I just received this email from a Beard Coach visitor:

I was curious to why you shorten your beard during summer. I find that on a very hot Texas day, I can wet my beard and the wind carries away my latent heat of evaporation.

In response, I don’t always trim my beard in the summer.  I’ve spent happy summers past like our dear reader – with a wet, cool beard.  I’ve also spent summers, like this one, with a beard trimmed at my longest trimmer setting.  I don’t think I trim it because of the weather, per se.  I think it’s really more that I get tired of seeing my reflection in the mirror look the same day in and day out.  To keep things interesting, I usually trim my beard back every four to six months.  That lets it get a bit of length on it for part of the year.

I also grow my hair out a bit and shave it off occasionally.  It’s an ebb and flow – like the rhythmic tides – long beard, short beard, long beard, short beard.

Short Beard - Short Hair

Longer Beard - Short Hair

Longer Beard - Longer Hair

Maybe someday I’ll decide to go for it and keep growing my beard forever.  Maybe I’ll continue my fickle ways.  All I know is digging up those pics with my longer beard just convinced me to head into a long phase again.

Click this shirt to order yours!

I’m proud to release my newest beard shirt today!  This old Spanish proverb sums up my beard philosophy so well that I just had to have it emblazoned on a shirt to share with you guys.

Inside, we all want to be honorable men.  You can proudly wear this shirt to encourage those sad, bare-faced souls to finally live up to their potential!

Click the image now and start doing your part to increase beard awareness!

Several guys have emailed recently asking for a beard trimmer recommendation.  Rather than reply to each one individually, I thought that this might be a good “coachable moment” for everyone in need of a decent beard trimmer.  Especially now that we are in the thick of a hot, hot summer.  I’ll bet many a man has forsaken his beard under the pressure of triple-digit heat.  Thinking about it is enough to make a man weep.

I urge anyone thinking about cutting off their beard this summer to consider taking the middle path and simply trim it shorter for the next couple months.  By the time winter blows back into town, your beard will be back to its original fullness and you will be a happy man.

Anyway, here is the beard trimmer I use.

The Philips Norelco G370.  Affordable.  Versatile.  Stunning.

It comes with five interchangeable attachments that each take care of different grooming tasks.  The one that is meant to see the most use is the one you see attached to the body in the photo.  It has an adjustable, removable guard with nine length settings.  Number nine leaves about an inch behind.  If you are looking to keep a bit more length, there is another attachment that is marketed as one you could use to cut your own head hair.  I’m not brave enough for that, but it does leave a nice length on the facial hair – maybe an inch and a quarter.

It also comes with a more narrow head for trimming your moustache.  This is the most used head on my trimmer simply because I like to keep my moustache off my lip, and that requires more frequent trimming than my beard.

You also get an attachment that’s meant to shave your non-beard whiskers back to skin level and one that appears to be for trimming your nose hairs.  I can’t say I’ve used either of these, but I know my dad has a dedicated nose hair trimmer and would be pumped about that attachment.

There you you have it.  The Coach’s own trimmer can be yours.  Why not buy it right now!?

Warning: non beard related post! It is a BEER related post however.

If you happen to be a bearded beer brewer like me and have some extra homebrewing equipment to sell, please check out my new website Beer Gear Trader.  It’s free to post an ad and make a quick buck from the stuff you aren’t using.

Or, if you’re thinking of getting into homebrewing (you should), Beer Gear Trader is a great place to find second hand equipment and get started on the cheap.

Thanks for enjoying this site so much… I  hope you’ll enjoy the new one, or will pass the word along to someone who will!