We are alienated from our own facial hair.
Society tells us that full beards are unacceptable. Businessmen, politicians, bankers, and the like are all clean shaven; all demonstrating the standards that middle class society expects us to maintain.
In other words, these are all examples of "the man" keeping down nascent beards everywhere. These are the people that alienate us from our masculinity, forcing us to shave and adopt public personas which might not reflect our own true inner animal.
But it wasn’t always so.
Beards used to be glorified as signs of virility and manliness. A man that couldn't grow a strong beard was privately ridiculed. Some societies would only allow males to grow beards once they were married, thus denoting a sign of stature and respect in the community. To be shaved was to be emasculated.
In early America, societies with men that could not grow facial hair were demeaned less advanced and civilized. Native Americans and the Chinese were both ostracized, in part because of their hairless men. And now we have come full circle where our own society promotes this emasculated version of maleness. Where to be a man is to be clean-shaved; to be respectable is not to have a beard
Let us return to our roots! Let us return to true masculinity! Let us cry out with one voice:
"I WILL HAVE A BEARD!! I WILL BE A MAN!! I WILL NOT CONFORM TO YOUR RULES!"
Whiskerino Archives
No Photoshop! - Andy Matthews
As the only European entrant to the BC2K3, it was with a tinge of hurt pride that I had to shave after 9 weeks of the competition.
The fact that the beard had to go because I was getting married (in the USA) only threw irony on an otherwise desolate mood. - Ronnie Brown
You know, when I look back at my time in the beard contest, I most cherish the times we had fellowshipping and growing in our friendships with one another...oh, and JCo's ass. - KC
Contributors:
- Michael Eades
- Curator, Code
- Daniel Box
- Design
- Jamie Holland
- CSS
Officials:
- Keith Parish
- Professional Beard Groomer
- Daniel Box
- Can spot a Photoshop beard a mile away
Special Thanks:
- Grady Eades
- Manifesto
- Mason Poe
- Brainstorm Frenzy Feedback
- Michael Madrid
- Code Advice