Long poll coming, so be patient while I write up all of the choices.
Many beards had to die to bring us this information.
The one that made it through had a…close escape.
I’ve had the mustache since I was 16, the beard 2 years in high school and again starting about 13 years ago.
Currently, I wear Isaac Asimov-style sideburns.
I tried a “Will Riker” beard and moustache. Hated it. I shaved off the moustache and had a fringe beard only (Captain Ahab); I liked it, but everyone else hated it.
Sometimes, you just can’t win!
Been shaving, off and on, for over 40 years. I keep a beard for a while and once I’m tired of keeping it trimmed, I shave it off; then once I remember how much I freakin’ hate shaving, I grow it back.
Most people who haven’t seen me without it are usually shocked at how different I look. One co-worker said that I could commit crimes, then shave it off and people wouldn’t pull me out of a line-up. Something to keep in mind, I guess.
Riker’s beard never looked good because he has a thick neck. Thick neck guys should trim at the jaw line, unless you’re Santa Claus.
Now, Citizen Z on “Z Nation” has a (sorry) chicken neck so he could pull off the full beard–although he should shave at the Adam’s apple.
My Christmas present to myself in 1984 was to seriously start growing a beard/stache. Should be just about done next week. It’s filling in well, dontcha think? 
Full beard and stache for about 25 years now. Never went full Robinson Crusoe, both have never been more than 2" deep/long; last few years I keep the beard trimmed to about 1/2".
If you’re so inclined you can see it in the old SD online portrait gallery.
I would have grown them both out 45 years ago, but my facial hair always grew out embarrassingly slowly and sparsely; three or four weeks without shaving and I’d look like many (most?) guys do after three or four days. But every summer vacation I’d let them go, if only for the principle of the thing, and when I was 39 or 40 I was pleasantly surprised to suddenly have a “normal” beard come out of my face, and quickly. <fanfare> Mrs. Cretin and I both loved the way it looks and feels, and except for one week-long snorkeling event I’ve never been clean-shaven again.
Beard only people need to get off the Internet and stop being corrupted by the English.
The correct answer is, of course, “I’ve had my moustache (beard optional, but then wax is required) since before you’ve even heard of facial hair!”
I had a bicycle crash where I did a full face plant 20+ years ago. I ended up with lots of stitches in my chin and between my nose and upper lip. As the wounds healed I found I couldn’t shave very close to the stitches, and it looked like half a goatee. So I just went all in and grew a full beard and mustache. Had it ever since.
I’ve had a beard, including mustache, since 1963.
I’ve had an “Evil Spock” style beard and mustache (aka “circle beard” or “goatee”) for about twelve years. When I first grew it, the black hair against my white skin looked quite dramatic. Now that it is almost all white, it barely shows and I’m rethinking if I want it at all.
Obligatory Three Stooges response… “Oh, about down to HERE” (holding hand an inch below the chin)
I don’t like having facial hair but I hate shaving even more. I have constant stubble.
Similarly to Iggy I had stitches in my upper lip and was unable to shave for two weeks so I grew a very unfortunate looking mustache. I lost my drivers license at the tail end of that week and had to get a new picture taken when I got a replacement. I was young enough to get carded in the years following and had many store clerks and bartenders say "you need a new license, you look like a pissed of rapist. " It was a fun gag for a while.
Well, I was born with eyebrows. Didn’t start getting wispy chin hairs until middle age though.
I’ve had a beard and stache my entire adult life, including a few ZzTop beards.
Moustache only, for about twenty years. I have never tried a full beard, because the hair on my face doesn’t grow evenly. My son sometimes tells me to try a goatee (he has one periodically) but meh.
I shaved off the moustache on a whim when my daughter was three. She burst into tears when she saw me and said “Daddy, put it back!” So I did. My wife doesn’t care one way or the other.
It’s more gray than white nowadays. I’ve even considered dying it to match my hair, which is still mostly brown (apart from the temples) but it’s too much bother.
Regards,
Shodan
None of the above. My upper lip hasn’t seen daylight in 43 years. The beard has come and gone over the decades, from full beard to the goatee I wear now and have had since 2001.
either/or polls don’t fit my life, I’m a mixed bag!
I have had a moustache since puberty, though it took years to grow in well. I have had a beard to go with it for about 2 years. I had tried a beard before, but it too 50 years to be able to grow even a marginal one.
Since Nixon was in office I have been clean shaven twice. Once in college for about a year during my final year of ROTC (one of many signs that the military was not going to be my bag) and again for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Kittanning (for about five days). That one ended me in handcuffs; the neighbors reported someone breaking into my house and called the cops. Since my ID looked nothing like me ------------.
I go back and forth between beard and mustache and beard but no mustache based on the season. I do some Santa gigs ($30+ an hour) and Santa really can’t have a clean lip. But at least 9 months a year the mustache is gone.
At it longest I was well into the ZZ Top class and tucked it behind my belt on the bike but these days with age and it being more brittle I stay more into the basic Goshen Yoder style.