I am not talking about those who shun munching on meat of dead animals but my heyday when men closely shaved every day. The ladies shied away from the stubble. Now the young shave the head and not the face. To me they look unwashed with the three day growth that is now in fashion. Young women now snuggle up to these guys, they must get turned on and want it rough !
My Salad Days
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Being clean-shaven was a flash in the pan, dreamt up by Gillette marketing execs. It was lame while it lasted.
I keep a neatly trimmed beard cuz the wife likes it. I shave my head cuz, well, the horseshoe cut isn’t a good look for me!
Young women like boys that are “cool”, then the young women grow up and want a man. These are generalizations of course.
The lack of shaving goes along with the general lack of formality the culture has embraced. I’m not yet 50 but still remember when people used to have to dress nice at work, and when people dressed up to go to church, etc. Now people are seen everywhere wearing actual bed clothes.
Lots of men are wearing beards, and nine out of ten of them look awful. It takes some effort to make a beard look nice. Most of the guys I see today have simply just not shaved and call that a beard. Looks great with their flip-flops and PJ pants as they shop for Frosted Flakes and gummy bears at Walmart.
Lots of men are wearing beards, and nine out of ten of them look awful. It takes some effort to make a beard look nice. Most of the guys I see today have simply just not shaved and call that a beard. Looks great with their flip-flops and PJ pants as they shop for Frosted Flakes and gummy bears at Walmart.
The entire reason that I reduced my facial hair to just a mustache. And long hair. Look like General Custer or somethin'.
...Maybe in another month I'll shave down to a Fu Manchu. Wanted to try one for years.
If I tried to shave every day, I'd probably die due to blood loss. Even if not, my face would look like D'Artagnan was practicing his lunge on it all day. My facial hair just doesn't grow that fast. But I try to keep to an every third day regimen, and aside from earlobe length sideburns (trimmed meticulously, lest I be sporing the Martin Van Buren look), I do maintain a pretty Mad Men-esque visage.
As for the world around me, I can't add anything that @Sam Gamgee hasn't already succinctly covered. Though I must blame him for my sudden, inexplicable craving for gummy bears.
As for the world around me, I can't add anything that @Sam Gamgee hasn't already succinctly covered. Though I must blame him for my sudden, inexplicable craving for gummy bears.
Militarily, “clean shaven” assures a proper fit of equipment, particularly a gas mask. But at it’s heart it’s uniformity for uniformity sake.
Is all eras fashions have changed.
Today, I bounce between a “neatly trimmed” beard - once weekly or clean shaven after allowing several days of shadow.
But even relaxed, I’m not disheveled in appearance. Old habits die hard.
Clothes make the man it’s said, but my suits are for weddings and funerals.— I don’t want to leave the house — looking “good enough to bury.”
Is all eras fashions have changed.
Today, I bounce between a “neatly trimmed” beard - once weekly or clean shaven after allowing several days of shadow.
But even relaxed, I’m not disheveled in appearance. Old habits die hard.
Clothes make the man it’s said, but my suits are for weddings and funerals.— I don’t want to leave the house — looking “good enough to bury.”
For 28 years in the Navy, I shaved nearly every day. A couple of years after I retired I needed neck surgery that kept me in a neck brace for 8 weeks. Shaving was strongly discouraged by my surgeon during the recovery so I ended up with a beard. The wife liked it so I still have it. It takes more effort to keep the beard looking nice than it does to shave every day.
I've never been a fan of the overly groomed metrosexual office drone look, but I didn't grow up in a big city, so the city-boy look was generally made fun of, not celebrated as an ideal.
Then again, I also live in western Canada, so the lumberjack look (Canadian Tuxedo) has always been present, and our military has beards.
Then again, I also live in western Canada, so the lumberjack look (Canadian Tuxedo) has always been present, and our military has beards.
I’ve had a beard for almost two years, than I made a mistake by trimming on the upper lip. I decided to take it off and found, I look much younger when proper shaved. Though I don’t shave every day.
I don't get how it's metrosexual (or any other kind of sexual) to be neat and clean. To me it is common sense and in many ways, thoughtful of others and the world around you. (Not unlike keeping your yard mowed as not to bring down the neighborhood.)
The way you look and present yourself strongly affects the way people treat you. There is no way around it. The unkempt guy at Walmart buying Cheetos in bedclothes will be treated like a bum.
People want to deal with other people that look nice, don't smell bad, brush their teeth, are overall clean, etc, etc.
I work with a bunch of fellows that don't necessarily wear proper beards, but just don't shave. In the morning they'll pull a sweaty old cap on their head, throw on an ill-fitting t-shirt, and come to work. I see how women treat them and don't want to be treated like that.
A man doesn't have to be Fred Astaire (though he and the men in the old movies were certainly not feminine), but being neat and clean, keeping your shoes shined, nails trimmed, etc. isn't difficult, and there is nothing feminine about it. It's just common decency.
The way you look and present yourself strongly affects the way people treat you. There is no way around it. The unkempt guy at Walmart buying Cheetos in bedclothes will be treated like a bum.
People want to deal with other people that look nice, don't smell bad, brush their teeth, are overall clean, etc, etc.
I work with a bunch of fellows that don't necessarily wear proper beards, but just don't shave. In the morning they'll pull a sweaty old cap on their head, throw on an ill-fitting t-shirt, and come to work. I see how women treat them and don't want to be treated like that.
A man doesn't have to be Fred Astaire (though he and the men in the old movies were certainly not feminine), but being neat and clean, keeping your shoes shined, nails trimmed, etc. isn't difficult, and there is nothing feminine about it. It's just common decency.
Treasure in tweeds
C. S. Lewis’s personal appearance—an old tweed coat with baggy flannel pants and a floppy fisherman’s hat—was at odds with fan impressions. According to biographer A. N. Wilson, Lewis once agreed to meet with a priest to discuss the man’s doubts about the Christian faith. Said Wilson, “The priest, who had expected the author of The Problem of Pain to look pale and ethereal, was astonished by the red-faced pork butcher in shabby tweeds he actually encountered.” Lewis’s chauffer Clifford Morris told how Lewis lost one hat on a picnic: “On the way to Cambridge, at the beginning of the next term, we looked inside the field gate where we had picnicked, and there was the hat, under the hedge, being used as a home for field mice. Jack retrieved it, of course, and later on continued to wear it.” Warnie Lewis, his brother, also told a hat story: “It is said that Jack once took a guest for an early morning walk on the Magdalen College grounds . . . after a very wet night. Presently the guest brought his attention to a curious lump of cloth hanging on a bush. ‘That looks like my hat,’ said Jack; then, joyfully, ‘It is my hat.’ And, clapping the sodden mass on his head, he continued his walk.” Lewis refused to spend extra money on clothes (or on anything else) and gave away his book royalties. In fact, he was surprised to find that he had to pay taxes on the royalties even after he had given them away; to avoid this, Owen Barfield, his lawyer as well as his friend, set up a philanthropic trust fund.
Ha! Funny, and all true. But he was always clean-shaved.
For the record I at least wear clean sweatpants to walmart.Ha! Funny, and all true. But he was always clean-shaved.