I was going to say “every month is Movember”, but that’s not right. Beards. Bebruary.
I did see someone opine in another thread that we’ve reached peak beard, but judging from my neighborhood, that’s not right. Those rather fashionable beards are still on the increase. Every good looking young dude is sporting a well groomed, shampooed and conditioned facial shrubbery. And they keep getting bigger. It’s like everyone is a lumbersexual all of a sudden.
As a sufferer of mild pogonophobia, I’m not too happy about this. F*** beards. But then again, I suppose some of y’all may be pogonophiles. In which case, you might say: “Yay, let’s all f*** beards!” I guess there has to a reason for the current lamentable state of affairs.
My son just trimmed his “lumbersexual” (great term) beard down to something more manageable and it looks great. My husband sports a closely trimmed beard, so I’m partial.
My beard is not shampooed or well-groomed (or groomed at all). Kind of defeats the point (“the point” being to have an easy, no-shave, no-maintenance face). Trimming does occur, but only preceding the rare occasion I need to be somewhat presentable so no one will think a homeless guy just wandered into the event.
My husband has sported beards of various types almost continuously since we married in '83. For a very brief period when he was hired as an engineer in a food production facility, he shaved down to a mustache, and that’s the closest I’ve ever seen him to having a naked face. A beard is pretty much a requirement of our marriage.
I’ve got a coworker who’s apparently going for length. It think it’s gotten to 6-7" from chin to end - I prefer a closer trim, but his face, his choice.
I’m not particularly fond of the 3-day-unshaven-stubble look that seems to be popular. But on the whole, I like beards.
Right. As usual, I didn’t think the OP through. The poll really should have taken into account a bunch of factors, that all have to be cross triangulated from sixteen different angles, across twelve demographics.
So, the mountain-man beards (also a great term). Yeah, absolutely not a fan. Supposedly, they’re about “reclaiming masculinity”. For one thing, I’m not even sure if that sounds like a good thing or a bad thing. And for another thing, well, no, they’re not about that. Not in practice, they aren’t. Dudes with those beards haven’t thought that deeply about things. If you’re sporting of those, all you’re telling me is “I’m a follower of fashion”.
Normal beards? Somewhat different. I don’t hate those. Although, as far as I’m concerned, speaking for myself only here, they’re like sheep. They can look sexy from a distance, but I don’t really want to snuggle up to one. I also don’t want one on my face. But that’s just me.
And scruffy beards? Well, I suppose it kind of depends on whether you’re homeless or a nutty professor.
I don’t wanna shave everyday. When I do shave it’s just a trim around the edges and level off the 'stache. Once in a while I go to the barber and he trims it down and puts a real line on it.
Both of my sons (in their 30s) have what I call Amish farmer beards. They are good looking guys, no reason to hide behind all that facial hair. Like others have stated here, they only tidy up their beards for special occassions, in most instances they just look shaggy.
I don’t mind a well-tended beard, but am not a fan of the Amish farme look.
Hilariously, when my older son (36) was out with his two toddler children the other day, a woman complimented him on his beautiful grandchildren! Hee.
Have maintained a full beard since my early 30’s when I became capable of growing one that wasn’t bright orange, with the exception of a couple of years when I had jobs where they were not allowed.
But I do shave my neck (not a neckbeard) and the soul patch area under my bottom lip, since any hair there tends to stick straight out.
I have shaved my moustache exactly once in my life, but only grew a beard about 3 years ago. I really couldn’t grow a beard the 1st 50 years of my life due to genetics. After my hip surgery I got lazy and didn’t shave at all for 2 weeks since I was working from home. It actually looked OK and the wife said “Sure, Why not?”. It’s not full enough to grow long, so I keep it fairly close cut.
My son, son-in-law, and 2 of 3 brothers-in-law have beards. My wife and daughters do not.
I personally believe I only look good with a van Dyke, not a full beard. Though the full beard does look better with long hair than it ever did without it.
I’m currently full lumberjack, but it’s (mostly) going away this week for a variety of reasons. The heat index is definitely one of them.
Why did I grow it? Because I was in a position to get away with it professionally and I wanted to see how long it would get. The neat thing about facial hair is that you’re never committed to a decision. Grow it out, trim it back, grow it out again.
In a couple different eras of my life when I wasn’t subject to an employer’s dress code I had a beard. One time it was neat, the other time it was bushy & scraggly.
I liked them and I applaud the recent trend to more of them. Lumbersexual (great word) is a fine look in my book. The consciously hipster 1880’s style slicked hair, handlebar moustache, and fussily trimmed beard is waay over the top though. Those guys ought to dial it back a notch.
The last time I had to shave it off my wife said “Damn. I liked you the other way. The beard hid so much more of your face.” Always a comedian that one.
I had assumed that once I eventually retired I’d grow another beard. But recently I’ve had second thoughts. Now that I’ve gotten fully gray and am slowly approaching that retirement age, I see nothing that shouts “I’m way over the hill and picking up speed” louder than a gray beard on a gray head, whether neat or scraggly. IMO, at least around here it doesn’t say “Neener neener! I’m out of hock to the System!” Instead it says “I’ll be on soft food pushing a walker soon.” That’s not an attractive look.
