Chicken or egg, kilt or beard

[Grizzly]

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the vast proportion of Xmarkers who sport various degrees of facial fungus, I include myself in their number as I have sported either a full beard or a goatee since my teenage years.
However I cant help but wonder whether the majority of us had beards before we had kilts or grew beards after we donned the tartan. Even more subliminally whether we grew beards to reinforce our masculinity in the advent that we would venture into the "man wearing a skirt" world. Alternatively is it because we have beards that we are comfortable with who we are and embrace the kllted world without fear of comment or criticism.

any thoughts from beardos or clean shaven friends.

This could of course be a complete misconception and that I am only aware of it because I have a beard too.

[J_Mimbs]

Well my father has worn a beard for most of my life, and I grew one in college for "No Shave November", just a fun thing to do for fun. I liked the look so I kept it, but I did trim it down to a goatee. Kilt wearing is a very recent part of my life, so I don't really see a connection, but that doesn't mean others might.

[Rob, ClanMacMillan, NM]

I grew my beard a very long time before I started wearing a kilt -- or was even aware of my Scottish ancestry.

The beard was an attempt on my part (suggested by my wife) to appear older and more authoritative since I'd just been promoted to a managerial position over people older than me.

Funny note is, it grew in rather patchy at first so we used my wife's mascara to darken and fill in until it came into it's own. Of course, it's all mostly white now .

Rob.

[Chas]

I stopped shaving my upper lip when I joined the Royal Air Force.

I was 18 and didn't need to shave every day, but regulations required me to be clean shaven every morning. I was spending a half hour every morning shaving (time I didn't have) - most of the time on my upper lip.

I stopped shaving my lip and have not restarted. It wasn't till 1977 (Jubilee Year) when I was 25 that I started wearing a kilt.

So moustache first - kilt second. And for the record, I have never had to prove my masculinity to anyone.

Regards

Chas

[bigdad1]

Fom my mid-teens and for the next 40 years and up until about ten years ago I grew beards and mustaches of various size simply because I felt like it. Likewise I shaved them off because I felt like it. Never any qustion in my mind about my masculinity. I just enjoyed the feel and look of the facial hair.
I have been kilted for about 5 years and am clean shaven. Wearing a kilt hasn't assaulted my self esteem to the point that I feel the need to assert my masculinity. I don't plan on growing any more facial hair for the above reason. I don't feel like it! If someone feels the kilt makes them prove they are "a man" then perhaps it would be best for them to sell their kilts and head for the pants rack instead of inflicting all that pain on themself.

[Father Bill]

I've had whiskers most of my life; the kilt only recently. The whiskers are a personal preference. The kilt is a proud personal preference.

[Tobus]

I grew my beard out 11 years before I donned the kilt, so there's no real connection there.

[Father Bill]

You know, when I was still a teacher, I used to treat it like a cash crop. When it was ripe I harvested it and grew a different style. The kids used to ask me, "Mr. White, are you growing a beard?"

I always told them, "No, it grows on its own. I'm just not cutting it off in the mornings any more."

[Santa Wally]

Grew my first beard in 1961 for the beard-growing competition during my hometown's centennial year . Beards of any kind were not common in society during those years in the early 60's. My facial hair was gone after that year and didn't return till the U.S. bi-centennial year, 1976, when I grew a handlebar moustache, later trimmed it back and added a goatee until 1996, when I changed to a full beard which I've had ever since.

Didn't get my first kilt til March of 2009, so I had a long history of facial hair before catching the kilt fever. In two and a half years, my kilt collection has grown to 6.

[Steve Ashton]

I stopped shaving the morning after leaving the military. Kilts came along about 9 years later.