I am growing a beard for the 1st time🎅

So I am a week and a bit in, I am 29 and have never went past 3-4 days.
I like it and think it looks good but everynow and then I feel like I have a small animal on my face and start stroking it lol. Will I be sitting at my desk in future pondering...stroking my beard? Haha

Just looking for general info, and ideas how long should I grow it before I decide what to do with it and what to do with it if I keep it?

Mon The Beards!

a reply to: michael1888

Good luck mate, stick with it. I recently shaved off my very impressive handlebar and am sorely missing it, probably going to grow it back. Just need a comb and some wax

a reply to: biggilo

What wax do you use?

originally posted by: michael1888
how long should I grow it before I decide what to do with it

Until you trip over it.

I keep my trim and short. But in the past 18 years I have only shaved it all off maybe twice, the last time back in 2009.

I have, for many years, got into a cycle of beard growing and shaving. It's a six to eight week cycle, where I grow a beards and when it starts to catch in hedges and my face disappears, I shave it off.

There is a couple of days in the middle when I am told I look OK!

Regards

a reply to: michael1888

I never liked the feel of it when I grew a beard. I tried it and it bothered me every time I would drink something. Water or any other beverage would always accumulate in the hairs around my mouth, lol. It was rather itchy around the neck too. I lost my patience with it after a couple of weeks and shaved it off.

I tried Fat Jacks but settled on 'Melt n Smelt' Bay rum scented, firm hold

a reply to: michael1888

Well michael1888, every beard is different. That is not some PC, everyone's a winner nonsense, but the literal truth. Every beard is a little different. They grow at different speeds, some grow straight, others wiry and frizzy, some come out the same colour as the rest of the owners hair, and sometimes they come out entirely differently than you would expect. Mine, for example, is a wiry explosion of slightly copper fuzz. The individual hairs are so coarse, that I woke up having slept with a hand under my face, with one of my beard hairs having penetrated my palm flesh, and slid an inch of its length under the skin.

A friend of mine has the silkiest, smoothest, and softest beard hair you ever saw. I am a Brillo pad with a mouth inside it, he is a hair care commercial for your face.

Most of the effort in keeping a beard relies on the following:
Be CAREFUL with the razor. Do not miss with it, and accidentally take more face fuzz off than you wanted to. For me personally, I never shave the chin and moustache, only the cheeks and a tidy up of the sideburns. In my opinion, if you feel that it would be overkill to brush your beard with your hairbrush, grow more of it!

While i can grow a reasonable beard its never going to make me into a Greek priest/ZZ top sort of beard

Beards do need a lot of maint which seems strange when you're doing less but moisture and also getting rid of excess skin via exfoliating is important as who loves a beard itch

Enjoying my winter 'combat' beard at the moment but since i've been diagnosed with bone and facial cancer i'm probably going to spend a while smoother than a cue ball so all i'll need is some pledge and a duster till its sorted out

a reply to: michael1888

You better not shave it!


Don't have much tips n tricks. I shave it all off my neck. Can't stand the sensation when it's on my neck. I suggest buying a beard trimmer with a decent amount of length settings. Keep it tidy.

The pic is my No-Shave-November experiment. Though I think it was over a month at that point.

Well from a ladies' perspective, I prefer to them neatly trimmed instead of all wild and wiry and lumberjack. The hipster movement is a bain. However, personally I prefer to kiss the smooth guy. It helps that my husband is beard impaired ... it's the Native American.

Well, you know what they say about beards?

They grow on you!

Edit to add: I grow out my beard each year for Detroit Santarchy. I usually start it in early October, then don't trim it until after New Years. I usually keep my beard short: number five on the beard trimmer, trimming it back down every week. But usually after that long stretch it's a solid four to five inches long. The only area I trim then is around my mouth.

a reply to: Maxatoria

Enjoying my winter 'combat' beard at the moment but since i've been diagnosed with bone and facial cancer i'm probably going to spend a while smoother than a cue ball so all i'll need is some pledge and a duster till its sorted out

Sorry to hear this.
Good luck with treatment.
Keep us informed as to how you are doing.

Get well pala reply to: Maxatoria

Keep growing it, beards are manly and awesome. After a while you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

a reply to: ketsuko

Yeah I'm half Apache myself... a beard is simply not an option for me. I can't even grow a decent goatee lol.

If you live somewhere hot or spend a lot of time outdoors then do not grow a big beard over the summer and then shave it, I did that once and looked ridiculous half deeply tanned face.

a reply to: michael1888

This guy gives some good advice on growing and maintaining a beard. Length is where I am having a hard time deciding to keep my beard. I typically keep mine at a #4 setting on my beard clippers, just long enough to brush if desired.

originally posted by: Bone75
a reply to: ketsuko

Yeah I'm half Apache myself... a beard is simply not an option for me. I can't even grow a decent goatee lol.

My aunt was married to a Chippewa man.
He didn't shave at all. He would pluck the very few whiskers that he had, as they grew in.