# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/61 "2015-09-17T23:53:09Z")
45 years ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/62 "2015-09-18T00:16:32Z")
I’m a 37 year old male, and not once in my adult life have I gone more than five days without shaving. I think it’s been at least a decade since I’ve skipped even a single day shaving. I take an electric razor even on week-long backpacking trips. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/63 "2015-09-18T04:00:54Z")
I began growing my mustache and goatee 1/1/1972, after graduating from college. I did shave them off once in the 80s, but I grew them back immediately. So except for the single brief hiatus, 43 years. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/64 "2015-09-18T13:12:49Z")
I did not vote: I have had a mustache for 30 years. (Yes, I trim it. I don’t like chewing on it.) I started growing it when I was 20. (I can’t grow a beard.) So, It’s far greater than five years, but not quite “all my adult life”, either. ---
**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 18, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/65 "2015-09-18T16:55:29Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Tried to grow a beard for the first time when I was 26. Came in blaze orange even though the hair on top of my head is a medium brown. Took perhaps another 5-6 years before it grew in darker, and was very salt-and-pepper even in my mid-30’s. > > Now of course, at age 53, it’s mostly white, with some dark, some red, some… _color out of space_. > > Get it off me, please! It talks to me in my sleep! My father had this happen when he grew a mustache. At least it explained where my red hair came from. It was a rusty red and his remaining scalp hair was salt and pepper. He never knew he had inherited the red hair gene until mustaches became fashionable. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/66 "2015-09-18T18:14:46Z")
I started getting the ghost of a mustache around age 13-14 and to this day my upper lip has never been shaved. Added a small beard to the mustache about 18-20 years ago when I was no longer required to be smooth-shaven for my job. Otherwise if I wanted to remain reasonably smooth-shaven on my cheeks and neck I would have to shave about every third day, but typically I’m lazy and go 5-6 between shaves. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/67 "2015-09-18T18:23:55Z")
My upper lip has been hairy since 1973. I’ve varied the beard over the years, from full beard to Van Dyke, which has been the choice for the last 14 years. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/68 "2015-09-18T18:38:39Z")
Funny bit… My nephew, who is an A-Honor Roll senior in high school and the captain of his hockey team, decided to grow out his beard. It’s a neckbeard. Everything above the jaw line (except the sideburns) shaved. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/69 "2015-09-18T18:59:18Z")
I’ve had most variations on the theme of facial hair, from full beard to none. I went full beard years before the hipster beard thing came along, but converted to a Van Dyke pretty soon. I grew my goatee long enough to plait for a while, but got sick of that. Then I went with just a bushy moustache for a while. Then went back to Van Dyke for a few years. Recently I deleted the moustache and now just have a chin-tuft goatee. ETA: No neckbeard, chinstrap, or solo soul patch, though. They’re too silly even for me. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357/70 "2015-09-18T19:12:09Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Funny bit… > > My nephew, who is an A-Honor Roll senior in high school and the captain of his hockey team, decided to grow out his beard. > > It’s a neckbeard. Everything above the jaw line (except the sideburns) shaved. > > :smack: Like [this](http://www.gocomics.com/rudypark/2015/09/17)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-facial-hair/731357.md?page=3)