A simple conversation today about beards, growing them, caring for them, and why, as a man, you should have one.
VIDEO HERE (26:50 minutes)
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My reasons weren't for style, it's just that I absolutely hate to shave. Even when I'm without a beard, I've always got a few days worth of stubble on my face.
My beard lengths vary from under an inch to 'damn, lookit that hillbilly' long, mostly leaning to the long extreme. It's usually long enough to where I can grab it with both fists with an inch or two protruding past my bottom fist.
Back when I was in my 20s, my beard and hair were the same length, down to the bottom of my ribcage, which made trimming both real easy. I'd just turn in a circle while my girlfriend stood in one spot and snipped away.
When I worked out at the ammo plant I kept it long for the same reason the other guys sporting one did. It's much easier to braid it or put in hair ties every 3-4 inches and tuck it into your T shirt to keep it from getting hung up when working around moving machinery.
Right now it's running at about an inch and a half long. I fucked it up a month or so ago when trimming it and I needed a haircut anyway so I just went to the barber who cut it a lot shorter than I wanted, but not really that big a deal - shit grows back.
.When I got laid off at the ammo plant and had an interview with Safeway I cut my hair and shaved my beard. My then-wife took one look and said "You lied to me. You don't have a swastika tattooed on your chin."
I use Ivory soap on it when it's short, then switch over to shampoo and conditioner when it gets long enough to start tangling after I towel off. I've never used any oil or balm on my beard. Even though my hair is baby fine, my beard is fairly coarse so it stays the way I comb it without all that hipster shit in it.
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Way back in the '80s me and my buddy David were headed to San Francisco to see the Jerry Garcia Band at the Warfield.
As I pulled up to pay my toll to cross the Bay Bridge, the heavily tattooed Mexican dude in the toll booth looked up and startled, then crossed himself before grinning and asking my blessing.
"Right on, don't sin no more, homie" I said as I waved my hand vaguely in the shape of a cross towards him.
Primo still made me pay the damned toll though.
