Who is this dapper gentleman?
Meet Reginald “Reggie” Hawthorne, Esq.
Origin Story
Born in 1897 in the misty hills of the Cotswolds, Reggie was the only son of a renowned botanist and a portrait painter. While his father cultivated rare herbs for medicinal balms, his mother captured the faces of London’s elite—always with a perfectly groomed mustache or beard. Young Reggie inherited both talents: a nose for fine botanicals and an eye for symmetry. At age 17, he apprenticed under a master barber in Savile Row, where he learned that a gentleman’s beard is not just hair—it’s heritage.
During the Great War, Reggie served as a field medic, concocting beard oils from foraged plants to boost morale among the troops. His signature blend—cedarwood, bergamot, and a whisper of tobacco leaf—became legendary. Soldiers swore it not only softened whiskers but sharpened wits under fire.
The Turning Point
In 1923, Reggie vanished during a Himalayan expedition to source rare sandalwood. Locals claimed he’d been adopted by a clan of snow leopards who mistook his handlebar mustache for a spiritual omen. When he reemerged 20 years later (unchanged, still impeccably groomed), he carried a leather-bound journal titled The Codex Whiskerus. Inside: 47 proprietary beard rituals, each tied to a phase of the moon.
Modern Era
After his 1943 re-emergence from the Himalayas, Reggie did not simply fade into legend. He adapted and exists behind every VANY Beard tin, jar, and bottle. Open the lid under moonlight and you’ll hear the faint clink of crystal decanters and the low hum of a 1920s gramophone playing jazz that hasn’t been recorded yet.
Reggie never ages, but he evolves. In the 1950s, he ghost-wrote grooming columns for Esquire under the pseudonym “R. H. Snowleopard.” In the 1970s, he advised Studio 54 bouncers on the precise angle for a disco-era handlebar. In the 1990s, he trolled newsgroups as “whiskerwizard97,” dropping beard-oil recipes that still circulate on Reddit. Today, he lives simultaneously in 1923 and 2025, stepping through golden digital portals to judge TikTok beard trends with a single raised eyebrow.
His current mission: to save modern gentlemen from the tragedy of the “unkempt timeline.” Be sure to like and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages for special notes from Reggie’s—like a cryptic fortune cookie from another century.
He signs every note the same way:
—R.H., still 39, forever