# How long have you had your "facial hair"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 15, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357 "2015-09-15T14:00:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/21 "2015-09-15T16:29:29Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I usually don’t shave during vacation. I can go about a week before I feel like clawing my face off. I voted “More than five years”. To be honest it is definitely four and a half, but most likely more than five. Anyway, the reason I grew one is because I screwed my shoulder up. I had always hated shaving, but couldn’t get over the itching, so I’d let it grow and grow until it got too much and then shave. But then I did my shoulder in and not only couldn’t shave but I was put on codeine which masked the itching. So when I came out the other side I said “I’m keeping this”. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/22 "2015-09-15T16:30:33Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > One nice thing about the last ten years is that facial hair (as long as it’s well groomed) is becoming less and less of an impediment to finding a job. The last time I shaved for an interview was 1998. Working as a programmer is awesome. No one cares. Hell, the last time I worse a suit to an interview was my first job in 1997. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/23 "2015-09-15T16:53:49Z")
When I was in college, I tried a mustache for a while. My GF wanted me to try it & she kept me happy so I did it for a year. When I forgot what I looked like clean shaven, I shaved it off with no regret. A year or so back, I tried to do the full beard thing because one of my kids wanted to see me in one for Christmas. I did it… but it was the single most horrible facial hair experiance ever and it came off before the tree went out. I remember the horrible stank so many others I’d worked with had had with their beards, so I was compulsively washing and scrubbing my face 2-3 times a day and again before bed. The thing is, no matter how much I soaped and no matter how hard I scrubbed, I just Knew that a few hours later, I’d be smelling like one of those chin armpits from the office. Don’t get me wrong: if you are Keanu Reeves & can make it look THAT good? Fine. Very few can. Clean shaven & well scrubbed just works better for me. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/24 "2015-09-15T16:57:54Z")
I’ve had a mustache since leaving boot camp in 1967, and a beard off and on (as allowed by the Navy) for the following 20 years. I retired from the USN in 1990 and have had a full beard ever since. So yeah, facial hair for about the past 48 years. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/25 "2015-09-15T17:25:00Z")
Went from long hair and beard to bald and goatee. Now bald and mustache and soul patch. Had it more than 5 years. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/26 "2015-09-15T17:50:37Z")
I have not seen my upper lip since about 19 or so, my chin since maybe 22. I had to shave off the mustache for a job change around 18, not that it was any great accomplishment at the time. But I regrew it after yet another position shift and have never shaved it (or the goatee) off since. So, 30-35 years. How many can honestly say they’ve \*never \*shaved the keeper parts in that long, even for a wedding or a weekend or a whim? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/27 "2015-09-15T18:12:45Z")
My Xmas gift to myself in 1984 was to start growing a beard. It should be completely “in” by next week. ---
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/28 "2015-09-15T18:21:19Z")
I’ve had facial hair for ten years. As soon as the peach fuzz left, I got a goatee-beard-stach thing, occasionally letting it grow. Now I have a full beard. I don’t actually know how I look without it. The last picture of me without facial hair was during puberty. I’ve been thinking of removing the beard and keeping the mustache, but I can’t seem to do it. I’m a bit worried I won’t recognize my own chin. ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/29 "2015-09-15T19:17:20Z")
I first grew my beard somewhere in the neighborhood of 1983 and have only shaved it off three times since then. The first was after hearing my then-girlfriend answer my grandmother’s query about whether or not she liked my beard by saying, “I don’t know, I’ve never seen him without it.” I shaved it off before our next date, apologized profusely, and immediately grew it back. I shaved it off twice more for jobs prior to 1990, but have sported a neatly trimmed beard and mustache since. My grown children have never seen me without facial hair. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/30 "2015-09-15T20:14:58Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I voted “More than five years”. To be honest it is definitely four and a half, but most likely more than five. > > Anyway, the reason I grew one is because I screwed my shoulder up. I had always hated shaving, but couldn’t get over the itching, so I’d let it grow and grow until it got too much and then shave. But then I did my shoulder in and not only couldn’t shave but I was put on codeine which masked the itching. > > So when I came out the other side I said “I’m keeping this”. My job would keep me from being able to do that anyway. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/31 "2015-09-15T20:25:10Z")
I grew a moustache in 1966. I shaved it off in June of '67. I started growing it back in August. I have it ever since. The beard I grew in 1981. I met the woman who would become my wife that fall and she said she liked it and I have shaved the beard once since then…for a job interview. It has had many versions of the beard (always with a moustache, though); goatee, full, neatly trimmed and even a pair of mutton chops when I went through my actor stage and I had a long-running part in a period (Victorian) drama. I am now pushing 50 years with some kind of facial hair…I’ll probably keep it. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/32 "2015-09-15T20:30:04Z")
Other than when I shaved it off for a brief time several years ago just to see what my face looked like without it, I’ve had my current beard and moustache for over 20 years. I let my facial hair grow during a couple of weeks in between jobs, just for a lark. I was about to shave it all off when my wife insisted that I keep letting it grow. So I did. She still likes it, and I like not having to shave my whole face every day. (I still shave my neck.) So it stays. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/33 "2015-09-15T20:44:45Z")
I grew a beard as soon as I finished high school, in 1962, and I’ve had one except for brief periods when I shaved it off ever since. I didn’t let it grow in high school, because I assumed that there was an unwritten rule against it. Back then, beards were so unusual that I got my picture in one of the Sunday newspapers in Sydney. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/34 "2015-09-15T21:04:36Z")
As of this post over 80% of the people who have voted in the poll have at least a year’s worth of “facial hair.” Wonder how we would determine how well that percentage fits the entire Doper Male population… Is there a better way to phrase the poll to find out? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/35 "2015-09-15T21:16:42Z")
I had to be clean shaven for boot camp. Other than that, I’ve at least had a mustache. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/36 "2015-09-15T21:25:34Z")
I wear a goatee during winter, nothing when it’s warm out. I’m a runner and shave my head, so sweat collects in my beard if I have one, which is gross. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/37 "2015-09-15T22:17:56Z")
I’m almost 45 and have had my van dyke for 17.5 years. I can’t see myself ever shaving it off. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/38 "2015-09-16T01:39:56Z")
I was suspended from school in like 10th grade for having a beard; my Dad fought it with the school board and won. During High School I shaved at times for a month or two but the hair always made a return. Since say age 20 my chin has seen daylight twice. (I’m pushing 60 now) Last time was about 12 years back and I shaved my whole head. And the neighborhood kids were scared to death of me and the one neighbor called the police to report I had broken into my own home. And since the picture on my license didn’t look like me --------- it took a while to straighten out. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/39 "2015-09-16T01:50:28Z")
Female here. I’ve always had peach fuzz but some of it turned dark at puberty. Hormone treatments that I was given when I started having problems during peri-menopause made it worse. The cruelty of young men got me started trying to deal with it while in college (funny, it was never an issue when I was a runway model) and I’m still trying to deal with it. Sensitive skin keeps me from trying drastic techniques. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/40 "2015-09-16T02:34:39Z")
I went with “since I could grow one,” to indicate I’ve had one since before I graduated high school, but I’ve occasionally shaved it off for short periods of time, mostly just to start over. Most recently, I went down to just a mustache, and may have finally found a mustache that looks okay on me. Still looks like I’m from the 70s, but at least it’s not a “pedo-stache.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357.md?page=3)