Man Turns Beard Into Enormous Bird Cage
Eric Brooks, of Fort Collins, Colo., is known for his wacky whiskers.
— -- Eric Brooks is known for his luscious locks —- of facial hair.
His bold beards have gone viral for obvious reasons. But most recently, he’s made headlines for his “beard cage.”
Brooks unveiled his fully functioning beard birdcage at the National Beard & Moustache Championship on Nov. 7 in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he was presenting the Traveler Beer Company’s “Just Because” award.
“They had three minutes of stage time in the competition so they wanted to come up with something to ‘wow’ the crowd and promote their product,” Brooks, 26, of Fort Collins, Colo., told ABC News. “I had a lot of viral beards on the Internet before this, so they approached me and asked a stylist about the beard cage thing.”
Hairstylist Adam Maclay pre-constructed the actual cage, wrapping the cage with fake hair before physically attaching it to Brooks’ head.
“My beard is a little past chest length, but I’d have to have hair all the way down to my feet to wrap it around the whole cage,” Brooks explained. “So he used prop hair to wrap it around the cage and then we used my actual beard to mold the bottom part to give the illusion that it’s my hair wrapping around and intertwining.”
But for Maclay, this crazy “beard cage” wasn’t the easiest thing to pull off.
“Ensuring it was balanced on his shoulders while not pulling on his beard was a bit challenging. Overall, it was an amazing creative experience that I was proud to be part of,” Maclay said of the facial hair feat.
Brooks was still able to eat and drink while wearing the cage thanks to the door that opened and closed, but the whole contraption did get a bit heavy after taking so many pictures.
“They put a bracket on the back that went under my nice sport coat,” he explained. “Basically it wrapped around my chest like a clip. It was pretty tight. It was hard to move around. It started digging into my neck and getting a little hot in there. I finally got to take it off after a million pictures were taken.”
Brooks said this was not the most outlandish beard he's ever had.
“I’m used to doing my own beard and doing crazy designs by myself without false hair, but this was one of the most photo opp-worthy beards to skew people’s imagination to what you can do with facial hair and hair in general,” he said. “I’m more known for my actual freestyle designs.”
And indeed he is. Take a look at some of his wacky whiskers.
Related Stories
ABC News Live