For those who took a break to grow a beard

There's tons of products out there to help tame unruly beard hairs that you don't want trimmed. Some work better than others. Below is the one that, so far, works better than anything else I've tried at a price I can’t beat.

 

My husband had a mustache for most of the years I have known him. He shaved it off when he was stationed in Iraq, as it was just too hot. Once home, he planned to grow it back, but he had forgotten how itchy it is when you try to grow a new 'stache or beard. That's the last time he tried.

Though once in a while he will take a short break from shaving. He never lasts long enough to grow a beard. (again, due to the itching.) How do some of you guys deal with that?

 

Power through. Only lasts a few days, usually less than a week.

 

That, and scrubbing it daily with soap and a stiff brush, rinsing thoroughly. It helped me.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^
This. I learned this lesson years before I was old enough to shave my face, following the shaves that were required for surgery.

 

I just shaved my beard off in March after having it for 5 years or so. But I dreaded going back to dragging cartridge and electric razors across my face. I had used them all my life, so I started looking for a better way, which brought me to DE wet shaving.

So of course I went straight to YouTube to see if anything has changed in the shaving world. Well, I discovered this whole "new" world of wet shaving. First up was Greg Tardif who, besides being pretty comical and likeable, really inspired me to look deeper into this. Then came this funny, talkative dude who was always having fun shaving named Sinatra Lennon. Then I found this forum to! After that, I was off to the races and I've never looked back.

So my electric and cartridge razors are gone, replaced by a growing number of DE and soon to be single edge razors along with a bunch of soaps, creams and aftershaves! I actually look forward to shaving now!

 

For the past several years, I've grown a beard starting first day of autumn and shave it off first day of spring. My whiskers grow pretty fast and I'm lucky in that I don't have any bare patches. After six months, I'm ready to be shorn. Lots of maintenance with the beard washes, conditioners, oils, balms, etc. The one real benefit is that the beards hides my sagging old face. Here's a pic bearded at 6 months and a pic today.

 

That's about double what I could do in six months. I would always have to start my "winter" beard at the end of August to have anything of significance by Thanksgiving.

It's been quite a long time since I've had any facial hair but about four weeks ago I started a moustache/goatee. The chin whiskers are completely white and above the lip is about 60 percent. Haven't decided if it's going to stay for awhile or get shaved off.

 

Last year I started late spring with a mustache/goatee that eventually turned into a beard.
I kept that until mid December and then was clean shaven again until the end of March when I decided to start a beard again.

Years back when I had facial hair I always kept it short and didn’t use any special products.
This time (and last year) I’m keeping it longer and I’ve started down the rabbit hole of buying various care products to crowd my shaving products shelves. Moisturizers, balms, butters, oils, combs, etc.

I’m reaching for the oils and moisturizers more than the balms and butters but I’m curious what others have experience with and like.

On a related note, I went to a barber to have it professionally trimmed. I hadn’t been in a barber shop since the mid 70’s so that was interesting and fun.

If you have any favorite beard care products I’m anxious to hear about them so I can buy more stuff.

 

I had a Beard, that turned into a Goatee, for about 1 1/2 years. The wife really liked it, but, I just got bored with it. So, out came the Filarmonica Straight Razor. After a good hot shower, and some nice Shaving cream, it came off, without an issue. No nicks, no cuts, no weepers. The wife was happy, then sad.

 

Year and a half is a good stretch. About 8 months is my longest time before shaving clean again.

 

Up till I retired kept a full thick 1" beard. Last few years it's about 12 to 15". Keep a small area of cheeks shaved once a week and my neck shaved just a small bit so it appears long and maintained. Always had a mustache even in army 54yr ago. Don't waste time with oil or balm, just brush after shampoo.

 

I’ve tried a few times to grow a beard but was never successful. I let it grow a couple of times for several months, close to a year one time iirc, without ever touching metal to face, even to trim. Now that I’m taking 10k of biotin nightly so that I can shave more frequently, maybe I’ll give it another go.

 

I'm trying to figure out which face is the most grumpy old fart? Left or the right?

 

I vote for the left one.

 

The right one, no question!