How Will You Grow Your Facial Hair?

Check out this list of about 32 facial hair styles.



What will you work towards this month?

Also check out the Beard Page of the same blogger and find out a lot of great info on his facial hair growing experiences and some other interesting tidbits such as the Beard FAQ page.

Day 1 - 2008

I am hoping to take a picture of my face every day of the month to show you all my progress with my facial hair, and if I have the time, maybe even create a time-lapse video of the entire month.

Day 1

Top 10 Beards of the year

Thanks to my Dad who sent me this link of the winners of the 2007 World Beard and Moustache championships. These guys are masters at growing facial hair, and the bit of commentary at the top of the page is right on, one cannot merely enter this contest on a whim. It takes years and years of preparation.

I've been told by a few people that I should try and grow a handlebar moustache, or grow it out so the surface area of my face doubles, but I think a full month every year is about perfect to quench my thirst for growing facial hair. I'm just satisfied to look at these pictures in amazement.

Facial Hair Accessories

I think even if you can't or don't want to grow facial hair, you should have temporary options to be a proud member of the facial hair club. The classic example of this is the plastic eye glass frames with the nose and the moustache. There are others though.

Here is a link to a woolen cap that gives you a woolen cap beard/moustache. It's very classy, but for $135 it better be. (via BoingBoing)

This however, brings up one of the best parts of No Shave November. Growing a beard or letting your leg hair grow out for the month of November is perfect because the weather is starting to cool down considerably. (Southern hemisphere excluded) If you actually do grow a beard you won't need to buy one, other than for after you shave. However, an argument can be made that this cap is also perfect for keeping your beard and moustache warm, which is important if you want to take good care of your facial hair.

Age and facial hair

I've been a little late on posting anything recently because of traveling, but I'm here and ready to blog.

One thing that always gets me is that people always think I look older with facial, I've heard anywhere from a couple years older up to 10 years older. The great part about this is that many of these people don't even know how old I am in the first place, so I take great joy in asking them how old I look with my facial hair and then without. I've gotten responses that I they think I am a little more than 10 years older than I actually am with my facial hair.

Also, on the rare occasion that I order an adult beverage in a restaurant, I've yet to be carded while sporting my beard. (Except for that one time I was at the restaurant with my less than 21 year old brother who also looks like he could be less than 21, and they carded us both). I enjoy not being carded, because it is kind of a hassle to take out my wallet, and then remove my driver's license, and then give it to them to be inspected, and then reverse the entire process. I am, of course, not condoning underage drinking and trying to cheat the system by using facial hair, but I am saying it may be possible.

Picture Proof of Progress

I promised a mid-month progress picture, so here it is. You may notice that I have done some trimming under the jawline. This is what I explained as my compromise between shaving completely and not shaving at all.

I am quite happy with the speed of growth and fullness of the beard this year. It seems like it gets better every time I do this. Which, in reality, makes me more manly.

Hair Growth

Hair is a pretty fascinating thing, especially once you look at it closely. It is one of those things that most people know the basics about, but very few people know the finer details. Here is an article that tells you almost everything you wanted to know about hair, it's lifecycle, and how it grows.

I will take a picture of my face on Wednesday or Thursday and post it here so you can see my beard.

Facial Hair in Art

A Josh Spear blog post pointed me to Etsy Shop and artist ashleyg's new drawings incorporating facial hair. I like this simple style of art, but it also got me thinking of other art with facial hair.

Of course there has been much art over the years that have bearded men, but some stand out in my mind. Those include, Portrait of a Bearded Man by da Vinci, The Oarsmens Breakfast by Renoir, Hand with Globe by Escher, and The Last Supper by da Vinci.

Also, which may be applicable to the topic of facial hair, The Mona Lisa by da Vinci. Mona Lisa is completely without facial hair including eyebrows and eyelashes. They have recently done new scans on this famous painting to reveal some hidden background on the art.

How do you like it?

Here is a link to a page asking (mainly women) how they prefer a man's face, either clean shaven or facial hairy. If you're a woman, leave a comment letting us know how you prefer a man's face.

The art of trimming

I know I am breaking the rules by trimming my facial hair, but to at least look semi-professional in my job I have decided it is a necessary compromise. So far I have only been trimming the neck, and below the chin line, but I am trying to decide if I want to trim a little bit more. My goal is to keep the general beard/moustache combo in tact, but to give it a little more of a clean look.

Here is a link to Hudson't FTM Resource Guide.

Here is a link to eHow's guide to trimming facial hair.

Here is a link to an ezine article.

Still going strong

I've heard from a lot of people that they are still going strong with No Shave November. I had to bite the bullet this morning and trim my neck, but I still have the full beard. I decided to trim because of work, it is my compromise between not shaving at all for the first month, and looking less than professional to my bosses.

I am planning on taking a picture or two tomorrow because it will be a full week of not shaving (other than the trim). I will post the picture.

Why can't you braid leg hair?

Stepping away from the normal banter about facial hair, I thought today's topic should be more focused on leg hair.

Here is an article about leg hair and why it won't grow forever.

I would imagine if this wasn't the case, we'd be able to eventually braid our leg hair, but that just doesn't sound very fun.

Inspiration

In case you needed some inspiration for getting through the month, check this blog out. It's dedicated to mustaches of the 19th century. It really makes you wonder why more people don't grow the mustache anymore. This blog has daily posts featuring pictures and descriptions of mustaches from that era. Also check out the glossary of terms.



Linked from boingboing and Presurfer

A welcome feeling

The fresh November air hit my face like a familiar dream as I left my apartment this morning. Fortunately for my face it is No Shave November again. I am very excited to be letting my facial hair grow like nature intended again, and this month could not have come soon enough as any of my friends could tell you that I was impatiently awaiting the arrival of this day.

I hope you are participating in this yearly ritual too and not just another observer. It is much more exciting (especially if you plan on being a faithful reader of this blog) to both be growing your hair and reading about it.

If you are unfamiliar with the rules, I will briefly outline them here. The name of the event, No Shave November, hopefully describes itself well enough. There should be no shaving for the month of November. As we completely support equal opportunity, there are ways for both men and women to participate. We encourage men to refrain from shaving their faces and women from shaving their legs. If you live in the United States and feel that Thanksgiving is a factor that could stop you from participating, it is acceptable to shave right before or on Thanksgiving to look respectable for family. Otherwise, don't shave until December is upon us.

Stay tuned with this blog throughout the month to find out how I am doing with my facial hair, how my friends are faring as they participate, as well as information on hair, facial hair, and just being hairy.

The end

Well, it is now 2 minutes after midnight, and I just got back from the bathroom after shaving off the majority of my facial hair. I have a strange feeling that I am about to reenter the world of regular shaving. My morning routine is about to get longer and a little more complicated. It's really sad, a person can get really attached to his (or her) facial hair. Luckily I am now gradually stepping into the world of clean shaveness. I officially have a moustache.

I think I will only be keeping it for the weekend, but you never know.

I am still having computer issues, but as soon I can I will post pictures of my hairy adventures.

Stay posted!

Future plans

Well, it is almost the end of the month. I have yet to decide what I will be doing with the facial hair after the 30th of the Month. In the past I have shaved it off in stages so that I can take pictures of a goatee/moustache combo then the fu-manchu, etc. This time around I am seriously considering just shaving everything except the moustache, and just going with that. Maybe not a long time with the moustache, but long enough.

My computer is on the fritz right now, so I am unable to upload my pictures from my camera to my computer to post them on here, so once I have enough pictures to show you of my facial hair and whatever I choose to do with it, I will put them up here.

Jokes

I hope by now you have heard some or most of the Chuck Norris jokes that are all over the Internet.

The following, taken from here, is an applicable example.

"There is no chin under Chuck Norris' Beard. There is only another fist."

And one of the classic Spamusement comics here.

The beard is growing... still

Well, I truly apologize for not posting for a couple days, but with going to Philadelphia, my computer breaking down, and then going to Seattle shortly thereafter, I've just found very little time to post on my facial hair.

A little update, my facial hair is still going strong (of course after the fateful day I shaved it all off). A number of my friends were planning on shaving their faces before or on Thanksgiving this past Thursday, so they could look acceptably decent for their families. I think this is ok, because it gives people something for which to not shave. They can look ragged and unkempt for a couple weeks and then right before they spend Thanksgiving with family, they can shave the hair off to look so much better. This is actually a large part of the roots of No Shave November, except the event for which to shave was December 1st.

A number of girls have also shaved their legs for Thanksgiving. I am just really proud of them all for sticking with it that long. A number of them did not think it was possible to last that long, but I assured them they could.

Here is a short poem written by one of my female friends regarding No Shave November and Thanksgiving (after shaving).

I am thankful for pants the last three and a half weeks.
I am thankful for razors. I am thankful for smoothness.
-Robyn

If you are still doing No Shave November, you aren't alone. Keep it up until the end of the month, and find out soon what I plan on doing with my facial hair at the end of the month.

Tough as Nails

There's one difference that I've noticed between shaving and not shaving. My beard seems to be a little rougher when coming in after shaving following a longer time growing the facial hair. I don't know why this might be, but it might have something to do with the slower growing of hair in this same situation.

With all these questions about facial hair, there should almost be an entire college biology class dedicated to facial hair. That would make a lot of things so much easier. It might also just show that I imagine a lot of these things, although I hope not.

Beard Community

Here's a great website about beards and facial hair as well as the entire beard and facial hair community. This website has a picture gallery as well as bulletin boards.