Bearding

[Skiprr]

What a difference 17 years makes:

Which of these two gentlemen looks most likely to have both U.S. and French passports?

[The Annoyed Man]

TAM, where do you buy that Moroccan oil? Is it just straight Moroccan oil, or one of the specific beard products?

I buy it on Amazon, although you can probably find it in some pharmacies or a beauty supply place. It's not cheap ($48.95 for a 4.23 oz bottle), but you only use it a drop or two at a time, out of the pump dispenser that comes with the bottle. A little goes a long way, as the oil is quite viscuous. Rub it into your palms, then massage it into your beard. I believe that it actually contains frankincense and myrr, which probably accounts for the price. It smells nice, not too strong. Some people - pastors and such - use it as an anointing oil.

If your facial hair comes in extremely patchy--I'm thinking Keanu Reeves here--the controlled stubble look may be best. That or opting to see how it grows in and then choose to groom it in a style that suits the growth. For example, Reeves could probably pull off a trimmed goatee with mustache, but he's lacking some real estate for a full beard.

That is why I keep the sides of my face shaved when I'm not getting into Santa character, as my side whiskers are not nearly as well distributed as the rest, and it does look a little thin and patchy on the sides — although not quite Keanu Reeves patchy — which is only barely compensated for by letting it grow long on the sides. That's why I think it looks better the way I wear it the rest of the time. OTH, with my beard being as long as it is, it's not all that noticeable when I don't shave the sides, so I'm apt to only shave about once a week on the sides, even if it looks a little scruffy. I'm happily unemployed (retired), so nobody cares.

[apvonkanel]

I've seen my bare face once in the last 10-12 years. It's hard to keep count as I don't remember exactly when I started keeping a beard. I say "keeping" rather than "growing", since I don't let it grow too long. I'll keep it trimmed up with a 1" guard", but I usually let my barber trim up the cheeks to keep it on par with the taper of my haircut. Outside of washing it with the rest of my face, my general maintenance usually consists of combing, and maybe a bit of coconut oil every few days. Also, it gets a splash of bay rum when I shave my neck. Combing and coconut oil helps keep the beard dandruff from getting out of control.
Thanks to genetics (I got more of the German side rather than Irish when it comes to facial hair), I've been shaving regularly since I was in my mid teens, with a full beard available to me since I was a legal adult.

[The Annoyed Man]

What a difference 17 years makes:

Which of these two gentlemen looks most likely to have both U.S. and French passports?

Both!

[NotRPB]

My LTC has a photo with a grey beard down to my gunbelt, my brown (then I had hair on top) hair reached my gunbelt, and I could sit on it in the back. When asked why I shaved, I say my hair and beard tangled together one night and I couldn't turn over(Joking)

Right now I have short hair (and much less, well, almost none on top) it's cooler

I shaved the long grey beard Sept 2016, to be cooler and "younger looking"
All the 80 year old ladies now say I look great and only look 40 (meaning 60-70-ish, but they're being nice) I sort of regret shaving .... now it is scratchy instead of soft and requires shaving constantly ...

Not sure I'll be shaving much longer, I do like the breeze on the face to be cooler, but I dislike the rest of being "clean shaven, which only lasts about 4 hours before getting scratchy and uncomfortable, so it may be growing back later

Girls seeing photos say "You should shave, you look nice under all that, then I'd shave, then they'd leave ... so ... Back in College (1970-1980s) I shaved once "for a girl" and people kept bumping into me on sidewalks, I realized while bearded looking like a Biker, they avoided my sidewalk and I walked unhindered, that was nice so I grew it back until 1990, I shaved a year, then I re-grew it recently.

(To quote a comedian) What crazy man was first in thinking, "I'm not awake yet, I should drag a sharp object over my face"

If my grey beard matched my missing brown head hair (the sides are still brown) I might transplant some ... but I wear a hat most of the time anyway, so no need to have a White stripe like skunks wear through the middle on top of my head
respiratory protection ... I have in the past thought about beards preventing a good sealing with gas masks, thought about buying a gas mask when living in Pasadena for Factory Air Mistakes like occurred in India when people got gassed accidentally, but settled for making house Air Tight and buying air purifiers.... more expensive, but kept the beard back then (1990s) because my boss hated it, he said I looked like a homeless man, I thanked him and he asked why I'd thank him for insulting me, I quoted Matthew 8:20 and Luke 9:58 ("Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head." )

Oil? I use Extra Light Extra Virgin Olive Oil to pop Popcorn. That's about all the oil I use.

[NotRPB]

I only grew a beard to protect my face from the wind-chill in Iraq; no interest in them at the moment.

They do a good job of UV sun protection keeping the sun off the face, as well as breaking wind ... umm that doesn't sound right,

[RPBrown]

I used to have a full beard about 12" long. In 1974 I was using an electric drill on a unit outside when a gust of wind blew my beard into the drill. Only ripped out a few hairs before I let go of the trigger but it was enough to make me cut it short. Now I only have a goatee

[parabelum]

I keep mine about this length. Mrs parabelum is on board with this length. Any longer and she tells me that I'm between jihad and homeless look.

[The Annoyed Man]

I keep mine about this length. Mrs parabelum is on board with this length. Any longer and she tells me that I'm between jihad and homeless look.

Very respectable beard!

[WildBill]

I keep mine about this length. Mrs parabelum is on board with this length. Any longer and she tells me that I'm between jihad and homeless look.

I understand it very well.
Since I trimmed mine, people have started asking me for advice rather than offering me spare change.

[The Annoyed Man]

I keep mine about this length. Mrs parabelum is on board with this length. Any longer and she tells me that I'm between jihad and homeless look.

I understand it very well.
Since I trimmed mine, people have started asking me for advice rather than offering me spare change.

[RoyGBiv]

What a difference 17 years makes:

The Hombre on the left looks like a young Stacy Keach.

Longest I've ever been able to keep a beard going is 6 weeks last movember.
Using oils was a huge help, but the gray made me look so much older that I gave it up about the time it started to fill in.

[MrMcCullster]

I grew my beard and hair out a few years back for St. Baldrick's charity. That was the only time in my life I had a 3 month beard. I used no product and didn't wash it other than using standard shampoo (a really bad beard no-no). It was disgusting. It looked like a fuzzy rat crawled on my face and died there.

Last year for the first time in forever, I decided to grow my beard out again. I use a few simple products, kept it pretty short and trimmed to keep the Mrs. McCullster happy, then ultimately shaved my beard growth on New Year's Day of this year (2017). I thought: New year, new me right? I'll just go back to the shaved stubble look I had for the longest time. Turns out I didn't like the clean shaven look anymore (it makes me look real young) and since then I've been growing it out ever since (4 months now).

I should have used the "beard shave rule", which is: For however long you've had your beard (in months), take that many days to think about modifying or shaving your beard. You might be frustrated with it now/today, but usually if you give it enough time, you'll get over it and be thankful you didn't make a rash decision and cut or shave your beard.



I started simple by using Beard Baron products, and learned a lot from his helpful YouTube videos. Now I switched to use Grave Before Shave beard wash once or twice a week. I only use it if I feel my beard is dirty or starts to feel dry. It seems to help out with the spots underneath the beard like acne or ingrown hairs.

For beard oil, I use 7 Sins Sweeney Todd's Wrath. My wife and I picked it out on a vacation and it smells like an old school barbershop. She's not really into the woodsy, lumberjack, smokey Ron Swanson-type beard oils. Just add a minute or two to my routine, put a dime/nickel sized drops in my palm and rub in on beard, skin and moustache. Then comb with a boar bristle brush and I'm good to go.

I'd love to try to do a yeard (a year long beard), but have a feeling by month 7 or 8 it would get too long. I sleep on my stomach and turn my head to the side, so waking up with sleep-beard is not my favorite.

[ghostrider]

goatee, since forever...
used to grow full beard in the winter decades ago when I lived in a place that had real winter...


never used any 'product', but now ya'll got me thinking.....