The Beard Coach

I was born in the small Ohio River town of Henderson, Kentucky, and joyfully raised by my mother and bearded father.  My dad has had a beard my entire life, except for a dark period in the early nineties when my sister and I pestered him into shaving it off so we could see what he looked like.  When he was finished, I wondered where my father went.  He was just not the same man.

Such is the nature of the beard.  When a man has one for a long enough time, it becomes a major part of his identity.  This is currently happening to me.  Wearing a beard since April 2004 has changed how I am perceived, even among friends; I am now a bearded man.  Society certainly has a stereotype of how bearded men act.  Individualistic.  Idealistic.  A bit curmudgeonly.  Self-reliant.  Knowledgeable.  I fit the mold quite well, and I couldn’t say if the reason why is because I grew a beard and feel an imperceptible pressure to be that way or if I am naturally that way and fatefully felt compelled to grow a beard.  Either way, it looks like I’m bearded for good.

As my time bearded continues to increase, the likelihood that I will ever again be clean-shaven plummets.  I will never take a job that would require me to shave.  My beard is non-negotiable at work and in my personal life.  Fortunately, I found a good wife who enjoys my beard and actually mourns the loss of length in the summer months. Contrarily, when I let my beard get longer in the winter, my mom reliably groans at the length, saying how handsome I look with it shorter.  Dad’s beard has always been of modest length, but I never hear discouragement from him, short beard or long.  He doesn’t vocalize it, but I think he’s quietly proud that I have chosen to be bearded like him.

By being bearded, my father and I are part of something bigger – a brotherhood of like-minded men.  I may not always speak to a fellow beard bearer on the street, but if we make eye contact, there’s a knowing look and a sense of camaraderie that needs no words.  And all it takes to join the fellowship is a willingness to be in a minority… and patience.