Anyone with a beard here?

[vampyrewolf]

Just wondering if anyone here has tips.

I've had a goatee for just over 4yrs now, decided to give a beard a shot. Let it go for a month and trimmed it down. Doesn't look too bad when it's cleaned up, but haven't had time to do much this week other than work.

I've tried before to get a beard going and failed. Usually trim down to the goatee at the 2-3 week mark when the itching starts driving me nuts.
I'll most likely stay with using the 3/4" setting on my clippers that I currently use on my goatee when the rest of it gets there.

Suggestions on beard trimmers, different shampoo for your face... any tips & tricks...

[The Mastiff]

I've got a goatee. I just shampoo it with a clarifying shampoo just like my hair. Nothing special. It has a few gaps but I'm not one to worry about my looks too much. I feel either it will grow, or it won't. I can't grow a decent full beard because of patches. Genetics has a lot to do with it.

Does anybody know why the gray hairs grow nuch faster than normal colored hairs? Joe

[vampyrewolf]

I've used my same shampoo as my head on my goatee before too... just wondered if there was something better for it.

Speaking of grey hair though... I've had greys growing since I was 15 or 16. I usually pull em when I find em on my head. Have 3 white growing on my goatee that just won't go away... pull it and a week later it's back. Between that and the couple small patches of reddish growth in what I have going so far (considering I have black hair) makes me think hair pigment is a crap shoot anyways,

[The Deacon]

Started growing mine the day I graduated from high school. Have worn a beard an moustache of one type or another almost constantly ever since. Every female I've ever "been with" since then has wondered about how I'd look without it, then told me to grow it back when I shaved it off.

As for "care and feeding", in the winter, I use an Wahl professional clipper, with a 1/4" comb, on both my beard and what's left of my hair every couple weeks. In the summer, I use the /14" comb on the beard but switch to a 1/8" one for my hair. Take a Gillette Mach III razor to my neck and cheeks once, perhaps twice, a week. Been doing that for about the past twenty years, although at times in the past I've used a longer comb on the beard. Never use shampoo or conditioner, I shower with Dial soap - period.

Does anybody know why the gray hairs grow nuch faster than normal colored hairs? Joe

Just to piss us off Joe.

[flyguy]

Just have patience. It'll look like a beard once all of your facial hair has grown enough... Unless it doesn't. Some of my friends (and father) can't grow a full beard.

I go between a goatee, beard, and clean shaven randomly. Only tip is to shave under your chin/jaw starting about a half inch back from the front edge of your face. At least, this was something I didn't know until my barber suggested it.

Actually, go get a hair cut and ask the person cutting your hair for advice...

[Hannibal Lecter]

My Dear Friend,

Speaking of grey hair though... I've had greys growing since I was 15 or 16. I usually pull em when I find em on my head.

I will have to side with my father on this one - he always said he never cared which color his hair turned as long as it didn't turn loose...

--------
Hannibal

[boxer93]

VW,
I have a beard. Like deacon I have had mine for a while, 31 years now. Never been shaved off. Mine started when I wanted to look more mature (I was 19 supervising a staff easily twice my age). I use my normal shampoo.
Chris

[David Lowry]

I have a goatee, and sometimes during the winter I go with a full beard. I usually don't let it get longer than 3/8". Most of the time I keep my goatee at 1/4" and if I grow a beard it goes to about 1/2" or so. I keep it neat and trim.

I have never washed my facial hair with shampoo. It's not the same as head hair. I just wash my face with whatever soap I happen to be using at the time. Most of the time it's some sort of body wash that my wife gets, or it's Dove soap. I wash my hair with Paul Mitchell Tea Tree shampoo, because it gets all tingly and feels neat.

I used to have a shaved head but I have since let it grow out and it's kinda spiked up a little now because it's still too short to lay down.

I just use a rechargeable set of Wahl clippers. They are about 1" wide and that's what I use to trim my mustache and goatee. Other than keeping them neatly trimmed I don't do anything special to them.

[Peter1960]

Full beard here for the last 27 years. In the first two years with a long full beard (late adolescence ) and after this always the same short trimmed full beard to 3-5 mm lenght. I'm lacy and trim once per week. Shampoo for hear and bear is the same.

We have a saying here in Austria: The part what a man is more beautiful than a monkey is pure extravagance

[psimonl]

VW,
I have a beard. Like deacon I have had mine for a while, 31 years now. Never been shaved off. Chris

NEVER BEEN SHAVED OFF FOR THE LAST YEARS NOW!!!!

Are you from ZZ Top!!!

I want pictures...

Simon

[Clay Kesting]

I've had a full beard most of my adult life. Can't understand why anyone would shave when a beard is so useful to keep the wind and sun off your face. I don't shave at all, just use the clippers on my neck and cheeks once a week when I trim the rest of the beard.

Only tip is to shave under your chin/jaw starting about a half inch back from the front edge of your face. At least, this was something I didn't know until my barber suggested it.

No need to shave under the chin, I just use a shorter setting on my clippers to give better definition to my jaw. Somewhere I read to use conditioner on a beard because grey hair ( yes, I'm a greybeard too ) is coarser than normal hair. Works for me.

[yablanowitz]

I've worn a beard most of the time since my junior year in high school. I still remember having to shave it off with a Bic disposable razor when I arrived at RTC Orlando (Navy boot camp). The last time I shaved it completely off was some time back in the eighties, although I do trim it from time to time.

I use the same shampoo on my face as on what little hair I have on my head (Prell if you want to know). As for the itchy stage, I have yet to experience that part, even at sea on a submarine working in 120 plus heat with oil condensing on everything from the fumes in the air.

[Bruceter]

I have had a full beard for at least twenty years,maybe twenty one. I keep it around 3/8" or so. The last time I shaved it off,my girlfriend (now wife)let out quite the shriek!
I also look like I am about twelve years old without the beard.
I have my share of gray,don't do anything about it. Same shampoo for both top and bottom,use whatever is on the shelf.

Bruceter

[Dr. Snubnose]

I have one of those faces with a beard so tough it could second as a sharpmaker, or at the very least by rubbing my fingertips against it I can file them down...Even since I went to Military School for High School where I had to shave twice a day or get demerits and walk in full dress with an 11 and 3/4pound M1 rifle for an hour at a time, because my 5 O'clock shadow appears at 11am, I have learned the beard was the best way for me to go. Whenever I cut it off no matter what style It's back to full strenght in less than week. People don't even realize when it's there and when it's not. Right now I have just a goatee (no mustasche). But my face has adorned every type of beard and mustasche known to man. When I got out of H.S. I decided why fight it anymore and started to grow a beard until the Department store I was working in during the summer, told me It was against the rules to grow one and that my face was to be cleanly shaven each morning before I came to work. They dragged me into the office and made me read (out loud)the paragraph in their official rule book....(didn't even know they had a rule book) It was right there in Section 12 paragraph 3....I said Hey the guy in applicance has a beard and the guy in automotives has a beard, and I think there is a lady in housewares who has one too....They told these people came to the store with their beards and people without them couldn't start growing one...this really pissed me off. I told them I would follow the rules and each morning my face would be cleanly shaven before I came to work as stated in the rulebook, however I also advised them that I would grow the hair out of my neck so long that I would be able to use it as a pillow for sleep when standing up....They said you wouldn't dare.....That was all I needed to hear. I grew the neck hair for about two weeks before the store manager approached me and told me if I shaved my neck I could grow a beard (they couldn't fire me they were desperate for summer help). BTW it looked pretty weird and got pretty thick but it was a matter of principle for me....I did shave my neck and grew my first beard at that time. I always have kept my beards neat and trimmed and close to the face. I use a Wahl trimmer like others here and don't use any shampoo on it just regular soap. I tried to get rid of the grey when I became of the graying age using products like "Just for Men" but It only would work for a day so after going thru like 4 boxes in one week I was like OK this is not going to work...So now the beard is kinda salt and pepper with a little more salt than pepper, but it does look kinda cool as I have no gaps or spaces where the hair grows. Hair is growing in places at an alarming rate all over my body...I go to the barber and have to tell him separate the neck hair from the back hair...trim those eyebrows, beard and mustasche and cut those nose and ear hairs away pronto....LOL....I guess it's my Russian ancestory, all that hair and I can stay warm for the Russian front....Doc

[vampyrewolf]

Paul: Guess I'm going hunting for a wahl clipper... I go through a cheap set of clippers in a year or so... my hair grows thick and jams up the clipper if I don't get a haircut every month at least.

flyguy: clippers at home. Haven't paid someone to cut my hair in a LONG time. Right now it's trimmed a little under my jaw line, looks decent. The only thing that doesn't grow in is the 'soul patch'. Hasn't changed in 2-3yrs at least.

Hannibal Lecter: one grandfather had the senior's ring as long as I can remember him. My other one has a combover. Either way, when my hairline recedes or I get the bald patch going, I'm going for the cue ball. My head may be lumpy but it beats balding. Dad's had a bald patch for the last 15+ years.

boxer93: if I'm clean shaven I can pass off for a minor. Even just taking it down to a goatee and cleaning that up I get checked... goatee and a couple days of stubble and they ignore me. Last weekend I was the youngest of 4 of us playing pool at the bar, and the only one not checked.

David Lowry: so what do you do then with a shaved head and a beard? kinda tough deciding where to stop it isn't it?

Peter1960: tried my first beard at 18, didn't work out. Tried again at 20/21 a few times... Can get away with it at my current job, as long as I show up and work they don't care what I look like.

Clay Kesting: Usually all I did was trim the goatee to 3/4" and the rest of it got the shortest setting on the clippers (ended up close to 2-3 day stubble). Had an electric razor that I used in highschool, and then didn't even own a razor for a few years there. Clippers did the job.

yablanowitz: The air here is pretty dry... that might be it.

Bruceter: I'll have to get a pic of my driver's license photo, my student pic, and my work ID. The 5yr progression... 18: clean shaven, longer hair (enough to gel back)... 21: 1/4" length on the goatee, buzzed hair... 22: 3/4" on goatee, buzzed hair still... and of course 23 if I toss in a new pic with the start of a beard and buzzed hair.

[The Deacon]

Then again Patrick, you might want to go for broke like these folks.

[EarthDog]

I've had a full beard since Nov 1970 when Z-gram 57 came out and Admiral Zumwalt decreed we could wear neatly trimmed beards.

I now use rechargable Wahl clippers and have also used scissors and comb to maintain a closely cropped beard. Shampoo? Sure, same as I use on what remains of my hair.

The beard has become noticeably gray, especially since I became a dad.

[vampyrewolf]

Just figured I'd toss an update on here...

The top of it is still a bit thin, but that's my fault for trimming it low that first time.
Clippers last weekend just barely got the end of the hair, just trimmed a 1/4" today with the 3/4" setting. I'll take a pic in a few weeks when it gets to the same state my goatee is at (aka laying flat). Pretty bad when the only reason I have a comb is for my face

Just using the same head & shoulders that I use on my hair anyways. Might try something else when I finish off this bottle.

Should be interesting next time I see the whole family at xmas. Only my grandparents have seen it, don't know if my extended family has been told yet.

[Davis61381]

I grow out a beard for the winter months. I usually start it around October and shave near April. By that time I've had enough if it. I'm going to start growing it back out effective October 6th. My best friend is getting married on the 6th so I'll be clean shaven for that, but that will be the last time the majority of my face will see a razor. I shave the neck and cheeks to give the beard definition. I'm a hairy dude, I've been growing facial hair since I was in the 6th grade.


Me with the beard and my long hair


and me now......

Complete with Caly JR!