In this day and age we spend a huge amount of our time sitting in front of a screen browsing the interwebs. Be it on your PC, laptop, tablet or mobile (cell) phone. The worldwide web is full of knowledge, wisdom, porn and funny cat videos. And you never have to search too far to find yourself an awesome beard or two either.
Social media has it's fair share of creative bushy beards of various shapes, shades and sizes, usually accompanied with some quirky catchy beard related phrase or comment too. But where have all these furry faces come from? and will the internet ever lose touch with the 'beard boom'? In short probably not, and that's with good reason too. Bearded men have had to take their fare share of stick in recent months/years. We've been labelled more times than I can even begin to count. From 'poop beard' to 'the hipster' or 'hobo look', you name it, we've been wrongfully labelled it!
Beards have been around since forever, and although they seem to dip in and out of the 'latest trend pool' I believe the popularity of facial hair will continue to boom. Afterall, many furry faced gents don't accept beards as a 'fad' or 'phase', but more of a personal lifestyle choice. Ask any man what his beard means to him and you're likely to hear a heartfelt plea on what his face forest means to him. I joke around that after my wife and children, my beards next in line to my small fortunes within my will.
With recent popularity beards have become big business too, although I'm still left scratching my head in the male grooming aisle of the store on how little, if any at all stocked products there are to help support and maintain facial hair. Yet every murderous contraption known to mankind to support shaving it gone. Grooming companies have taken a nose dive in sales of such items, yet we still see the same outdated product line collecting dust on the store shelves. Where's the sense in that? Surely it makes better business sense to have beard care items sit alongside the many other male grooming products? Apparently not.
Video streaming sites such as YouTube and Vimeo are stacked with many helpful beard care tutorial videos, granting folks a few tips and easy to follow pointers to help optimise one's beard. Beard blogs just like the one you are reading right now have also grown in popularity, a place where the bearded can gather, read, take note and share their very own thoughts and experiences with all things beard related. Every year 'No Shave November' sees a higher number of contributors growing out for a great cause compared to the year previous, usually followed by those who refuse to shave too soon also playing a part in 'Decem-BEARD'.
Although the internet has become a safe haven for the bearded kind, in reality the 'real world' still tends to discriminate against us in many areas. Numerous work places refuse to loosen up on the belt buckle when it comes to their rather outdated 'No Beard In The Workplace' rule. UPS being so strict that they'll openly refuse jobs to those who are most capable of the employment position, simply because they choose to grow a beard. Whilst I can understand such rules in place within certain job roles and professions, I can't grasp nor understand as to why a courier company, or those of a similar standing have such rules placed in the first place. Another sign that the world has indeed gone mad, and our beards are taking the flack for it.
As the world continues to turn, and times continue to change, we live in hope that one day our glorious beards will become 'label-proof' and the word 'fad' or 'phase' will stick to them no more. And who knows, beards might be welcomed within the workplace without further discrimination or misplaced judgements being made. After all, beards are not a 'fad', but a lifestyle to most.
There goes another beard blog for today my furry faced friends and 'beardy' admirers. As always please take a second to leave your thoughts, comments and questions in the box you'll find provided below.
And until next time, Beard on Brothers, Beard on...
