Beard Advice

[Cygnus]

It's interesting that so many people talk about the women in their lives asking them to shave. I have shaved my beard once in the time I've been married and my wife refused to kiss me until it grew back (she said it felt too much like kissing another man).
Mike's recommendations are all excellent, but I'll add that moustache wax is a wonderful thing, both for style and for keeping longer hair out of your mouth!
As for ideas, here's a link to a blog about beard styles; there are quite a few options! If you're not sure you can trim it to shape yourself, do like Mike suggested and find a good barber to do it for you.

Best of luck to you AND your beard!

[Mike_Oettle]

Cygnus, my hat is off to your wife.
I wish my grandmother had been like that. When she married my grandfather, he had a moustache. But she never liked it (I suppose she tolerated it because her father had a moustache and goatee), and when my father was about six, he walked into the bathroom one morning and did a double-take.
There, standing in front of the mirror, was a man shaving. He looked familiar, but my dad couldn’t place him. He said out aloud: “I didn’t know Uncle George had come to visit” – then realised that it was his own father!
I have clear recollections of my grandmother cutting my grandfather’s hair short, and snipping the hairs growing out of his ears and nose, as well as his eyebrows!
She didn’t exactly approve when I grew my beard!
Regards,
Mike

[Chas]

It's interesting that so many people talk about the women in their lives asking them to shave. I have shaved my beard once in the time I've been married and my wife refused to kiss me until it grew back (she said it felt too much like kissing another man).

My point exactly - your wife had an opinion and she acted upon it. Although I have been a moustache wearer for 40 years now, I am never going to kiss DamnthePants, so my opinion really doesn't count.

Regards

Chas

[dadgad]

All good advice. Here's a site to check out, All About Beards

http://beards.org/

Lots more good info regarding beards, types of beards, and beard care.

[auld argonian]

Qualifying the advice by saying that I am both clean shaven and usually reluctant to call in outside help, I would suggest the possibility of seeking out a good barber (BARBER...not hair stylist...) and having him make the necessary adjustments. It's often easier for someone who's looking at you from "outside" to set you up with the best look.

Remember that it grows back so if it ain't workin' for you the first time, there's plenty of time to make adjustments.

I switched over from going to a "stylist" to a regular, good ole barbershop a while back and it has been one of the most appropriate things that I've done...bear in mind that I'm in my 50's and you just gotta adjust things to your age. In my younger days I went through college with hair down to my shoulders and muttonchop sideburns that were the envy of every other hippie on campus.

So think, maybe, about a "beauty makeover"...but the manly version...an adjustment to the haircut so that it works with the beard. Often a barber can set you up better than if you did it yourself...just find one that you can work with and not one that only does one haircut and tells you what you want...may take some looking but should be worth it.

...just don't get all "metro-sexual" about it...that's just icky...

Best

AA

[O'Callaghan]

It's no matter to me whether you trim your beard or grow it down to your feet. Having said that, I find waist length hair little trouble, but get fed up with my beard if I let it grow long, but that's just me. Right now, a couple of inches of beard feels like it needs a trim, which is funny in a way, compared with more than three feet of hair that doesn't bother me atall.

I think this is because my beard is right there in front of my face. Grow it too long and it dangles in your soup. Whatever you do with it, you get food and drink in it anyway. I don't think I want my beard so long that it gets in the way of tying a tie or buttoning a shirt.

I'm probably rationalising, though. With hair this long I have to use a different technique when removing a T-shirt or a sweater. I can't get them off by pulling from the scruff off the neck, I have to cross my arms in front of me and pull from the sides. The point is that if I really wanted a long beard I'm sure I could adapt in similar ways, but apparently I don't. I happen to like having long hair and a short beard. I'm sure that there are men with short hair and long beards who wonder how I manage, while I'm thinking exactly the same thing about them.

I shave above and below my beard, but very infrequently, and trim it with scissors whenever I feel it needs it. I have a couple of beard trimmers lying around, and you can certainly get it shorter and neater with one of those, but if you cut it with scissors it stays soft to the touch. Maybe I'll trim my beard short if I have a special occasion to go to. After all, I wouldn't cut my hair short for anything, but it's nice sometimes to make an extra effort on one's appearance, and for people to notice that you have.

I'm rambling, aren't I? LOL!

ETA: I forgot to say that my wife has only known me with a beard and seems to like it well enough. My daughter, OTOH, has vowed that she will never go out with any man who has a beard!

[ggibby]

My two bits: Beards are as old as humans, which means there are no 'original' facial hair options.
Just figure out something that feels right and you can maintain.

For me, it's shaved cheeks and neck, then a cordless trimmer set at 3 weekly because my beard is more to define my jaw/chin. The only input ever from SWMBOs of the past has been about the stray moustache tickler which is then dispatched immediately.

For a while I did spend more time 'shaping' it, then one day at the bar we were discussing poncy rock stars, and James Hetfield's razor-work came up. I was consulted since I was "Mr Fancy-Beard."
After nearly falling off the stool, I decided to go back to a less distinctive pattern ASAP.

nb - politics/religion figure into this, unfortunately. Even Mr. Hetfield has been held in suspicion because of a 'Taliban-like' beard...

Whatever you do, OWN IT.