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There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said: ‘It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard.’
(Lear)
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Dear Sir. You’re quite wrong about me
How very absurd you can be.
No wren or small fowl
Would nest with an owl,
In one beard? They would never agree.
Up until the age of four, I lived with my grandparents. I can’t remember a lot about it, but I do remember grand-dad, or ‘Pop’, as he was called, shaving in the kitchen.
A face covered in white lather and cup of hot water to wash out the razor.
.
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My Father however used to shave in the bathroom, again using shaving soap and a razor.
No razor blades here though, as he'd a ’Rolls Razor’ which had a fixed blade which was sharpened every day .
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Somewhere around 1955 I too started this lathering up and scraping away the teenage stubble. I used to get a terrible sore chin after going out in the wind and when I started working and had a bit of cash in my pocket, I bought an electric Philishave.
When this finally gave up the ghost I went for a beard and have enjoyed a warm chin ever since!
(It's hiding in one of those pictures lower down on the right)
As Shakespeare wrote, 'He that hath no beard is less than a man.’ The Bard had a beard, so he was biased, but I read that a growing numbers seem to be on the same wavelength. The rise of the beard is one of the most significant recent trends in men’s style, the more virile the better.
Until recently, wearing a beard would have placed you on society’s peripheries – the real-ale pub, the LimpDems or at the homeless shelter. Now it’s no more noteworthy as buying a pair of shoes.
Which is not to say it’s unexciting.
Today’s beard is rebellious, mysterious, a symbol of creative expression.
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It’s an assertion of masculinity, proving there’s still one thing men can do better than their wives and girlfriends.
However all is not ‘sweetness and light’ as last year a survey found that 86 % of women still consider beards unattractive. (to say nothing of the 99.9 % of men who find women with beards unattractive).
But it’s easy to be dismissive when you don’t have to spend 3,000 hours of your life trying to rid yourself of 20,000 facial hairs!
Spend 3,000 hours of life shaving or have no lady friends?
Perhaps I made the wrong choice?
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Gosh - I have my Grandfather's Rolls Razor in pristine condition - pull it up and down the inside of the case against the strop and end up with a very sharp blade. Great for shaving legs, Uncle - though I don't suppose you have ever done that!
ReplyDeletePersonally I don't like to see beards unless they really suit a man's face. Your beard suits you, you old Burl Ives lookalike, you!
Whow what a photo.I consulted my experts of nesting, they said they'd definitely never, ever nest with an owl.
ReplyDeleteBeards? Had two partners with beards and one with a moustache but then I always was different.
My favourite saying is "A kiss without a moustache is like an egg without salt".
ReplyDeleteI would be happy for my husband to grow a beard (it makes him look older) but his Irish genes dictate that it grows through ginger and he hates it. He says a beard is itchy, what say you Uncle B?
Hubby and both our sons have beards - though hubby's father never did. We recently became re-acquainted with hubby's maternal family and nearly all the men sport a beard - it must run in families. Hubby looks funny when he shaves off his beard and we quickly encourage him to grow it again - he looks too naked without it. Can't figure which beardy man is you Bernard! xx
ReplyDeleteYour post reminded me of a website that a friend alerted my to some years ago. It is here.
ReplyDeleteBeards are a matter of style and the suite some men very well ;-)
To me a man with a beard is a real man. It's so manly. It turns me on, especially in this age of metro sexuality in men. Girly Man boys in other words. YUCK. My husband grows a heavy beard and that's how I like it.
ReplyDeleteHi Dumpling:
ReplyDeleteDad kept his RR for years as well. In fact I think it was still there when we cleared the old home out. I can’t remember where it went. We always knew when Dad was going to shave - we heard this ‘slap, slap, slap’ as he sharpened it.
No, don’t remove any hairs now - except for a tickly ‘nose hair’!
Hi Von:
I don’t suppose many birds would be happy co-habiting with an Owl. Lear had this thing about Owls - “ The Owl and the Pussy Cat”.
Beards? I think I’m basically a bit lazy - I just let it grow - a tidy up once a fortnight.
Kath:
Is that right? Well, what can I say - except that I have never kissed a girl with a moustache so I can’t agree or disagree with you. :D
Mine never itches except if I wear a polo neck jumper. :(
Hi Mrs S:
I’m glad to hear your Hubby is home and improving. Good news. Give him my best wishes. Beards do seem to run in families - but mainly, those with bald heads. (the men that is). :)
I have noticed that a lot of men who loose their hair early, seem to compensate by growing a beard. I have only once shaved mine off - for a bet if I remember rightly.
I’m the one hiding under the umbrella with the sunglasses!
Hi Cherie:
The World Beard Championships! I never knew there was a competition.
Some beards are very smart and need a lot of ‘tender loving care’. Mine is of a more of the wild variety. I have never been one for lots of preening!
Hi Kim:
A real beard enthusiast by the sound of it. Over here they are trying to market ‘cosmetics for men’.
My view is…if they were real men, they wouldn’t want cosmetics, would they?
“Metro sexuality”. - I shall have to remember that expression - I like it.
Cheers all…Bernard. xxxxxx
(I note no comments from men, then?)
You brought back a flood of memories of my father sharpening a straight razor on a belt to shave my blind grandfather. My job was to lather his face. I was 4, and I felt so important and essential to the whole procedure. As a fisherman, my grandfather had had a lovely beard. But it was taken off when he came to live with us. Maybe it was easier not to have all those birds nestling on his chin?
ReplyDeleteHi Claudia.
ReplyDeleteFancy you managing that at the age of four. You must have been very grown up. I believe the vast majority of sailors and fishermen avoided shaving because their faces would have got very sore in that salty spray.
I'm afraid some of my posts these days are nothing to do with music - I run out of ideas.
Thanks for dropping in.
Cheers.....Bernard
That's you in the pic, isn't it? With the 3 curls a-side. There are competitions for coiffure like that, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteI don't like really long beards like Santa's, except on Santa.
No, no, no! I am under the umbrella, hiding.
ReplyDeleteThere is a competition. CherryPie in her comment above highlights a link to the web page and you can see all the contestants.
Santa's beard is like 'cotton wool'. You need to be tickled by a real one as Kath says! :)