Robin de Graaf

Bearded since: 1999. I am a dedicated, permanent beard grower.

Comments:
I grew my beard because I felt like it, honestly. I'd tried growing one before, but got mocked by friends. At that age (16 at the time), I decided it wasn't worth the mocking. A year later I told them to F-off, and just did it. I haven't regretted it since. Shaving it off makes me very hard to recognize, and I suddenly look 12 years younger. Which sucks.

Amazingly enough, the bit beneath my lip is almost entirely blonde, while the rest is reddish brown. And my normal hair color is dark blonde (so in between). So weird.

I enjoy its presence, and I trim it manually (scissors and razor blade) because I want to have full control over how it looks.