The Beard

Some of you may know by now that my husband Paul has a beard. At least for the moment.  He has spent 3 solid months growing it, and grooming it. But now, he finds that everyone has a beard. And this makes him want to shave it off.  But then what? He's thought of a moustache. But then decided that really, Tom Selleck is the only male who can pull this off.

Thank you to the Flickr user who posted this photo, and by the way Paul chose this image of Tom, not me.

After rejecting the moustache, Paul thought of a moustache, sideburns and a little soul patch on his chin.  That keening sound that you hear is me, wailing "Noooooo!"

Then he told me the following story to illustrate why he wanted to get rid of his beard:

When I was over at N's birthday (Audrey's friend who had a birthday party last weekend), whenever I dipped my head down, my beard bristled up - when I stood up tall, it was fine, but as soon as I slouched down,  up it came, foosh (miming a Elizabethan collar around his neck). So I had to trim it!  

So here's the problem.  He wants to get rid of the beard, because everyone now seems to have one. But he has invested 3 months of his life into it and feels like he can't shave because of that.

So he wonders, is that why everyone seems to be walking around with a beard? Because they too want to shave, but feel they've put too much work into it?  It's not really a hipster thing...it's just the pain at throwing away three months of beard-growing work.

Who knew facial hair was so complex psychologically?