Tag Archives: beard growing

beard videos, music

Nate Maingard, bearded singer performs

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Nate Maingard is a bearded singer-songwriter from South Africa. Nate first appeared on beards.org in 2008 with his first photo submission for the beards of the world gallery. Following that, Nate kept in touch and became a good friend of the site. We corresponded and discussed some of his struggles with staying bearded. Nate would quite successfully grow his impressive full beard. Then, he would get rid of the beard and subsequently come to miss the beard. Nate’s beard would come and go time and again. But in the process he became quite skillful in mastering the art of growing a beard. As a result, Nate became an expert on beard growing, beard styling, and beard grooming in addition to being a talented singer and songwriter. Music, clearly is Nate’s true passion. However, he certainly knows what he’s doing whenever he grows his beard.

With Nate being so far away in South Africa, I never thought it too likely that we would ever meet in person. He’s also lived in London at times. But London, too, is quite distant.

However, Nate has also been a globetrotter, going between South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the USA, among other destinations. During one of his trips to California, we had the opportunity to meet up. This was back in December 2012. We did a photo and video shoot for beards.org. Many of the photos went into Nate’s beard feature. The video footage went into a video series, Nate’s beard story, that was published in 2013. In his beard video series, Nate shares his expertise in dealing with beard-growing doubts, successfully growing the beard, and he gives guidance on beard shaping and more.

While shooting video with Nate, he gave an impromptu, street performance of one of his songs, a ballad titled “Home”. Not originally included in Nate’s beard video series, I’ve recently published Nate’s performance of “Home”. Better late than never, this video provides a perfect ending to Nate’s original beard video series. For a real treat, watch Nate’s performance of “Home” in the embedded video below.

Today, Nate continues making music and growing his beard. The beard may still come and go. But Nate always returns to the beard.

For more on Nate and his music, visit Nate’s website, natemaingard.com.

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Twenty-two years, all about beards

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Here we are again at another all about beards anniversary. Today marks twenty-two years since that little site started out on its mission to promote beards, share information about beards, and celebrate beards. During this time, we have helped thousands and thousands of men all around the world to grow their beards. This, “adding beards to the world”, is among our proudest achievements.

Adding more beards to the world is one of the best ways to increase acceptance, and even respect, for beards. The more beards there are, the more the general population becomes accustomed to them. The more the general population becomes accustomed to beards, the more accepting of beards people become. With that, more people are less likely to harbor that pesky old anti-beard bias that surprisingly and stubbornly resists fading away. The anti-beard bias was much stronger in the early days of all about beards. And it was even stronger for years and years prior to that. Anti-beard bias, however, still remains stronger than many may realize. Plenty of people still feel entitled to tell new beard growers and established beard growers alike that they should shave. A milder form of anti-beard bias allows for limited beard growth, but not too much, with the limit defined by the beard critic. Grow your beard a bit beyond stubble length and you may hear, “That beard’s too long. You’ve got to trim that down.” Here at all about beards, we think that beard critics do not have the right to dictate what restrictions must be imposed on a man’s beard.

Anti-beard bias will never disappear completely. However, we are happy to see that it is much weaker now than it was twenty-two years ago. In recent years beards have made great gains in numbers and in acceptance. We could not be happier, except for the movement to continue in favor of beards.

Ready to grow your beard? Be sure to check out our tried and true beard growing guide and start growing today!

We will always keep growing. We are all about beards.

growing a beard

No-Shave November 2017: Welcome, new beard growers!

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If you’ve never grown your beard before, today is a great time to start. Today is the first day of No-Shave November. Did you shave today? If you did, it’s not too late to stop shaving and start growing your beard. You can easily justify your new beard-growing adventure by saying that it’s No-Shave November. And all about beards | beards.org can teach you everything you need to know to achieve beard-growing success. To get started, head on over to our guide on how to grow a beard.

We hope that growing your beard will be a satisfying and enjoyable experience. We are always pleased to welcome new beard growers to the ranks of bearded men worldwide. We’ve been doing it since 1996!

Be sure to keep in mind that once No-Shave November ends, you are encouraged to stay with your new beard and keep it growing. You have only just begun! Your beard deserves more than a month. We hope that you will keep on growing and will convert to a dedicated, permanent beard grower. And even if you end up shaving for whatever reason, you can always grow the beard again. And you probably should!

Happy No-Shave November and happy beard-growing to all!

Now head on over to our guide on how to grow a beard and start growing!

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No-Shave November 2016

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No-Shave November 2016
Wade is an accomplished beard grower. Now it’s time to show the world what you can grow!

Welcome, new beard growers!

Today is the beginning of No-Shave November 2016. It is a perfect opportunity for you to try out your beard-growing ability. We are happy to welcome new beard growers into the bearded brotherhood. Beards.org is here to encourage, inspire, and guide you through the beard-growing process. You will never know how your beard will turn out unless you give it a chance to grow out.

Go ahead and grow your beard! No-Shave November, however, is just the beginning. To do your new beard justice, you should keep it growing into December and beyond. Each beard is unique as is its rate of growth. For most men, just one month of beard-growing will not be enough to produce optimum results. Give your new beard more time before making a decision on whether or not to keep it. We hope you will stay with it and become yet another successful beard grower!

Now to get started on your beard the right way, go check out our tried-and-true instructions on how to grow your beard! Good luck and enjoy your new beard-growing adventure!

beards, growing a beard

the importance of hanging in there

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A site visitor wrote in with encouraging words that underscore the value of not abandoning all hope. His essay is quoted here, with permission, in its entirety:

I would like to offer encouragement to all fair-haired guys who have lost faith in their capabilities for beard growing when they compare themselves to their dark friends with steel wool whiskers who have a visible beard after 3 or 4 days of not shaving.

I have light brown hair but nature saw it fit to give me a white blond mustache and mouche and light brown sideburns with a slight reddish cast to them (Scottish ancestors I guess). I never tried to grow a beard for more than 3 or so weeks as it always looked like one of those attempts which one forces in high school — patchy, multicolored, and feeble, with bits missing between the goatee and the sideburns. It also seemed to grow extremely slowly (when compared to other people).

After not shaving on an extended vacation the year I turned 35, I was freed of the self-judgement and self-consciousness which usually put paid to my attempts in the past and I hung in there for more than a month. My beard underwent a dramatic transformation after 6 weeks, when all of a sudden it filled in and out and looked like a Beard!

When I shaved it off after a couple of months (a mistake which I set about rectifying as soon as I had done it), my boss’ comment to me was: “why did you shave, the beard made you look ‘power'”!

Since I have grown it back, I have been getting nothing but good feedback from people (male and female) and it has done wonders for my confidence in my appearance.

So to all of you mouse-brown, blond, or ginger guys out there, give it at least 6 — 8 weeks. Hang in there and let it grow, you will be surprised with the results.