SHAKING OFF THE BEARD STEREOTYPES, ONE FALSE LABEL AT A TIME

I really love my beard, and the chances are if you are packing some face fluff you'll be rather attached to yours too. Throughout the many years I've sported a beard I've met a whole host of folks that don't think twice about making some snide comment or dig about my big red face forest, which only solidifies the rather sad fact that us bearded folks are often incorrectly labelled into certain stereotypes solely based on our marvelous beard manes. Today I wanted to take a moment to attempt Shaking Off The Beard Stereotypes, One False Label At A Time...

YOU LOOK LIKE A HOBO!

Simply suggesting we resemble the homeless based on nothing more than a beard might seem a tad harsh. Firstly, those less fortunate than ourselves probably don't appreciate the negative attention, and nor do we. The homeless fellows mostly have beards simply because they don't have the means to maintain a clean shaven look. Seeing them as nothing more than a dirty scruffy face is bad and only makes the accuser look rather hollow inside, nobody else. Our beards are not dirty, our beards are not out of control, our beards are here because we choose for them to be. So, identifying us as as anything other only makes you appear like the foolish one in the situation.

YOUR BEARD MAKES YOU LOOK OLD!

In short, if that is the case I would rather look old and mature then to resemble a naked faced child. Truth be told, throwing around the 'old' word is not all that accurate. In fact I much prefer the title 'mature', of which I actually agree with. When I started growing out a beard, my mother wasn't all that impressed. The only negative comments she ever made was 'your beard makes you look much older.' which to me wasn't at all a bad thing. I have a razor clean cut head, and have done since around the age of 18. I've always been cursed (or blessed, depending on how you look at it) with a 'baby face'. My Nan used to always call me this as a kid, way into my late teens. So when I first began growing out a beard, I was rather happy to finally start looking a lot more like my age, rather than a teenager. I found I didn't get I.D'd at the store for beer anymore either. So for me, this was only viewed as a positive point for having a beard.

YOU ARE A HIPSTER!

No. No I am not a hipster. If I'm totally honest I have no idea what this label even is, nor do I overly wish to. All I know is I'm me, and the very best version of me that I can be as well. Labels aren't always bad, but labels will always be around. It's part of who we are as a human race. Our brains make split choice decisions in a matter of seconds when we meet a new face, be it good or bad. I've learned to live with the stereotypes people like to box me into. As I know me better than anybody else does, so when somebody slaps a label on my ass I'm not losing any sleep over it. Im bearded, and very proud to be. Why would an false opinion bring me down? Learn to not take every comment you hear onboard. Be thick skinned, as life can be testing at times. Once you lose the desire to care about an unwanted comment you'll become verbally bulletproof of anything anybody could ever fire your way.

Well, that sees another beard blog come to a close for today my friends. As always please take a moment to leave us any thoughts, comments or questions you may have below.