As Deb has pointed out I am now without beard. Every now and again when my hair starts looking too much like Wolverine’s Kerry has a hack at it with the clippers. I usually trim my beard at the same time, but this time I decided to take it all off on impulse. I didn’t like it initially, feeling that I had gone from Wolverine to Mole Man, but as times gone on I’ve got used to it. Amy was pretty fascinated in the beginning, regularly pointing to my face and exclaiming “No beard!†but she too has grown used to the change and has gone back to pointing out food stains on my shirts.Â
It’s funny how eager people are to point out how much they disliked your appearance before you shaved. It’s always women who are guilty of this. I wouldn’t dream of going up to a colleague at work and saying “I’m glad you aren’t wearing that red jumper today – you looked absolutely awful in it†but they don’t hesitate to express their loathing of facial hair as soon as you resort to the razor. Similarly if men talked about cellulite in the same manner that women talk about back hair we’d be lynched (do you detect a hint of bitterness here).
Anyway the beard has gone for the foreseeable future. I’ve always known it makes me look older, but professionally this has generally been a good thing. People tend to take someone who’s advising them on how to live their life more seriously if they feel they have a bit of experience behind them. These days I actually do have a bit of experience behind me, and looking older is no longer quite as desirable.
Of course the beard did hide my double chin.
Well I think you looked better bearded! It’s much the same quandry I keep having too but at the moment I too am clean shaven as you know and generally feel more professional and less of a scruffy waster because of it.
The beauty of beards is they don’t take long to come back if you make an arse of them.
Ah but you are a fellow geek to whome beards have always been more acceptable.
And don’t worry, you’ll always be a scruffy waster to me.