beards

!the following is out of date as i have shaved my beard off, but i spent about an hour writing it so it's going on my blog anyway!

I'm a part-time beard grower. I've always had sideburns of some length or another, but my other facial hairs have usually been kept in check, although i frequently don't shave for up to a week. I've possibly never grown a beard because it makes me look older but i'm beginning not to really care about that. Anyway, the point of all this is that i've been combing the web for beard related sites and there is some interesting stuff.

the best place to start is all about beards. this is an excellent website with comprehensive coverage (geddit!!) of all things hirsute. there is a great deal of info about various types of facial hair, pictures and discussion on hairy topics. The gallery offers a insight into the world of the beard grower, with comments from the owner of each picture. The comments range from touching (a man dedicating his beard to his dead friend) to scary ("I grew my beard because: "no beard = no man". I see the world through my beard" says Kribba from Sweden whilst walking into a doorway). There are also different sections of the site covering many subjects from the rules and running of beard growing competitions to attempting answer questions on the mysteries of the beard.

Incidentally, when looking at the parts of the world where the gallery entrants originate from, the most enthusiastic beard growing populous seem to hail from the UK , Sweden and Australia, although i have a sneaking suspicion that lack of internet access may be holding back hordes of hairies from the less developed parts of the world.

this is a website about a beard growing pact. it's a bit touchy-feely but it somehow reminds me of Fight Club none the less. there is a new pact starting in late 2007, so watch out International Money Corp.

apparently James Hetfield (of Metallica) has a beard and it has been accused of being a terrorist. find out about it's history here.

that's enough about beards for now. next week i'll be tackling merkins. maybe.