This installment of my “how-to” video series addresses the issue of trimming your beard after it has gotten too long for the electric clippers.  Free-hand scissor trimming is a scary thing if you have never tried it before, and I hope this video will instill confidence and provide a couple tips based on how I trim my beard.

When you watch the video, you will notice that it looks as though I am not even cutting the hair.  This drives home the point I make about not taking too much off at once.  Just set aside a chunk of time and take it slowly.

Lastly, I apologize for the two-part video.  My memory card hit capacity before I was finished trimming, and a beard trimming video is definitely a one-take shoot.  Thanks for taking the time to watch both parts of the video to get the maximum benefit.

Okay, let’s get trimming!

Dang, guys, I seem to be having a bit of trouble getting some new beard advice posted these days.  I’ve also been rather distracted with a new project I’m starting up, as well as working on a couple new t-shirt designs.

Soon, my friends, I will produce more of the beard-related goodness you’ve become accustomed to.  I sincerely apologize and offer the following entertaining YouTube find in place of a bouquet of flowers as a token of my gratitude for your unending patience and your undying loyalty.

James Lipton, texting teens, and a removable beard… has there ever been a better set of public service announcements?

Seriously… why is that little dab of hair called a soul patch anyway?  I’ve just finished trying to research this and I can’t find any satifactory etymology of the phrase anywhere.  Here’s what I have been able to gather:

• “Soul Patch” was first included  in the Miriam Webster dictionary in 1991
• According to a source on the Wikipedia entry, jazz trumpeters of the 1950s and 1960s grew them for increased mouthpiece comfort.
• Also according to Wikipedia, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, called the first soul patch he saw a “poor, frustrated beard.”

So my theory on the history of the soul patch goes like this.  It was the height of the 1950s jazz movement.  African-American jazz musicians were getting freaky and white counterculture ate it up.  They felt so cool and progressive hanging out at the club and grooving on the new sounds that were being made up on the spot.  In the midst of that jazz-induced euphoria, these kids noticed their idols wearing this little patch of hair under their bottom lip, not knowing what reason it served.  In an effort to be as cool as the cats on the stage, the guys that were caught up in the scene grew out a little patch to match… and the soul patch was introduced to the non-musicians of America.

That still doesn’t explain why it’s called a “soul” patch.  Soul music isn’t really an offspring of jazz.  Instead, it grew from African-American gospel crossed with rhythm-and-blues (R&B).  And while R&B and jazz can both claim the blues as a parent, it’s hard to detect any resemblance between the siblings.  An audible connection is even less present between soul music and its uncle jazz.  So, there’s just no soul in a soul patch.  I’m going to start calling it a “jazz patch.”  You should too.

Real soul music was made by guys with real beards.  Evidence:

Marvin Gaye?

Barry White?

Isaac Hayes?

There you have it.  There is simply no denying the soulfulness of the full beard.  You may think that little spot of hair under your lip gives you soul, but I’m pretty sure that the ladies aren’t feeling it.  You want to see a woman feel the effects of a full soul beard?  Play “Let’s Get It On” at your next house party.  I guarantee that at least one of the girls in attendance will swoon and start turning her mind toward certain things…

You want to look like you’re a lovin’ man?  Fill in the rest of your beard around that “poor, frustrated” jazz patch.

I recently received a nice gift in honor of the new year from a loyal member of the Beard Coach Army.  Kai “Longbeard” Cofer is a fantastic beard poet whose work appears on it’s very own page here.  He was nice enough to share these verses with me, and I felt compelled to pass them along to you.  Enjoy!

MY DAD’S LONG BEARD
When I was five, I asked my dad,
“Why do you shave your face?”
He said, “I do not know, my boy.
It does seem out of place.
I really don’t like shaving. It’s
Unnatural and weird.”
I said, “I’d like it very much
If you would grow a beard.”

At first it was all stubbly
But then it grew and grew.
At last it was a proper beard
After a month or two.
“Should I let it grow longer, son?
I’ll do what you think best.”
By the time that I was seven
His beard was to his chest.

“Is this beard long enough, my boy?
Perhaps not, don’t you think?
And if I were to shave it now
I’d clog the bathroom sink.
For you I’ll grow it longer, son.”
And so he did post haste.
And by the time that was ten
It hung down to his waist.

My dad he kept on growing it.
He grew it to his thighs.
He entered many beard contests
And always won first prize.
“Perhaps I ought to shave today.”
He’d often like to tease.
By the time I entered High School
His beard was past his knees.

And now that I am twenty-one,
I cannot help but grin.
I think about my dad’s long beard
And stroke my bearded chin.
I want a beard just like my dad’s
A beard down to the floor.
It represents the love we share
Now and forevermore.