Fifty Plus (50+) - 50+ Facial Hair Poll

Whether or not to let facial hair grow into a mustache, goatee, or beard has potential impacts on helmet chinstrap comfort and/or weight issues, not to mention wind resistance. (There, that should keep the "is this on topic?" crowd quiet)

So let's do a little poll and find out who has what, and why or why not.

We're all hair.

Wife quashed beard, which I used to grow every winter

We're hair in spirit.

had much facial hair for 35 years, but shaved it off 3 years ago, unless nose and ear hair counts here...face still feels cold at this time of year.

However, being a product of the 60's, my hair (whats left of it) tends to be quite long at times as I cut it only once/year, at Christmas...almost that time again

So I have 2 helmets (L & XL), 2 hat sizes...

I'm going on the assumption that this poll is for the men on the forum. I'm not even going to discuss or vote re: my facial hair!

I'm going on the assumption that this poll is for the men on the forum. I'm not even going to discuss or vote re: my facial hair!

My bad. Yes, it's intended for the guys. Sorry!

Since my beard is completely white, I can add YEARS to my appearance by not shaving for a couple of weeks. The main reason I'm clean-shaven is that our warm, muggy climate makes facial hair very uncomfortable for me. Perhaps when I move to Ontario to be able to ride the Butter Tart Trail daily, I'll grow a beard.

Notice there are no bearded or moustachioed smilies?

Varies from mood to mood, season to season, it's getting to be 'stach season.
I had a mustach for 10+ years, I shaved it off when my daughter was three, when she first saw me he had no idea who was walking around the house.
And Ladies, feel free to weigh in on shaving issue, perverted minds want to know.

Used to be full facial hair, but job requires me to be clean shaven. I hate shaving, but like getting a paycheck.

Hmmm - nothing for me. I shave twice a week whether I need to or not. And my whiskers grow fast. If I miss, I look like I have a well trimmed beard.

I hate shaving - but my beard can substitute for a file so I have to keep it hacked down.

Stubble Theory

What your facial hair is really saying.

By Em & Lo

Miami Vice has been widely praised for its slick surfaces, jolting action sequences, and *Jamie Foxx’s well-developed back muscles. But what caught our attention was the stars’ facial hair. Colin Farrell sports the signature three-day stubble that Don Johnson made famous, plus a baby Fu Manchu (not to mention a sort of faux mullet); Foxx, as Tubbs, has an anachronistic goatee (so nineties). Will these celebrity sex symbols make such facial topiary sexy again or, rather, sexy for the first time ever? And what about those other recently revived facial dos, like the unseasonal full beard or the overexposed, post-ironic Williamsburg mustache?

Thirty-three-year-old writer Sara Stewart is a long-standing and outspoken fan of the mustache, which has earned her *almost-universal mockery from her friends. “On the right guy, a mustache is hotter than any other facial hair. It’s got a sort of supermasculine seventies thing about it. Think Tom Selleck, Richard Roundtree, John Holmes.” She thinks a ’stache conveys a kind of Über-confidence: “To me, it suggests, ‘I am good enough in bed that I don’t give a **** if you think my facial hair is ridiculous.’ ”

more . . . . (http://nymag.com/relationships/mating/18852/)

Went from full mostly grey mustachioed beard to a goatee/mustache about 5 years ago. I had worn the beard for about 35 years.

Do ears count?

I grew a mustache for the first time in 1973 and have had it pretty much non-stop since then. Over the years I have had a couple of goatees and a full beard for brief periods. To me goatees are way too much work to maintain and I was never comfortable with the full beard for very long. Also, so much of mine is gray now that I would just as soon live with the mustache only.

Had a beard since 1974... don't think anyone would recognize me without it.

I had a beard for about 15 years but once it turned gray I shaved it and kept the mustache which I've now had for about 15 years.

Been so long since I shaved I can't remember how it's done. Besides, you gotta look sharp when you go out for a Sunday drive.

http://www.pbase.com/billd9/image/68803377.jpg

Had a 'stache till I started riding bikes seriously. Sweat kept gathering and when let loose, tasted awful. Also shave eyebrows close as sweat will gather, drop into eyes and burn!!!! Had a few close calls werer I was going fast and couldn't see. Been clean shaven ever since.

I've worn all combinations of facial hair over the years since the early 60's. About five years ago, just for giggles, I shaved clean. At first glance my wife thought I was an intruder when I stepped out of the bathroom.:eek:

Keep it clean...looks years younger. :D

I grew a moustache in my early 20s to look older than my years. By age 35 I no longer wanted to look any older so I shaved it. I found that I got kissed a lot more when I am clean shaven. That, in itself, is enough reason to shave.

I hate to shave. I wore my peach fuzz in high school and have had a full beard almost constantly since it started growing. Once in a long time I'll shave all but the 'stache, or sometimes I'll leave a goatee. That never lasts more than a few weeks before I let it all grow back in. In June, just before the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia, I cut my hair and beard as short as the electric trimmers will take it. Then I let it grow back. I usually keep all of it pretty short.

Here's the last time I was clean shaven for any length of time:

I've been a "Chia pet" as long as I can remember...I'm now way too scared to see what I'd look like without the beard! :eek: Here is a picture from a triathlon in August Frankp

http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/slideshow.jsp?auto=0&aid=768a5498cf46042dcacd&idx=134

I think it's funny that most guys who sport facial hair originally started so they'd look older. As they actually get older, they often find that they don't want to look older anymore. So the beard comes off, right? WRONG!!!

Go figure!

just a 60's relic, I guess, grew a beard then, never shaved it off. But I do keep it much more neatly trimmed than back then.

looking at the ratio of full beards to goatees in this 50+ poll, I think there are a lot more 60's relics than oldsters trying to stay young with the current goatee fad/trend

I would like to suggest, from my scientific observations of the public at large, that the bicycling 50+ forum has a MUCH higher percentage of facial hair than the public at large, at least according to the poll

Anyone agree, and, if so, why all the hair?

It's been said by others, but I too grew a mustache and beard about 30 years ago to look older. Quickly lost the beard but kept the mustache. Decided a couple of years ago I was old enough, so off came the facial hair.

Funny thing, my wife did not notice until we got to work, where my bookeeper took one look and couldn't stop laughing!

I'm going on the assumption that this poll is for the men on the forum. I'm not even going to discuss or vote re: my facial hair!
No Lynn, we're talking about back hair. You ought to have a lot of input on that....

I got some insights on facial hair while talking to a bank teller today.

She said her husband had a goatee for years, but shaved it off...when he did, she noticed that she could see his double chin. So clean shaven made him look fatter (he grew the goatee back).

The same teller also commented that I looked younger without facial hair than I did on my driver's license photo (where I had a goatee).

Bottom line: If you're fat, go for the facial hair to hide your chins. If you're thin, go for the clean shaven look to show off.

Of course, if you ride a 'bent then it's a non-issue...full beard and Birkenstocks. :D

I have worn a mustache most of the time since the mid 70's.
I wore a beard for 5 years in the 80's
I am considering growing a beard if it helps keep my face warm this winter for commuting.

I wore a mustache and longer hair for many years, but have been clean shaven in recent days, and keep my hair very short. I always liked longer hair better, but I just think (excuse the expression, dnvr) old f@rts look better with short hair, than the mullets so many of us seem to wear.

Aaahhhhh, morning rides, I love the feel of the wind blowing through my nose hairs.......

I jinxed myself when I created this poll. For years and years I've had a goatee, but before that a full, albeit short beard. Recently, I grew the beard back, keeping it neat and trim and, if I don't say so myself, rather good looking. Today, in the midst of my eye problems and wearing a patch, I decided to clean it up a bit with my 'lectric hair cutter. But memory being what it is, I selected the wrong attachment and trimmed it so short it looks like I just forgot to shave. So now I am going to shave off the beard, and just keep the mustache for a while. My daughters will probably send me to my room, but it's either that, or look like a pirate. :p

I voted for I wear a goatee :D

Retire from the military in 1989. I have had full facial hair ever since. Color has varied some, but it's still a full beard and 'stache. had full facial hair when I met my wife.

... she noticed that she could see his double chin.

Yes. So a beard is what I call my quadruple bypass operation.

Clean-shaven, the best way to go if you race bikes. I sometimes get lazy and go for the Cipollini stubble, but women don't like it. They prefer the feel of my face just after I've shaved.

And I've always thought beards were a silly affectation, a sign of vanity, or a way to hide a weak chin, a double chin, or a lack thereof. The only time you'd want to wear a beard would be if you wanted to intimidate your enemies before you slaughtered them, hence the popularity of beards amongst pirates, Norsemen, and Ghengis Khan's horde. But Romans were clean-shaven and they conquered an empire.

Anyway, I think guys wear beards for the same reason women wear makeup.

- L.

I have shaved twice in the last 25 years. Seems to be more trouble than it's worth. I do get it hacked back twice a year on my bi-annual visit to the local barbershop. A beard does keep my throat and face warmer in the winter up here. Besides, I have to have something to counter the feminizing effect of those man boobs that appeared over night a few years back.

I've had a full beard since '71. I worked outside, carrying mail, for 35 years (now retired), so I think that it helped keep the heat. Now, too late to change my ways.

Once as a young man I went to my grandmother Nona's place with a few days of growth. She was a elegant Choctaw elder woman then. "My lands! A Choctaw boy should NEVER go out in public like that" she said. "Be clean shaven."

She was right, of course. For 30 years now I've never left the house unshaven.

Tyson

BTW, any Indian male younger than herself was referred to as an Indian "boy." It took some people by surprise when they would meet a 60-year old to whom she referred as a "nice Choctaw boy."

I always thought Indians didn't have to shave.

I always thought Indians didn't have to shave.They don't unless Grandma spots em.

I started with a mustache in the army in the early 70s.
Started wearing a beard in the late 70s. I shaved for my wedding, she had me grow it back...

hair pull

Retire from the military in 1989. I have had full facial hair ever since. Color has varied some, but it's still a full beard and 'stache. had full facial hair when I met my wife.

Funny what the forces do. After shaving 3 times a day to stop doing fatigues- I stopped shaving when I came out to civvie st.

Had a competition 20 years ago to see who could grow a beard the quickest, so had to shave it off to start it and that was painfull. 1 week later and I had a full beard again- so I won. Some of the others still only had fuzz after a month.

Whether it would grow as quick now- I won't take the chance. The soreness from shaving still reminds me never to do it again.

And I've always thought beards were a silly affectation, a sign of vanity, or a way to hide a weak chin, a double chin, or a lack thereof. <snip>
Anyway, I think guys wear beards for the same reason women wear makeup.
- L.

So let me get this straight. You think letting your face do what it naturally does is a silly act of vanity, but going through a daily ritual of lathering the face and dragging a sharp blade across it to create a different appearance is more of a natural state.

To each his own (said the old lady as she kissed the cow).

So let me get this straight. You think letting your face do what it naturally does is a silly act of vanity, but going through a daily ritual of lathering the face and dragging a sharp blade across it to create a different appearance is more of a natural state.

To each his own (said the old lady as she kissed the cow).

Do you cut your hair? :rolleyes:

Do you cut your hair? :rolleyes:

Do you trim your fingernails and toe nails?

Do you cut your hair? :rolleyes:

What hair? Now I keep what little of it I have very close-cropped. See below showing a time when I didn't cut it. If I could still do that I surely would.

Did not say anything is wrong with shaving. Just can't understand the idea that the natural approach is vanity. I would think that shaving (including the neck area that I do shave almost daily), trimming and hair cutting, which we all do for cosmetic and social reasons, is more of an act of vanity.

I have had a mustache since I was 16, I shaved it once but my wife likes me better with a hairy upper lip. I use to grow a beard each winter but now that it comes in white it makes me look older than I am or feel so I don't do it anymore. I will say that I very rarely shave on the weekends. With all of the kids wearing the stubble look these days I fit right in.