Interview: Matthew Hughes, Head Barber at Murdock London in Covent Garden

Matthew Hughes is head honcho at the King Street branch of exceptionally cool London barbershop Murdock. Managing to take some time away from treating the well-sculpted hair and facial hair of our good London gents, Matthew has answered a few questions about his style inspirations, and the need to maintain a healthy beard! Take a look:

Who is the modern man?

To me, the modern man should be purposeful but casual in styling, making sure that the look he is trying to achieve is accomplished without appearing like he has taken hours staring in the mirror. A personal style should also be maintained, not changed with each fad that comes and goes. 

Where do you look for inspiration when it comes to grooming and style? 

Absolutely everywhere. Working in an environment like Murdock means that you see guys everyday who have aspects of style that you can pinch and mould to suit you. Besides here, the streets are a great way to spot gents who have interesting but functional style. I think catwalks throw out styles and haircuts that are potentially great for a brief period, but are not always so realistic. 

And how does this impact on the "Murdock experience"?

The Murdock experience is a classic, smooth experience that doesn’t need to be altered depending on what is going on at the time. I think that is why it is so successful, as regardless of what's going on outside you are guaranteed the same relaxing and satisfying experience from entry to exit.

What is your own favourite product? Has this been influenced by your own customers?

At the moment it has to be the Murdock Beard Moisturiser, paired with the Elastick for the hair. My preferred hair product can change depending on the style I'm creating, but maintaining a healthy beard and looking after your skin is always going to be key. A nice Murdock Tweed wash bag to keep them both in is probably just as essential. 

Anything you avoid?

Product-wise there are plenty of things I would avoid for myself, but every product serves a purpose to an extent. The best way to learn would be to pop into your nearest Murdock branch and have a good chat with the gents in store. You'll get an honest opinion of what would suit you and what wouldn't. It’s the best way to make sure your bathroom cupboard isn't clogged up with products that you’ve opened and used once!

And finally, what's your top tip for the modern man?

Find your look and stick to it. Never try too hard.

Matthew and his team at Murdock King Street are helping you look like you don't have to try too hard every day of the week - go and check them out!

My New: Redken, Intra-Force Daily Use 3-Step System

Okay, I don’t know that much about hair. Or the science behind hair care in fact. But as I am one of the many unfortunates who struggle with the extra-ordinary pain of a receding hairline, a stimulating and thickening shampoo is fairly close to the top of my list when it comes to grooming essentials. 

I put Murdock Hair Doh in my hair every morning. I style my hair in a quiff. I run my hands through my hair while sitting at my desk all day. In combination, my habits naturally result in more breakage and hair loss around the front of my scalp. And I'd do almost anything to protect what's left. 

I’m not deluded. I don’t think there’s a “re-growth” shampoo or treatment on the market that’s going to prevent or cure baldness (I would be very, very happy to hear from anyone who has found the miracle cure), but what I’m talking about here is a treatment that is going to strengthen and protect your hair.

With that lengthy prelude in mind, I have been using the Redken market offering - Intra-Force - for the last six weeks. This 3-step approach, involving a shampoo, toner and treatment, offers a (relatively) cost effective and simple option. You can pick up a small set of all three products for around £25.00 on Amazon. And I’m kind of obsessed with how it smells (I think it’s the zinc)... 

Step 1 – Shampoo

Step 1, as you may well imagine, is to shampoo. The detoxifying formula (it's the zinc PCA again!) is designed to help reduce excess sebum (natural oiliness that is secreted through the hair follicle) and DHT (which can play a major role in hair loss by causing follicles to shrink). The idea being that the shampoo creates a healthy environment and therefore encourages hair to grow.

Step 2 – Tone 

Step 2 is toning, or conditioning. This is the part that's going to nourish and moisturise, helping prevent premature hair breakage. After shampoo-ing, I comb about a 10p piece sized amount of toner through damp hair and leave it in for a few minutes. Then rinse. The vitamin E content here nourishes and preps your hair before moving on to step 3...

Step 3 - Treatment

The final, post-shower, step is a spray treatment. Claiming to energise the scalp (I'm not certain about that), this treatment is a fast absorbing spray that promotes hair density (via the amino acid content) and makes hair look fuller and thicker. After showering, spray the treatment over towel dried hair and comb or gently massage into the scalp. 

I find that step 3 gives you that blissful, albeit brief, massage-moment in the morning. And for an extra-special treat, you could always pay someone to do it for you at a Redken salon!

In Rotation: September 2013

Sharing the contents of one's bathroom might under any normal circumstances be considered, well, inappropriate. But as I review this stuff all the time I thought it might be fun to share some of what is currently in my grooming rotation for September.*

If there hasn't already been a review of each of these products then there soon will be, so bear with me!

On that note, here you have it (clockwise from top):

Redken: intra-force daily stimulating treatment

Dermalogica: invigorating shave gel

Elemis: deep cleanse facial wash

Aesop: oil free facial hydrating serum

Kiehl's: men's aftershave balm and moisturiser

Baxter of California: night cream AHA

Murdock London: hair doh

Korres: vanilla plum body milk

Diptyque: tam dao eau de toilette

Molton Brown: revitalising eye treatment

PS, you can ignore the olive green tiled background, I happen to like my bathroom so there!

* of course, this is only a snapshot - I'm using new, different and extra products all the time.

The Best: Where to Keep the White Stuff

No, I can almost guarantee that this post is not about what you think it's about...

It's actually about soap, but stick with me! I know that I made fun of Matthew Parris in my Body Washes feature a while back, but obviously the ol' bar of soap can and does have its uses. In fact, I just recommended Molton Brown's Re-charge Black Pepper Bodyscrub Bar in one of my latest posts.

The problem is that, on the whole, soap just looks boring. Or worse, it looks dirty, gnarled or is lying around in more than one piece. So, if you have a use for some soap, then at least take some steps to put it somewhere that looks good. Here are my picks for some of the best soap dishes.

1) Izola, Great Plains Soap Dish (£25.00, available at Murdock London)

If you're looking for the most masculine soap dish around, how about one with weapons on it!? Izola's ceramic dishes are simple but effective. And they're obviously cool if they're stocked by the team at Murdock London.

2) Vipp, Soap Dish (£49.00, available at Skandium)

I will admit that Skandium is my favourite store in all the world. Stocking a range of the best Scandinavian and Nordic design around, Vipp is just one of the many excellent brands you'll find under its roof. This soap dish (which comes in a number of permutations) matches the rest of the Vipp bathroom range. The rubber base can be separated from the stainless steel top and is dishwasher proof, and will also not scratch any delicate surfaces. Stylish and functional are Vipp.

If you don't live in London, the collection is also available online.

3) Alessi, Birillo Soap Dish (£18.50, available at Alessi)

Designed by Piero Lissoni of Milan, this is the space age option. Also part of an entire range for the bathroom, this dish is going to let any visitor to your bathroom know that you care about style and design. Just have a copy of Wallpaper Magazine next to your toilet (or on the coffee table, whatever), to complete the look!

4) West One Bathrooms, Palace Soap Dish (£36.50, available at Selfridges)

If your tastes are a bit more traditional (I don't care if the Selfridges website says that this will give your bathroom a "modern update"), then how about the West One palace soap dish? The faux leather quilting is quite plush, and might suit the gentleman who appreciates an elegant finish.

5) Molton Brown, Stainless Steel Hand Wash Holder (£40.00, available at Molton Brown)

If you just can't stand a bar of soap, how about this very chic stand for your liquid dispenser instead? 

Murdock London, Hair Doh (£14.00, 100ml)

One of the range of hair styling products from
Murdock London.

I have been having my hair cut at the Shoreditch and Spitalfields branches of Murdock for quite a while (until recently by the lovely Vincent Vincent, who is now wielding his scissors back in his native Canada - those reading in Vancouver - please look him up).

They do good hair at Murdock. They also do a good selection of good grooming products, both own brand and by suitably trendy producers (think Jack Black and Sting in the Tail), and both in store and online at www.murdocklondon.com. 

I use the hair doh shaping paste for my barnet. I’ll admit that this was initially because the handy blurb in the store reliably informed me that this was the best choice for styling quiffs. The blurb was right, as it happens.

I’d used a number of different (and yet somehow the same) “supermarket” options in the past, and had always found that my hair (which is (almost) blonde, straight and quite fine) felt heavy, clumpy and a bit lifeless. In particular, I found that with products like V05 reWork I would end up with the majority of the product in my quiff, which would then awkwardly sit atop of my head all day without moving. Not a good look, unless you’re Mark Kermode (pictured below).

 

Mark Kermode - looking fly with his well-styled, if a
little excessively voluminous, quiff.

Now, about hair doh. I find it runs through my hair easily without being particularly sticky. This means that I can rework the hairstyle until it’s how I want it without ripping out hair strands by the follicle. This is particularly important when your hairstyle involves pushing the hair against its natural direction of growth (like in a quiff), and styling your hair might reveal uncomfortable balding spots.

After rubbing a small amount of hair doh between my hands reasonably vigorously, I apply it evenly across my hair. I can then, with my hands (usually) or a comb, shape my hair into the style I want. The hold is good and long-lasting.

One styling tip I was given at Murdock was to spray a little water onto the product when it’s still on your hands, and then apply. The product loosens slightly in the water and so is more malleable.

Thankfully, at the end of the day, this stuff also (a) leaves no (and, quite frankly, gross) old hair-product residue around the hairline, and (b) washes out easily. All in all, a winner.

Stuart is a Modern Man

Welcome to "Stuart is a Modern Man", my new lifestyle blog aimed at the urban gent.

Inspired by a couple of recent events, and finally triggered by meeting the lovely Zoe (of Face Value Beauty Blog) at a garden party, this blog will attempt to provide some helpful insight into the well-packaged but often problematically shallow world of men's grooming products. The blog intends to be useful for every kind of man - from those who use a two-blade razor without even so much as Gillette foam and are looking to branch out, to those who would just like to try something new.

I like to think of myself as a modern kind of man. One of the modern things I do is carry with me a small selection of what I consider to be essential lifestyle products wherever I go. When a good friend, who shall remain nameless but knows who they are, remarked that they found this an atypical thing for a guy to do, I first found myself troubled, but afterwards thinking more about what might be typical for the average man when it comes to looking after themselves.

It is the most simple thing in the world for me to pop my (admittedly rather fancy Scotchgrain Mulberry) washbag into a satchel, tote bag or briefcase. Then I'm ready for the day, whatever happens.

The six products that most often make it into my day are my eau de toilette, moisturiser, lip balm, hair product, hand cream and (as it's summer) sun lotion. As you can see:

Stuart's essentials, from left to right: Kiehl's Ultimate Men's After-Shave Balm and Moisturiser, Penhaligon's Zizonia Eau de Toilette, Clinique Face Cream (SPF 30), Murdock Hair Doh, Molton Brown Protecting Vitamin Lipsaver and Clarins Men Active Hand Care.

The beginnings of this blog will be individual reviews of each product, before I venture off into the lightly fragranced and non-sticky world to bring you more views, reviews and features, all related to man-welfare.

Finally, this blog of course represents my own personal views from having either used or tested the products in question. Additional thoughts and alternative views are very welcome, but keep it (reasonably) nice!