Show us your beard!

[Mr Jules]

I am starting to catch up with some of you graybeards.

Are you just showing off now ?

[slymyke]

Razor, the shape of your beard is really cool, and the color variation seems to accentuate to look.   

[greatnessinc]

Brother you look like a silver tip badger brush. Fore ya get mad, those are high dollar.

[Razor X]

I went to buy a soda for my lunch today from the bagel shop in the lobby of my building.  I go in there most days, sometimes at lunchtime, or other times to grab a bagel or some milk in the mornings.  Today, the woman who rang up my order said, "I've been meaning to tell you, I love the color of your beard." I almost turned around and looked over my shoulder to see who she was talking to!

[Rusty Shackleford]

I went to buy a soda for my lunch today from the bagel shop in the lobby of my building.  I go in there most days, sometimes at lunchtime, or other times to grab a bagel or some milk in the mornings.  Today, the woman who rang up my order said, "I've been meaning to tell you, I love the color of your beard." I almost turned around and looked over my shoulder to see who she was talking to!

Of course she was talking about yours because that beard is freaking awesome.   It's a shame you are losing the red color, but one thing I've noticed is that red even goes gray better than black* and brown hair because it seems to keep a reddish tinge to it while guys with hair that used to be black or brown but is now graying just seems to look dead.  I'm hoping that mine will become bright white or at least consistent gray when I lose it all.
 

* Yes there is no such thing as truely black hair but you all know what I mean

[Rusty Shackleford]

Challenge accepted.

You claim you have bad cheeks, but it looks like you could have an extremely strong goatee and chinstrap if you actually let it grow.  There's this really bad misconception out there when it comes to bearding where guys think a beard must either be stubble or completely untrimmed hair heading to terminal length.  I've known guys who grew beards, nearly worshipped them as they came in, and then shaved them off when they got too long because of this mentality.  Just like head hair, beard hair can be maintained at any length you choose fairly easily.  Now after 15 years of doing it wrong I finally feel like I've figured out how to do it, and I have this constant urge to plead "You're doing it wrong!" to all of the guys I see who try to keep their beards neat by maintaining it at the sloppiest looking length and cutting their necklines halfway up the sides of their head.  I know there's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to this, but it seems like most guys are flat out doing it wrong.

I did the stubble thing for years just because it was "how you were supposed to do it", and  I was always disappointed because stubble just exaggerates all of the flaws of your beard.  I know that goes against the conventional thinking, but it's the truth.  I'm sure if you let it grow out and maintained it at a modest length of 1" you would be thrilled with how yours looks.  RazorX was doing the same thing to his, condemning his beard to stubble mediocrity, and now with just a couple inches of length it is a beard that is both precisely groomed and legend-wait for it-dary.  Can anyone seriously say his beard looks sloppy or that he looks homeless?  I mean, come on.  Trust me, if you grew that goatee and chinstraps out to about an inch you would love it or would at the very least see what a longer beard would look like instead of imagining what it would look like.  

I also think that your genetically-imposed chinstrap sides works for you because a chinstrap is intentionally thin.  It's really those guys who want the full beard / full cheek look, but think they'll look homeless with an actual full beard so they shave their necklines up to their cheeks.  In their attempt to not look bad they give themselves a huge neck and a 2" hair-colored stripe across the side of their head. Chinstraps, because they are so thin, actually avoid this weird effect.

[Razor X]

I went to buy a soda for my lunch today from the bagel shop in the lobby of my building.  I go in there most days, sometimes at lunchtime, or other times to grab a bagel or some milk in the mornings.  Today, the woman who rang up my order said, "I've been meaning to tell you, I love the color of your beard." I almost turned around and looked over my shoulder to see who she was talking to!

Of course she was talking about yours because that beard is freaking awesome.   It's a shame you are losing the red color, but one thing I've noticed is that red even goes gray better than black* and brown hair because it seems to keep a reddish tinge to it while guys with hair that used to be black or brown but is now graying just seems to look dead.  I'm hoping that mine will become bright white or at least consistent gray when I lose it all.
 

* Yes there is no such thing as truely black hair but you all know what I mean

Thanks. I guess we always tend to want what we don't have.  I think dark brown or black hair can look awesome as it greys. Dark hair tends to turn a nice steel or silver color.  Think Clooney.

[Razor X]

I think greatnessinc could let that chinstrap expand into a very nice Riker beard without any problem, if wants to.   

[greatnessinc]

Thanks bros. I'm going to let it grow for a while. I trim it short but not all the way to stubble.
I like tight clean lines on the neck, but I keep it a bit below the jaw line otherwise it just looks like I messed it up.

[Razor X]

Short is fine because you've got nice dark hair.  When you start turning into a greying old man like me you'll have to let it get a little longer.   

[BaldHDbiker]

I just started growing mine back. Hopefully it'll come back like my avatar pic.

[greatnessinc]

Short is fine because you've got nice dark hair.  When you start turning into a greying old man like me you'll have to let it get a little longer.   

My hair doesn't get very long it just thickens up.

P.S. 2 HIMYM references in 1 thread, high five! Now we're up to 3.

[imaginary]

RazorX: luzca bien. The color truly does look awesome!

Greatnessinc: cool Kon-El t-shirt. If only they bring him back.

[Rusty Shackleford]

P.S. 2 HIMYM references in 1 thread, high five! Now we're up to 3.

I almost didn't due to my disgust over the finale.

[BBCESQ]

Okay Guys, its been more than a couple of weeks since I last posted a pick of the beard and boy is it getting long.  This is by far the longest its ever been.  The current plan is to grow it out at least another month and then decide.  I think, however, I've decided that I am going to go at least 6 months of total growth before I decide if I like it.  I've always wanted to try a long beard of more than a few inches, and I don't seem to be having any professional issues, so its now or never.