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All my life I have been clean shaven. While I could grow a beard physically, my career didn't really allow for it. While I was a "suit and tie" office regulation allowed a trimmed beard, but not stubble, so it literally made growing one out impossible without a vacation.

Now that I own my own business I am in a similar situation, but I have an out. I am closing my store for 8 days while extensive renovations are being done. Assuming I can skip shaving one day before hand, is that enough time to grow something significant enough that I won't look like crap? I'm not really even sure I'll keep it, probably just freak out the staff.

It probably depends on your ancestry.

I've known some folk who can grow one in a week, and some who struggle in a month. I'd say just try, and if it looks like crap, shave it on the last day.

For me, 2-3 weeks grows a particular length that resembles a beard/mo (around 15mm hair length. It tends to jibe with the hair though (I'm white up top, but beard/mo come through salt & pepper still.)

Even worse, if I let it grow, I blend in with the hipsters around here.

I think it will depend on exactly how your beard grows in.

For a long time mine would grow in very patchy, so it just looked horrible until 2 or 3 weeks into the process when it was long enough to even out.

Now it still grows slow, but it grows in evenly. So I can get an even set of stubble after 5 days without it looking like crab.

So I would just give it a try and see what it looks like. Worst case scenario you look like a homeless person and you shave it off the morning after your vacation. I think that even if you have just stubble, it helps to trim the edges to define it and make it look shaped. It also helps make it looked like a planned "this is on purpose" stubble rather than a "I'm a lazy fether that hasn't shaved in a week and I don't care" stubble.

I can't get anything resembling decent beard in 3 weeks Seems pace is quite dependant on genes. Come to think among all the uncles, cousins and so on I can think NOBODY sports a beard. While some is likely by choice makes me think my family line might be one that doesn't get beard easily.

If you mustache that question you may not be ready for a beard.

It depends on your manliness.

Takes me about 2 weeks for about a 1 cm or a bit longer beard. My hair grows a bit fast.

'T is all in the genetics and all that I guess.

 cuda1179 wrote:
All my life I have been clean shaven. While I could grow a beard physically, my career didn't really allow for it. While I was a "suit and tie" office regulation allowed a trimmed beard, but not stubble, so it literally made growing one out impossible without a vacation.

Now that I own my own business I am in a similar situation, but I have an out. I am closing my store for 8 days while extensive renovations are being done. Assuming I can skip shaving one day before hand, is that enough time to grow something significant enough that I won't look like crap? I'm not really even sure I'll keep it, probably just freak out the staff.

For me from the time the barber trims it to the time I walk back to the office. Slavs - we grow beards and shoot people into space.

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
It depends on your manliness.

Made me think of this:

Depends.

I can grow a full (but short) beard in a week. Two weeks and it typically needs a trim to be considered 'professional'. I've some guys who have tried for 6 weeks and only end up with wispy and patchy 'beards', if they could be called that.

If you've never really grown and had a beard for any time, I'd at least give a shot and see how it turns out. Worst case you shave it off the day you go back to work.

Now I am settling on what kind of facial hair I want. As silly as it sounds, I want this beard to be funny just to get people to laugh. Ones that I have considered include:

1. The Amish. Sideburns and beard with no mustache

2. 1960's James Bond villain. No sideburns, just a tiny narrow mustache attached to a tiny, pointy beard. For full effect I'd need to have my eyebrows plucked to be thin and pointy too.

3. Soul patch. Just in case I want to channel my inner 1990's aloof hipster wannabe.

4. WWI German General. Sideburns connected to the mustache, but no beard.


As a side note, please don't anyone suggest the "Hitler Mustache". It's not funny


What is funny is where my hair naturally grows. I have to shave all the way up to just under my eyes. No, seriously, I refer to it as Sasquatch Hair. It's not really Jo-Jo the dogface boy bad, but it is weird.

If that's the case, then I would suggest just growing two patches of hair high on your cheekbones. Start a new trend.

I'm a hairy guy. At any given moment the thing I am probably doing more than anything else is growing hair. I can go from clean shaven to people asking me if I'm starting a beard just by not shaving over the weekend.

But when I went travelling and did grow a beard it still took about a month for it to stop looking patchy and terrible. Even when you grow hair quickly you don't grow it evenly, so you need time and a couple of trims to even it out.

 cuda1179 wrote:

As a side note, please don't anyone suggest the "Hitler Mustache". It's not funny

That depends on the face.



Or maybe the pencil moustache, a la David Niven? Bring a bit of gentlemanly class and style back

Im not sure I can grow a beard. my job right now says unless you where hired with a beard, you cant have one.
But Im not sure If I can. I always give up a few days in because it freaking ITCHES like hell.

I cannot speak for how fully your beard will grow in (or not), but from my own experience (I haven't shaven since 11 April 2014, haven't trimmed since Aug of 14) is that after the 2-3 week mark, the itchiness will subside. By itchiness I mean that it should reach a suitable length where the hairs are no longer a wire bristle brush, and start to soften out to a luxurious man mane.

Only way to know is to try. Best advice is start shaping it early, even a day or two in when its just stubble. Even stubble that is shaped can look good depending on the guy.

Personally, I get 5 o'clock shadow around 3pm, and by a week have a halfway decent looking, if a bit light beard. By week two it will get much darker as it thickens. But it is still passable even at the week stage.

I would say if you get a week in and there is no real progress (either its very light or patchy) give it a go later.

Also, bit of a weird advice, but diet seems to help. I have a high iron carnivore type diet, and minr grows in really quick. My brother eats almost no meat and his hardly comes in at all. So maybe try eating lots of jerky something. Could be coincidence but never hurts to try

even with no "full" beard, Trimming and shaving parts make a beard more prominent, even if just a little more than stubble. shaving the jawbone down, and trimming the upper portion can give a beard like quality for less time.

 cuda1179 wrote:
Now I am settling on what kind of facial hair I want. As silly as it sounds, I want this beard to be funny just to get people to laugh. Ones that I have considered include:

1. The Amish. Sideburns and beard with no mustache

2. 1960's James Bond villain. No sideburns, just a tiny narrow mustache attached to a tiny, pointy beard. For full effect I'd need to have my eyebrows plucked to be thin and pointy too.

3. Soul patch. Just in case I want to channel my inner 1990's aloof hipster wannabe.

4. WWI German General. Sideburns connected to the mustache, but no beard.


As a side note, please don't anyone suggest the "Hitler Mustache". It's not funny


What is funny is where my hair naturally grows. I have to shave all the way up to just under my eyes. No, seriously, I refer to it as Sasquatch Hair. It's not really Jo-Jo the dogface boy bad, but it is weird.

I think we have found a winner
https://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2012%2F02%2F21%2Farticle-2104419-11D738AB000005DC-730_634x612.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-2104419%2FThe-greatest-beards-moustaches-Civil-War.html&docid=uCKLkDUWF3YQ0M&tbnid=6R3cLmOLySOemM%3A&w=634&h=612&hl=en&bih=864&biw=1280&ved=0ahUKEwjb_-asvrnOAhUGWh4KHT7pA6sQMwghKAQwBA&iact=mrc&uact=8

It actually takes me a while to grow a beard after shaving, I compensate by never shaving since I was a lad, bald faces are for children and womenz I say!

At a guess I'd say my beard grows at a rate of a bit less than an inch per month, maybe 1.5-2cm, but I've honestly never calculated, I usually get it trimmed every month-ish and it feels like about that much falling off.

I've always wanted to try a really long beard, but I don't like the intermediate stage which seems to last forever so I always end up getting it trimmed back before it can get epic.

My beard grows in pretty quick and even (which kind of sucks cause my girlfriend despises them). Try it out, see what happens.

Probably about a month for a decent growth. Honestly, most people probably don't even care, though when I grew out my beard for the first time I started on a two week vacation.

1. Shave everywhere but just under your eyes.
2. Shave your eyebrows.
3. Tell people your eyebrows slipped down your face.
4. Profit.

 Nostromodamus wrote:
1. Shave everywhere but just under your eyes.
2. Shave your eyebrows.
3. Tell people your eyebrows slipped down your face.
4. Profit.

I actually laughed at this one. I'm not quite sure I'm up for that level of commitment for this though. I still have to look somewhat decent for the sake of my business. Also, I want to look as absurd as possible, but still being plausible that this was a "real" attempt at a beard.

So far the biggest downside is that my wife HATES facial hair and has openly stated that there will be no kissing after day 2 or 3.

 Frazzled wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:
Now I am settling on what kind of facial hair I want. As silly as it sounds, I want this beard to be funny just to get people to laugh. Ones that I have considered include:

1. The Amish. Sideburns and beard with no mustache

2. 1960's James Bond villain. No sideburns, just a tiny narrow mustache attached to a tiny, pointy beard. For full effect I'd need to have my eyebrows plucked to be thin and pointy too.

3. Soul patch. Just in case I want to channel my inner 1990's aloof hipster wannabe.

4. WWI German General. Sideburns connected to the mustache, but no beard.


As a side note, please don't anyone suggest the "Hitler Mustache". It's not funny


What is funny is where my hair naturally grows. I have to shave all the way up to just under my eyes. No, seriously, I refer to it as Sasquatch Hair. It's not really Jo-Jo the dogface boy bad, but it is weird.

I think we have found a winner
https://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2012%2F02%2F21%2Farticle-2104419-11D738AB000005DC-730_634x612.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-2104419%2FThe-greatest-beards-moustaches-Civil-War.html&docid=uCKLkDUWF3YQ0M&tbnid=6R3cLmOLySOemM%3A&w=634&h=612&hl=en&bih=864&biw=1280&ved=0ahUKEwjb_-asvrnOAhUGWh4KHT7pA6sQMwghKAQwBA&iact=mrc&uact=8

American civil war had some epic beards going.
Like rank was defined by manlyyness of your facia hair...

 cuda1179 wrote:

 Nostromodamus wrote:
1. Shave everywhere but just under your eyes.
2. Shave your eyebrows.
3. Tell people your eyebrows slipped down your face.
4. Profit.

I actually laughed at this one. I'm not quite sure I'm up for that level of commitment for this though. I still have to look somewhat decent for the sake of my business. Also, I want to look as absurd as possible, but still being plausible that this was a "real" attempt at a beard.

So far the biggest downside is that my wife HATES facial hair and has openly stated that there will be no kissing after day 2 or 3.

You poor man, every girl I ever dated when I've had mine liked it.

I'm banned by the wife from growing any sort of facial hair, which is a shame. I really want a big old pair of bugger grips.

Is that an ad, manifesting as a necro post?