A site visitor writes and hits the nail right on the head:
Having a beard makes you look at yourself in a different way. No one should ever grow a beard for anyone but themselves, because seeing yourself in the mirror with that distinguished look is all the approval any man should ever need.
TOTALLY!
i’m not conceited or anything, but ever since i’ve been growing my beard i’ve been enjoying looking in the mirror, more and more, just to look and see it, and whats changed, and its progress so far….
I’ve always heard that the beard you are calling goatee and mustache is called a Van Dyke. That with a Goatee and Mustache, the mustache does not join the chin beard. What name is correct? Just curious…
this is not my opinion, it is a historic fact. people do not want to hear the truth about why other people dont like your beard. why females in particular dont want men with beards. they in particular, heterosexual females want boys not men, generally. i believe beards are extremely indicative of authority. they are synonymous with maturity. de bearding men, is a way of making them subserviant. shaving is a way of emasculating and dis- empowering to insist on no beards. why is the army insistant on not allowing beards, why are police forces insistant in not allowing beards. because shaving represents submission. ok my 25 cents
Ed, I agree with you … 100%.
Punishing men for not shaving might be necessary for uniformity, fairness, discipline and hygeine in the military. However, believing that punishing or shaming men for not shaving in civilian life (or for shaving, in some cultural and religious contexts!) is part of a good system to keep men from misbehaving is a mistake.
Some of the nastiest criminals have kept their physical appearance and public social graces completely in line with the latest fashions of their societies, secretly (until getting caught) damaging peoples’ lives all the while.
Depending too much on people’s external compliance to a set of social norms as a way to decide whether to trust them will always set one up for disappointment.