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.