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
The last beard contest changed my life. I’m not kidding. I made a lifelong friends and wasted many many hours at work. - Barry Hargrove
Normally I'm not a competitive guy. I'm laid back, easy-going, and prone to just hanging out with a beer and shooting the breeze. But the Beard Contest 2003 brought forth an uncrushable spirit that ensured my domination against all who opposed me. - Ryan Hale
Nice Beard. - Michael Eades
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