From short and scraggly to bold and bushy, many around Athens sport whiskers that represent aspects of their personality.
Take John Rawski, a sophomore studying economics at Ohio University; he hasn’t shaved his beard since the second George Bush administration.
“I just never really got in on the whole shaving thing,” he said. “Some people back in junior high and high school thought it was fascinating that you could grow hair on your cheeks and shave it with a razor. Me, I just never cared enough to be cleanly shaven.”
In the name of family tradition, Rawski hasn’t shaved since December of 2007. He cites that his dad has had a mustache for 30 years and that his uncles all sport full beards. He said that he and his friends wouldn’t be the same otherwise.
“I seriously doubt anyone would recognize me and my group of friends without facial hair.”
In the spirit of No-Shave November, a month-long holiday where shaving is prohibited, men are letting their razors collect some dust. And while some are just in it for the holiday, others in town are “full-time beardists.”
Beards, Personified
Chris Wolf, owner of the Smiling Skull Saloon, hasn’t put a blade near his chin in 36 years.
“Parents didn’t want me to have long hair or a beard, so naturally, once I got to college, I started growing out the hair,” Wolf said. “The more they didn’t like it, the more I did it.”
One fateful day in 1976, the nation’s 200th anniversary, Wolf decided to mark an occasion of his own.
“I just decided to shave my beard off for the heck of it, and I never shaved again after that,” Wolf said. “I mean, I ride a Harley and I like to look like white trash, so to speak. When I’m riding, doing my thing, I like having this beard. That’s how I’ve always been.”
Patrick Stealey, a senior studying philosophy in the Honors Tutorial College, is holding out on shaving his beard until he finishes his 60-page thesis, a requirement to graduate.
“Well, it’s almost like a playoff beard,” he said. “I imagine it going through the playoffs like a hockey beard.”
Sophomore year was when Stealey first began growing out his facial hair. The last time he shaved was before his sister’s wedding in July.
“It started because I hate shaving and it’s been a trademark amongst my friends ever since,” he said. “It sucks in the summer, but it’s awesome in the winter. I like how it’s a great conversation topic.”
Stealey considers his beard to be a fashion accessory.
“Some people wear necklaces; I prefer a beard,” Stealey said. “I’m a firm believer that if you can grow a beard, you should.”
Athens City Councilman Kent Butler first began growing his beard “consciously” sophomore or junior year of college in the ’90s and currently sports a full beard.
“This is partially out of warmth necessity, as it keeps my cheeks and chin warm in the winter,” Butler said. “I like being outside on my motorcycle as well.”
Speckled bright with red, ginger and copper coloring, Butler’s beard often draws questions as to whether or not he dyes it.
“I guess my beard represents a little bit of my own personal uniqueness, how Mother Nature and God made me,” he said. “A reference to my genetic and nationalistic past.”
Although Butler’s full beard is to keep warm, Aaron Creamer, a tattoo artist at Decorative Injections, has grown a beard out of another necessity.
“My skin is real sensitive and breaks out when I shave, so I remedied that by not shaving anymore,” said Creamer, who hasn’t shaved his beard in more than two years.“I think the beard is a part of something bigger than me,” Creamer said. “Not bigger than the rest of me though.”
Growing for a Cause
The first large-scale facial-hair related fundraiser, Movember, originated in Adelaide, Australia in 1999 as a fundraiser for prostate and testicular cancer. Men grew out mustaches throughout the month.
It was out of this idea that No-Shave November spawned in the United States some years later on college campuses.
And though most grow beards for fun or to raise money, one study shows that the act itself might lower the risk of developing one cancer.
According to a study published in Radiation Protection Dosimetry, wearing a beard can make it two-thirds less likely that you’ll develop facial skin cancer.
A native Australian, Andy Black, a Shively Hall resident assistant and sophomore studying sport management, decided he wanted to combine the fundraising aspect of his homeland’s Movember with the Americanized No-Shave November.
“I saw this as an opportunity to start a fun fundraiser in my complex,” Black said. “Instead of donating our money to prostate or testicular cancer, I decided to donate locally to the Athens Food Pantry. I think it’s a great way to raise money and awareness for a good cause.”
Stealey said his friends have kicked around the idea of a fundraiser before as well.
“(Pittsburgh Steeler) Brett Kiesel, one of my favorite beard heroes, always shaves it once a year for charity,” Stealey said. “I know a lot of guys who participate, and it’s fun to get into the spirit of it.”
Black first raised cancer awareness last Movember, when he spread the event to the sun-drenched coast of Chile. He said he has received a lot of feedback from his residents for this year’s fundraiser.
“The ones that can grow beards are excited,” Black said. “The ones who can’t are afraid it will take away from their attractiveness.”
Keeping It Trim
For those looking to groom their whiskers to perfection, there is an industry out there.
“Amongst all different people, beards are making a comeback,” said Steve Shingler, a barber at Don & Steve’s Barber Shop. “Yet a lot of people don’t know how to trim them.”
Shingler said he and his fellow barbers find a style that fits their customers based on their face, facial features and haircut.
Brian Muschott, a barber at Carsey’s Barber Shop, said the three most popular beard cuts right now are the goatee, chinstrap and the full beard.
“Right now, the full beard is in season,” Muschott said. “During the summer months, it’s usually the chinstrap. People don’t want that long thick coat of hair on their face.”
Customers often even try and replicate the beard cut of another.
“If an athlete has a particular style beard, people will like it and ask if I can do that on them,” Muschott said. “They will bring up a picture and we will duplicate it.”
Though the clean-shaven look was in style in the past, Muschott said he believes that facial hair is much more acceptable than it used to be.
“Beards, long hair, the fashion trend in hair in general is all over the place,” he said. “Society has accepted everything when it comes to hair.”
As a society, there are periods when “clean-shavenness” was expected, and then periods where everybody had facial hair, Rawski said.
“Looking back at Civil War stuff, you see General (Ulysses) Grant and his beard, Abe Lincoln and his beard,” Rawski said. “Everybody used to have beards. Now, I think we are re-entering a period of facial-hair acceptance.”
Yet Creamer disagrees, especially when it comes to the Athens area.
“I think around here most people are strongly opposed to beards,” he said. “It freaks them out and makes them think of hillbillies and rapists. So some people seem to get really upset about beards.”
Creamer’s opinion draws from personal experience when he has been the target of beard-related ignorance.
“The worst I ever get is when people will be drunk late at night and tell me ‘Ah Santa Claus, what’s up?’ ” he said. “That’s about the worst.”
It was the rebellious nature of the beard that first attracted Butler.
“I was intrigued by the goatee and its counterculture representation,” Butler said. “At the time, being smooth shaven was more acceptable, but you would see goatees on faculty, artists and musicians. That intrigued me. As well as rockin’ sideburns.”
Butler views facial hair as somewhat ambiguous.
“Facial hair represents many things,” Butler said. “It’s an acknowledgement of who we are as humans on the planet, letting our bodies naturally do as they would.”
Advice
For those wishing to try to let their body naturally do as it would, Creamer provided simple advice: “Quit shaving it.”
Stealey, while acknowledging that some can’t don a beard because of a bald spot or other inabilities, has advice similar to Creamer’s.
“My main advice is to stick with it,” Stealey said. “A lot of times, it looks creepy starting off, but you’ve got to stick with it.”
Rawski preaches a virtue that has helped him through his years of growing:
“Patience: You won’t sprout a beard overnight.”
as299810@ohiou.edu
