should i grow a beard?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2414/2168095877_39cc27cfc5.jpg

sorry

Beards are the only thing I hate about winter. I still shave my legs in the winter -- get with it, males of the species.

i had to put my beard to sleep

rip my beard 1989-2009

This is the best photo of my longest phase with a beard (2003-05):
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1239/1425004025_0b1eace3d2.jpg

i've had a beard since i could

the jacket/beard combo A++

i've had a beard since i could

having a beard > being concerned about having an ID beard

wsn't really an issue ever BTW I stopped getting IDed when I was 17

ive had a "beard" since may 2007. but i keep it at like a 2-3 w/ trimmers

'the panhandler'

i shaved my beard, but it looked terrible, so i grew it back. i am now thinking of shaping it so that it's shorter on the sides but long from the chin. i am not exactly sure how this is done.

scissors?

good call.

my moustache keeps falling into my mouth

That is a mustache, not a beard.

Actually my hair is v. dirty today. Perhaps tonight I will try painting on a full ginger beard.

i like the idea of having a beard a lot more than actually having one

Do they itch?

I always wondered if that beard-scritching thing that boys while thinking do is an affectation, or if they do actually itch.

if you use a shampoo & conditioner it helps the itching. the itchiest part is like weeks 2-4 imo

i grow a beard every few months, but i've never had a really long one. next time i'm single, maybe. i can grow a respectable 'short' beard in a week.

So it's like any other kinda hair - itches when it's new, but settles in after a few weeks.

Damnm, I want a beard.

And I don't want to have to get a boyfriend to experience beard fun. I want one of mine own.

have never had itch from a beard but like to scratch anyway, is a comfort thing rilly

THIS IS THE MOST TERRIFYING THING I'VE EVER SEEN.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2730/4115270731_1c957e1e1d_o.jpg

Maybe I should get a sex change. I'm *much* better looking as a man than I am as a woman.

come to mommy

That *really* disturbs me. But the more I thought about it, the more it made me laugh, which only made me look like him *more*. :-O

just some fyi to you young beardos, when yr gray beard hairs start coming in they will be wirier than regular beard hairs and they won't go in the same direction

i just did some shaping and i fear it was premature

yea premature shaping can totally ruin a beard imo

can make it look a little douchey

tho hoos i'm sure you don't look like a douche

huh i always thing its good to shape early and then let nature work with the seams

i shaved my beard, but it looked terrible, so i grew it back. i am now thinking of shaping it so that it's shorter on the sides but long from the chin. i am not exactly sure how this is done.

this is kinda how i went when i was sporting a beard (that i think i'm ready to grow back). i kept it a little longer around the 'stache & chin than the sides. i'm cheap and used scissors (very carefully), but i suppose the multiple settings of decent beard trimmer could be employed.

just some fyi to you young beardos, when yr gray beard hairs start coming in they will be wirier than regular beard hairs and they won't go in the same direction

Last month, I grew a three-week beard for the first time in a few years and was amazed at how gray my chin was. Not terribly surprised, because I can tell from the stubble, but it was still fascinating.

I wear mine like this:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2761/4120784568_66559f316e_m.jpg

I shave around it every day to keep the shape, and trimmed once a week to keep the length close. If I had a more casual work environment, I would just go for this:

http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/inthemix/9189160-9189164-slarge.jpg

after 3 weeks, v disappointing. i look like someone covered my neck and jaw in pritt stick and dipped me in hair.

Hey look, it's me.

i swear i'm going to shave this summer. i swear this often. it's been eight years, i was a teenager when i was last clean-shaven. i can't escape.

i did that a while ago. it was pretty good (i was super scared to do it before for pretty deeply ingrained slightly Samsonesque neurotic reasons)! i have a small mouth, i'd forgotten.

at this point i refuse to do it because of the nightmarish thought of a week of ppl i know being like "OH MY GAAAWWWWD! you SHAVED!"

my beard is the longest it's been in awhile. i like it (and my hair) trimmed close usually but i'm enjoying being a hairy mess for a change

i bought a comb

you know it's long when combing it makes it look better.

i shaved mine recently, after 6 months of being pirate-level. i look like a child.

I haven't shaved in a while. Normally I'm clean shaven. Sometimes I forget - especially at the moment since there's no proper mirror in my house and I tend to shower at work. For a while I just look halfway between a stud and a slob and then a tramp depending on the angle and what I'm wearing. Then I shave and my top lip goes all fat and weird.

I grew a beard through last winter after I did Movember. I'm planning on doing the same this year - I enjoyed it, and got an awful lot of compliments.

how do people maintain a beard at regular length? I grow one and then I have to shave it all off...

you trim it

that way you can regulate the length

imagine, if you will, that the beard is say, a hedge in someone's garden. as the hedge grows, the owner uses a hedge-cutting device to remove the unwieldy branches that sprout ever higher.

now imagine that that hedge is on your face, the branches the hair that grows there, and you the hedge owner. in place of a hedge-cutting device you have another device, let's call it a facial hair trimming machine. you apply to this to your face, as the hedge owner the hedge-cutting device to the hedge, and shape or "trim" away the excess hair.

thanks LG. Very helpful. But my razor cuts to zero and so does my electric. do you have to buy a whole new thing?

Yes, you do. You can buy a specifically-designed beard-trimmer from Boots or Amazon etc etc etc for anywhere between £20 and £100.