To Beard or Not to Beard

I always thought all the kids nowadays grow facial hair to be ironic. Let’s face it, unless you’re either Burt Reynolds or David Crosby, mustaches are cheesy.

Beards are cool, though. Too bad I can’t grow one, so I’m just stuck with a goatee.

I’ve been wearing a beard since Sep 1981 … would not be without it. And now, it allows me to impersonate Santa Claus … which is a special gift, in itself.

Ben #1: I tend to agree with you about the time factor. The fashion these days, however, seems to be closely trimmed facial hair (mostly goatees) which takes just as much (or more) time to maintain.

I used to change my facial hair a lot, sometimes for practical reasons (e.g., warmth in the winter) but usually just because I was bored or because I liked the attention of having people notice the change. Lately, the more gray there is in the facial hair, the less interested I am in it. Maybe when I am old enough to be an “old graybeard” I will let it grow more.

I’ve always found it interesting that in 2 Samuel 10/1 Chronicles 19 some of David’s men were humiliated by an enemy who shaved off half their beards. Rather than telling them to shave off the other half, David sends them into hiding at Jericho until and in order for the other half to grow in.

Seems to me that real men grow beards 😉 And I’ve never understood why anyone would want it any other way. I’ve had a beard since I was 17. But now as I approach age 52 I find that the grayer my beard gets, the trimmer I want it to be, and I even shave the grayest parts off from time to time, leaving a pepper gray gotee.

I suppose the time will come when I can accept my gray hairs–whether I want to or not. At that point I will probably prefer the full beard again to the jowls it will cover.

LOL. This is about par for the New Yorker.

I have had a beard for about 25 years. Grew it when I was living on the Oregon coast and didn’t really care. It seems a lot of guys at the coast had beards. At Bible college me and three other guys always sat in the back row and, as older students, the instructor referred to us as ‘the Elders.’ Didn’t really help my grades any though.

My wife says she likes the beard since it is smooth as compared to the ‘sandpaper cheek.’ As I am getting older the beard helps mask the threatening double-chin.

We should approach this from a biblical perspective. How many of you think Adam was created with a beard? Most all the paintings show him clean-shaven (at least before the Fall).

If the artists are correct, beards started to become fashionable sometime between Enoch and Noah… 😉

I get a rash when I shave, seminary (DTS used to have a dress code) was the only time I haven’t had one and I’m 67 years old.

I began shaving when I was 12, because I had a mustache. I kept that thing at bay for while, but I let my sideburns get pretty low for a 12 year old. I tried the goatee, just the beard, no mustache when I was 15. I attached a mustache to it shortly after I graduated.

I was clean shaven once during my freshman year, because I was part of a ministry team and we were going to an old fashioned baptist church.

After that, I let my full beard grow in, and my face hasn’t been seen by anyone since. That has been seven years ago, shortly before I met my wife, who has never actually seen my face.

For the past seven years, I’ve let my beard grow untamed for usually 2 months at a time (two months for my beard is pretty impressive, I must say), before I trim it back to fairly short. Its one of those things that has kinda become part of who I am. I may get to a point that I’m keeping it trimmed pretty short, but I doubt if I will ever go without a beard.

Is this a trick question for the interpretive pluralists out there?

I am glad facial hair is more acceptable these days, because I hate shaving. Basically, I use a beard trimmer (minus the length adjustment attachment to get it as close as possible)once a week and that is it. Probably still too “womanly” for St. Clement of Alexandria though.

Ross @14, I was a student at DTS in the late 70s. As owner operator of a poolmservice, I was outside all the time. After a basal cell tumor was cut off my face (actually, my nose), I asked for, received and used a doctor’s prescription to (re)grow my beard which I’ve kept since then.

Ross @14, I was a student at DTS in the late 70s. As owner operator of a pool service, I was outside all the time. After a basal cell tumor was cut off my face (actually, my nose), I asked for, received and used a doctor’s prescription to (re)grow my beard which I’ve kept since then.

Ross #14,

That’s my dad’s story, but he was there when the rules changed (early 80’s?), and the beard has been there ever since.

Personally, I keep a short beard, with hair to match. My only beef with other beardies under 30 is the tendency to think Grizzly Adams is the penultimate example of the beard. Neck fuzz and upper cheek brush have significantly damaged the beard in societal estimation.

I think anyone who decides to grow a beard should be required to take Grooming 101.

“He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man”
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, scene 1

(Sporting a beard for 18 years now)

I’ll just say that I look worse without my goatee, LOL Actually, I fancy that it adds some intellectual flair to the appearance.

I grew up in a religious system which considered beards to be a sign of rebellion, and which considered rebellion to be the worst thing ever.

Hmm – I wonder if a day will come when women will have as many acceptable choices with regards to leg hair as men do now with facial hair….

5 o’clock shadow 24/7

i started growing a beard when i was in seminary. partly, because i was too lazy to shave. partly, because it was the only way my wife would let me wear a mustache. having grown it and kept it since 2007, i will probably, never, ever get rid of it. even in the 100+ degree heat of kansas.