir on these pages this year, nominated Goldie Hawn, 62: "It is always a bit distressing when a woman insists on dressing younger than her daughter." Alexander agreed that her flirty dresses would best be left to teenagers.
Our top fashion moments of 2007
Jefferson Hack
My fashion moment has to be Kylie Minogue wearing a Gareth Pugh shredded leather dress, and dancing on the bar at the now legendary BoomBox; a defining moment for London style and its fashion influence.
Original, overdressed, trendsetting or trying too hard...
The judges of the inaugural Daily Telegraph Style Awards sift the wow from the woeful
Week in, week out the public is bamboozled with the conflicting opinions of fashion experts on which celebrity is in, out, best-dressed, worst-dressed or off the radar altogether. That's why we have launched The Daily Telegraph Style Awards, inviting three of the industry's sharpest commentators - our columnists Sarah Mower and Jefferson Hack and this paper's fashion director, Hilary Alexander - to decide which celebrities deserve our fashion trophies. Each judge comes at fashion from a very different angle - and that is the intention. Debate was often heated, but the overall decisions were, as you will see, impassioned, informed and incisive.
Throughout the awards, the same names kept cropping up. Was Dame Vivienne Westwood most Glamorous Grande Dame, or Eternal Rebel? Should Keira Knightley get the Best Red Carpet Dresser gong, or that of Most Improved Style? And which fashion Oscar did Kate Moss most deserve: Best Dresser-down, Most Prolific Trendsetter, or the Best Red Carpet accolade?
Hack thought that Moss should win the latter. "For ripping the red carpet up! Kate and John Galliano together at the Golden Age of Couture was a great moment for British style," he said. "They're two mavericks who are true fashion originals. Kate evoked old-style Hollywood glamour in vintage Dior Couture - and then tore it up later that night. That's rock and roll."
Alexander and Mower felt that Moss should be honoured, but for her ability to inspire a thousand imitations, a knack she capitalised on with her successful Topshop collaboration.
"Kate's ability to turn clothes into items that everybody wants to wear makes her outstanding," argued Mower. Alexander agreed: "Whatever she wears - wherever it's from - it's sold out in an instant, and all the big chains copy it by the million, like the star-print shirt from Jaeger."
Next up was the award for Best Red Carpet Dresser. Hack's second choice for this trophy was Keira Knightley, who he said looked "fabulous" at Atonement's premieres. However, he was outvoted by Alexander and Mower who put their combined weight behind Cate Blanchett. "The stars seem to be scared that if they don't wear strapless dresses like everyone else, the critics will tear them apart," observed Mower. "But Cate breaks the rules and wears tailoring. She never looks as if she's posing in someone else's jewellery and she wears young designers."
"She's looked gorgeous in Armani Privé," added Alexander, "and she doesn't wear tons of make-up."
Instead, Knightley won the Most Improved Style award. After some disastrous choices last year, both on the red carpet and casually, she has, everyone agreed, come into her own in the past six months. "The white goddess Rodarte dress she wore to the UK premiere of Atonement was amazing," said Mower.
Agyness Deyn, the 21-year-old model, had all the judges purring with approval for her relaxed, girly style. "She never looks scruffy, but always original in stripy leggings, boys' shoes and a trilby hat," said Hack. This won her Best Dresser-down: they agreed that she has replaced Sienna Miller as the girl most others want to look like. "Riding off from the Oscar de la Renta show on her bicycle, she looked so natural in a pretty dress and knotted vintage shirt," said Alexander. "I loved the way she called her mother on her mobile as she went to receive Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards," said Mower.
At the other end of the scale, nominations for Glamorous Grande Dame included Dame Helen Mirren, Joan Burstein (founder of Browns boutique) and Dame Judi Dench, but the accolade went to Vanessa Redgrave. At the Venice Film Festival in October, everyone loved the way her silver Vera Wang dress echoed her hair colour and how she had accessorised with her daughter Joely Richardson and granddaughter Daisy Bevan, who both wore complimentary lustrous shades.
Westwood was also a nominee for the award, but the judges felt her unique style was better suited to the Eternal Rebel title. Like Zandra Rhodes - another contender for the trophy - she has retained a unique style, which some might call eccentric.
Stella McCartney won the Most Stylish Pregnancy title for her outfit at the British Fashion Awards, which was, of course, one of her own creations. "The dinner jacket worn over what she called a 'babygrow' looked fabulous," said Alexander.
For Best Dressed Man, Hack fought off support for more conservative dressers such as George Clooney, and argued that Johnny Depp's bohemian attire deserved the gong: "he never looks as if he's dressing up, just well-dressed. It helps that he plays such stylish characters, like Captain Jack Black. He has created his own kind of bohemian dandy."
Mower nominated David Hockney for the Lifetime Achievement award for consistently setting the agenda. Hack agreed: "he has been a recurring influence on many designers from Christopher Bailey to Paul Smith. It's his quintessential Britishness, and his knack of casually mixing and matching colours, that have enduring appeal."
There were also less desirable gongs. Some people are consistent Fashion Victims - a category in which Victoria Beckham had few rivals for trying too hard. She seems to have rubbed off on her friend, Katie Holmes, who often appears beside her looking like she, too, takes fashion rather seriously. So they share the title. "Many of the LA girls lean on bad stylists for advice," said Hack. "Trying too hard shows a lack of confidence."
Holmes, 29, was also considered for the rather sad Lamb Dressed As Mutton category. She and Kelly Osbourne, 23, both seem to choose clothes more suited to 40-somethings. But despite protestations that "she's a lovely girl", the judges felt that the actress Emma Watson, 17, should be warned against putting on everything Chanel offers her, and awarded her the title.
The reverse category, Mutton Dressed As Lamb, descended into a battle. Hack nominated Russell Brand, 32: "I think he should now cover up his hairy chest." However, Mower, whose Mutton Monitor caused such a stir on these pages this year, nominated Goldie Hawn, 62: "It is always a bit distressing when a woman insists on dressing younger than her daughter." Alexander agreed that her flirty dresses would best be left to teenagers.
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