I trimmed my beard today
Within days of the November elections, my friend Daniel said he did the hardest thing he ever had to do: Take his Kerry sticker off his car. I wondered why he felt like he needed to. I think he just wanted some sense of finality over the whole thing and move on. I didn't take mine off. :-)
In a similar vein (although not nearly so somber), I trimmed my beard back today. It's weird. But I think of it did have that same kind of finality, like the contest was really over. I had let my mustache grow out for it. It was the first time I let it grow so long. My hair is really, really thick and curly, so it doesn't grow long well, especially on my face. It requires a lot of maintenance and combing and trimming to keep it looking decent. I figured I'd try to go for the thick beard look for the contest. Now I trimmed it back just to keep it neat for the next couple weeks while I finish up the brunt of my finals.
Dolly Parton once said takes a lot of money to look this cheap. Likewise, it takes lot of work to look like you don't work on it. I remember back in the 80s, George Michael founded the 5 o'clock shadow look, and he spent a hell of a lot of time looking like he forgot to shave. That was what it was like. Bears spend a surprising amount of time worrying about how they look, just not in ways that you would think. I actually put a lot of thought and effort into how I wanted my beard to look, the length, the lines (looking hot, but not all "topiary"), right down to the fact that I trimmed it X days before the contest so it would look a little unkempt by the time the contest hit (as the hair grew at uneven rates), but not overly so.
The other thing I noticed is that the hair around my mustache is real blond. Since I trimmed it back, I noticed a distinct dual tone between the hair under my chin and that on my mustache. I didn't always like being a blond bear. I think it stems from the fact I grew up in Minnesota. Swedes, Nords, Germans, being blond was downright common. In fact, I was downright brunette by comparison. Then I moved to SF. I once asked my ex exactly what his type was. He said he really liked blonds. "You consider me a blond?" "Oh yeah." (He's Portuguese.) I forget. In SF, I'm practically an ethnic group. Now? I like it. :-)
In a similar vein (although not nearly so somber), I trimmed my beard back today. It's weird. But I think of it did have that same kind of finality, like the contest was really over. I had let my mustache grow out for it. It was the first time I let it grow so long. My hair is really, really thick and curly, so it doesn't grow long well, especially on my face. It requires a lot of maintenance and combing and trimming to keep it looking decent. I figured I'd try to go for the thick beard look for the contest. Now I trimmed it back just to keep it neat for the next couple weeks while I finish up the brunt of my finals.
Dolly Parton once said takes a lot of money to look this cheap. Likewise, it takes lot of work to look like you don't work on it. I remember back in the 80s, George Michael founded the 5 o'clock shadow look, and he spent a hell of a lot of time looking like he forgot to shave. That was what it was like. Bears spend a surprising amount of time worrying about how they look, just not in ways that you would think. I actually put a lot of thought and effort into how I wanted my beard to look, the length, the lines (looking hot, but not all "topiary"), right down to the fact that I trimmed it X days before the contest so it would look a little unkempt by the time the contest hit (as the hair grew at uneven rates), but not overly so.
The other thing I noticed is that the hair around my mustache is real blond. Since I trimmed it back, I noticed a distinct dual tone between the hair under my chin and that on my mustache. I didn't always like being a blond bear. I think it stems from the fact I grew up in Minnesota. Swedes, Nords, Germans, being blond was downright common. In fact, I was downright brunette by comparison. Then I moved to SF. I once asked my ex exactly what his type was. He said he really liked blonds. "You consider me a blond?" "Oh yeah." (He's Portuguese.) I forget. In SF, I'm practically an ethnic group. Now? I like it. :-)
posted by Joe Carlin at 7:10 AM
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