MetaChat - Beardy

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03 December 2007

Beardy I shaved my beard off this morning. The very sight of my naked chin made my youngest daughter cry. →[More:]

My wife hates it. A lot. She said I looked 'really corporate'. Ouch.

I'm not wild about it, and my lip feels all sweaty and weird. I keep touching it and it feels all jellyish.

Meh! MEH, I SAY!

**

I do this every once in a while... you know: "goatees are out of style" or "why do all IT geeks have the same beard" or "why do I want to look exactly like Jesus, again?"

Also, it turned white. Like, really white. Big, ugly, thick, wiry WHITE hairs all over my chin and upper lip (the hairs on my head are not grey - well a few of 'em are but it's not noticeable). I know it sounds vain, but I looked older than I should with that beard. So, I shaved the fucker off.

I haven't shaved it off in several years, and I'd forgotten what an unpleasant sensation it is (shaving one's lip).

I know - this post is useless without pictures.

post by: chuckdarwin at: 08:35 | 25 comments

When me and pips, first started dating, I had the goatee. When, on a lark, I shaved it off, she was totally nonplussed, couldn't stop laughing for five minutes.

The very sight of my naked chin made my youngest daughter cry.

In the family photo album theres a picture of my Mom holding baby me as I wail away. Mom's wearing a blonde wig, which apparently freaked me the hell out. Kids don't like change.

posted by jonmc 03 December | 08:40

They didn't even want to be seen with me in public! It was like I had leprosy all over my chin!

posted by chuckdarwin 03 December | 08:44

Ah, just tell 'em to shut up and go mow the lawn. ;>

posted by jonmc 03 December | 08:46

I was thinking of shaving off my beard today too. I also have the white bits, but I quite like them.

posted by GeckoDundee 03 December | 09:05

I was thinking of shaving off my beard today too. I also have the white bits, but I quite like them.

I'm sure I'll grow the damned thing back; I always do.

posted by chuckdarwin 03 December | 09:47

When I was a wee one, my dad used to shave his beard every spring, and grow it back in the fall. Every spring, I'd freak out and not want to talk to him for a few days, until I got used to it.

Don't worry - your daughter and your wife will get used to it, until you grow it back.

posted by muddgirl 03 December | 09:53

This is useless without pi....oh.

Why would you shave off a white beard 22 days before Christmas?

posted by gomichild 03 December | 10:08

Why would you shave off a white beard 22 days before Christmas?

Man, I'd make the skinniest, grumpiest, least Santa-esque Santa evar.

posted by chuckdarwin 03 December | 10:19

jonmc, when I was about 4 I did the freak & cry thing when I saw a photo of my Dad wearing flight earphones from his army days. I guess I thought they were hurting him somehow.

posted by chewatadistance 03 December | 10:19

I shaved mine off the day after Halloween, as part of recovering from my werewolf costume. My kids all told me I looked dumb. Now my hair is getting longer but it's not long yet, just sort of poofy and 1970's newscaster. Ugh.

posted by craniac 03 December | 10:53

Oh, and I hate shaving more than I dislike my beard, so it's coming back. When I came to class dressed as a werewolf none of the students batted an eye. When I came the next day with a suit jacket and shaved, they completely freaked out, to the point where they were laughing out loud. That felt good.

posted by craniac 03 December | 11:00

just sort of poofy and 1970's newscaster

Mine is the sort of grown-out-layers mullet-esque nightmare scenario.

I look like Jonathan Ross on a bad day.

posted by chuckdarwin 03 December | 11:00

When I came the next day with a suit jacket and shaved, they completely freaked out, to the point where they were laughing out loud. That felt good.

Ah, the joys of pedagogy. Did you give the little nippers a pop quiz?

posted by chuckdarwin 03 December | 11:05

Man, I'd make the skinniest, grumpiest, least Santa-esque Santa evar.

Just say "hey, the economy sucks, man. WhaddaYOUwant for Chuani...Hanni...Huan...Kwanza!?"

posted by lysdexic 03 December | 11:23

My dad shaved his 1960's every-IBM-guy-has-one goatee and moustache off when I was 14 to remedy a rash he had developed. He picked me up, I hopped in the car said Hi and shocked at his naked chin couldn't say another word for twenty minutes. He said,laughing, "Hey, if this is all it takes for some peace and quiet I'd shaved long ago". I never got used to it and he grew it back a month or so later. Moral of the story: it almost makes 14 year old daughters cry too.

posted by dabitch 03 December | 11:35

Moral of the story: it almost makes 14 year old daughters cry too.

My eldest had a solution: dye it. I'm not about to get all Just For Men at 39.

posted by chuckdarwin 03 December | 12:03

I've had a beard for a little over a year now; most of my college friends haven't really known me without one. One day, I'll shave it off and freak 'em out, but not today. The beard keeps m'face warm.

posted by dismas 03 December | 12:04

I've shaved my chin something like three times thus far in my life. I look better with facial hair, everyone tells me, and I don't mind it at all. When I'm struck with the crazy urge to shave, it always feels and looks "wrong" somehow. I totally get the "sweaty" "weird" and "jellyish" thing. My dad and all of his brothers have or had facial hair for the majority of their lives, and my dad shaved his mustache when he turned 50 or 51. I think it made him look younger, and I suppose it suits him, now that I'm used to it.

posted by CitrusFreak12 03 December | 13:22

I grow a beard every winter and then shave it off in the spring. It's like growing my own scarf. I've always visited my inlaws in the Summer but we're going out there for Xmas this year. Hopefully they'll recognize me.

posted by octothorpe 03 December | 14:15

Haven't shaved or cut my hair for over a year and a half now. Pretty soon I will surround myself with Kleenex, collect my own fingernail clippings, and mutter incessantly about freemasonry.

posted by BitterOldPunk 03 December | 14:58

"sweaty" "weird" and "jellyish"
Yup, familiar with all of those. I have had facial hair for most of my adult life, but clean it off now and again just for a change. Mine has pretty much all gone white now, too. Strange how it hasn't gone grey like my hair, but white. Bodies are weird things.

I have also witnessed the kid-freak-out a few times, particularly because I tend to do the shaving off of the beard on a whim now and again. I have two months off work starting at Christmas and can't wait to see the kids' reaction when I shave not only the beard, but my whole head. Must remember to have a camera handy.

Hey, what's the point of having kids if you can't use them for amusement?

posted by dg 03 December | 15:51

White bits in beards are hawt!

≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by deborah 03 December | 17:57

I've never known Mr. V with a hairless face. He's usually a goatee and shaved head man. Every so often he'll change it up. Right now he has a thin beard-line running from his sideburns along his jaw with the mustache/goatee. I always laugh because he'll have it for a couple of weeks and then start complaining how gray it's getting. He's so vain. ;^) The least facial hair I've ever seen him with is the little soul patch under his bottom lip.

posted by redvixen 03 December | 21:06

I'm sitting behind a 12 week old deer beard, the first I've grown in a decade. I'm gonna go kill Bambi's father, or try to, December 16, on one of the largest private whitetail reserves in southwest Georgia, with a couple of my best clients. Should be a fun day.

The last time I grew a deer beard, there were a few grey hairs. This one is white below my mouth.

posted by paulsc 04 December | 00:58

Moral of the story: it almost makes 14 year old daughters cry too.

Absolutely. The first time I saw my father's naked chin I was 14, hadn't seen him for 3 months (working overseas) and totally didn't recognise the strange man walking up the driveway with my grandmother. He looked 15 years' younger (very salty beard).

posted by goo 04 December | 12:06

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