Man #2. Shabby Chic — The English Gentleman’s Secret
The Quiet Power of Effortless Style
If Part One was about hair as identity, Part Two is about hair as heritage. In the Cotswolds, true style isn’t loud, polished, or desperate for attention. It’s lived-in, slightly frayed, and quietly confident, the very essence of shabby chic.
Before Instagram fades and celebrity beard oils, English gentlemen had a different philosophy. A jacket might be damaged and worn, slept in and scuffed at the elbows; boots weathered from a walk across fields and hair? Hair grew into place, neither over-groomed nor conspicuously styled. As Wilde put it: “A true gentleman never looks as if he has just had his hair cut or beard trimmed.”
Effortlessness is the ultimate performance.
Contrast that with today’s social-media grooming culture. Fades too high, with beard lines too low, the Instagram-ready cuts might look sharp on a reel, but they rarely grow into something that suits the persons growth patterns. Terrible barbering and haircuts that grow out awkwardly are everywhere, the chav footballer’s “fresh fade every week” or the influencer’s pattern. It’s a replacement culture: swap the haircut, swap the trend, swap the person, never invest, never grow. They chase attention, not relationships; they swipe for right for novelty, not heritage.
Even in literature, this ethos resonates. Jane Austen’s country squires and farmers didn’t parade their grooming; ‘they carried themselves with understated control.’ Their style was a whisper, not a shout, much like a haircut that grows in, revealing itself only to those who notice.
At HARE, we shape haircuts to match this philosophy.
Slight imperfections are not mistakes; they are intention. A beard grows naturally, shaped but not staged. Every cut is designed to look like it has always belonged, much like a Cotswold stone cottage with oddities and antiquated beauty .
Shabby chic isn’t laziness. It’s confidence, heritage, and pure class. It’s masculinity expressed through discretion. And it’s the perfect counterpoint to every disposable fade, over-groomed influencer, and social-media-ready haircut out there. While the world swipes for the next sharp line, the Cotswold gent grows into his, quietly powerful, subtly rebellious, and effortlessly right.
