2025, animals, Family, pets, Uncategorized

The Fashion In Facial Hair

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Yesterday was Kyrill’s grooming appointment. He gets groomed every 6 weeks or so. Cesky Terriers don’t shed. Their coats just gets thicker and longer. It is also curly and needs regular brushing out. This is him, exhausted, after his appointment yesterday.

As you can see from the photo, Cesky Terriers have a very distinctive grooming pattern for their faces. They have the traditional terrier beard along with a hank of hair that extends from the eyebrow to the nose. This is presumably to protect their eyes as they rout vermin out of their holes and chivy wild swine from their dens so hunters can shoot them. Kyrill can see very well through all that hair. I make a point of trimming the hair from the outside of his eye sockets so he has good peripheral vision.

My father and grandfathers never had beards. Neither Husband or son has a beard currently. Son will occasionally grow one for a special contest at the college where he works. Husband had a beard decades ago, but his hair is curly and his beard had the texture of a scrub brush, so he hasn’t had a beard for more than 40 years.

I don’t find the current trend of excessive human male facial hair particularly attractive. I suppose it is less expensive than shaving every day. We are traveling to Montreal next week, and Son wants us to get him some fancy shaving things at a store he likes there, at our expense, of course!

Male Baboons, do you have, or ever have had, a beard? Female Baboons, ever had a significant other with a beard? What are your favorite or least favorite dog grooming standards?

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33 thoughts on “The Fashion In Facial Hair”

  1. Hold on here! What about ladies shaving arm pits and legs?!😀
    I had a mustache. Too much bother.
    I’ll shave every other day.
    The Birds get their nails clipped maybe every other year. They have natural perches so their beaks and nails don’t require much attention.

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  2. yes i have a beard
    the last 50+ years
    it changes and so do i. i shaved it off twice and grew it back at once both times.
    i love ladies shaving trends.
    european vs american
    60’s vs today
    minnesota orchestra has a new conductor whose hair is a bit like your dogs
    conductors do that so they look flamboyant when whipping their heads around
    hope your dog enjoys digging for vermin and helps keep the swine population under control
    may be a problem in luverne where pork is prevalent
    your son expects you to pay? i raised my kids wrong too

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  3. I have never had a beard, for the simple reason that my facial hair is too sparse and slow growing to support one. I wouldn’t have to shave every day, though I do, and you wouldn’t notice.

    In my part of town, I often see men, usually older men, with longish untrimmed beards and mustaches. It does nothing to enhance their appearance or apparent hygiene and I wonder what that choice is all about. I get a sense that it’s not merely an individual choice but identification with a certain group or ethos of which I have no knowledge. With what beliefs are these rustic beards associated and what do these men believe their hirsute faces assert?

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  4. Joseph Palmer, a farmer who assisted Bronson Alcott and his family and fellow communards at Alcott’s Fruitlands colony, wore a long beard at a time when it was widely out of fashion. He was harassed for it and at one point attacked by four men who attempted to forcibly shave his beard. Palmer managed to fight them off but was arrested and jailed for “unprovoked assault”. He was assessed a heavy fine, which he refused to pay and as a result was kept in jail for fifteen months, often under punishing conditions.

    His case, and the justifications offered by the authorities at the time have a certain resonance with current events.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Palmer_(communard)

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  5. Husband had a mustache when I met him, but there are photos of him in “full regalia” – the quintessential hippie with the full-face beard and long hair. He also grew a shorter beard when Joel was little, and there is a photo of the day he shaved it off – clean-faced on one side, still bearded on the other.

    I hardly even shave my legs anymore – leg hair is somewhat sparse, and I rarely wear anything short.

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  7. I grew a “beard” my freshman year in college. Seventeen going on 18, so it did not turn out well. I looked like the teenage age version of the Quaker on the Quaker Oatmeal packages. Shaved it off within the year (I believe). Later, I had a mustache for a few years while I was a band director, but axed that and have never looked back. I shave every other day now, but you have to look closely to see my stubble on day two. The only time I go longer than that without shaving is during my BWCAW canoe trips. Too much hassle to bother with. The very short beard I have at the end of a week only makes me look a lot older than I am, so no thanks.

    This (trend) too shall pass. Much like long hair, sideburns, and bell bottoms in the 70s, and women’s poofy, teased hairstyles in the 80s. Always look to the younger genertion to change the trend as soon as their parents and grandparents adopt it.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  8. The current “raggedy” trend (my mother’s words) doesn’t bother me much – of course, some men can pull it off way better than others.

    My dad had a heart attack when I was a junior in college and he decided it was time to make some changes. First, he decided to be “JB” instead of Joe Bill (his birth name). He also grew a beard, which he kept relatively short. It looked good on him – he had a baby face and the beard gave him some gravitas that he hadn’t had before.

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  10. I have a beard like Bill’s. Many years ago it was a struggle to shave well with an electric razor. I switched to a shaving cup and a brush with safety razor. But my skin did not like it. I went off on a 10 day workshop and came home with a bit of a beard. My small kids liked it. Since it was summer and I was busy writing my own instructional materials, Sandra said to see what it grew into. It was not great. My psoriasis, which to this day is mostly hidden, was appearing on my facing. Not shaving meant not irritating it. I kept it for 25 years until we were making videos. The producer thought I would look better clean shaven. But my skin looked blotchy. So I soon grew it back and it has stayed. If I am not careful I look like the old men in Bill’s neighborhood. It hides some but not all of the psoriasis. Looking at Sandra I see I need to shave her chin. I make it take a long time because the feel of the vibration of the clippers.
    Clyde

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  14. Hi- back when I was milking cows, I’d grow a beard most winters. Helped keep my face warm. Had a mustache for a lot of years.
    Had the long hair and pony tail too for a few years. Once I started loosing my hair on top of my head, I had the pony tale cut off. I don’t want to be that bald guy with the long hair in back.

    Nowdays, I shave about once a week. Kelly likes some scruff. I use a blade. Electric razors don’t do a good enough job.

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    1. I’m that guy who is bald on top with a tail hanging off the back. Was clergy for too many years before I retired, and required to “look respectable” on the job. Respectability became optional after September 30, 2018. I now eschew it.

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