I’d like to quote without necessarily endorsing the immortal words of my father:
“Listen, the only thing that makes a man is his ability to grow facial hair. Thing things you like, the way you dress, the job you have, and the content of your character have nothing to do with it. But if you can grow facial hair, people will perceive you as a man.”
JoeyAcrimonious, your word raise again an old mystery: why US military keep that no-beard, no-moustache hardline on appareance ?
At (just) 56, I’m proud of my short beard and long goatee, which gives me an appropriate “old wise men” look, but OTOH, I understand Meytawer’s recognition of the Kinsey scale, because I think that the soul is bisexual, and caring both sides of one’s soul should be independent of one’s physical and/or psychological sexuality.
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
Dott. Piergiorgio, my understanding is that they do allow mustaches. The prohibition on beards may have its origin in the First World War, when they prevented gas masks from sealing properly, which still holds practical relevance today even though elements of tradition have since been layered on top of it.
Yeah, and just to add that in recent years a lot of the fights about “grooming standards” are actually about racism - many Black men have a skin condition that can cause irritation and a rash if they shave frequently. As awareness has grown about that, standards about beards have actually been shifted to be more permissive in recent years, but then Hesgeth and Trump have reversed those changes as part of the broad push to re-segregate America.
I can imagine lots of situations where long hair or beards could get caught in equipment and how that could be a liability in an active war zone in ways it wouldn’t be in more mundane settings, but I have no clue how big of a deal that is in practice, and the military seems like they would be the kings of zero tolerance enforcement of pointless rules, using “because I/the boss said so” as a blank check when asked to justify rules, and citing discipline for every abuse they pile on the rank and file.
Though, short beard and long goatee sounds like a contradiction to me… I understand a goatee refers to a beardstyle wher you primarily or exclusively have facial hair growing from the chin, the name being a reference to how fur/hair grows on a goat’s face(though admittedly, no clue if wild goats naturally have goatees or if domesticated goats are so commonly groomed that way that a goat without a goatee would look weird, similar to how a poodle doesn’t look like a poodle if it’s fur/hair isn’t mostly cut short and only poofed up in key areas).
Though, even outside of the military, beards seem to be in a sort of paradoxical position… On the one hand, there’s the notion of the scholar’s beard going back possibly centuries if not millenia and a beard is a classical symbol of masculinity… On the other hand, being clean shaven is often seen as a sign of good grooming and beards are sometimes seen as unkempt.
For the record, I do have a beard and I like to keep it long enough to stroke, but find it gets in the way a bit to much if I let it get much longer than the width of my hand(measuring by gathering it at the point of my chin as if I was going to put it in a chin pony tail(is there a actual term for that style?) and making a fist around it… I also keep my hair about shoulder length… like to keep my mustache short enough my upper lip is visible and shave the bit between my lower lip and chin… If I could swing the fiances and logistics to visit a hairdresser regularly, it would be tempting to describe the look I want in terms like "common depictions of Jesus(mostly referring to the caucasian brunet with long hair and beard interpretation common among white American Christians), a lion’s mane, or Santa Claus after he grew the beard but before he went white.
Aw dang, I’m late to the party! I was just now going to post:
In the interest of keeping the conversation on topic, I think it would be neat for Choicescript games to offer 10-15 different facial hair styles during character creation.
I think One Knight Stand has you covered there. The main thing I remember the game for, at least the part I played, is its absurdly long character customization. Shame it has no impact on the plot.
Edit: On second look, despite the fact that the game lets you choose the length, texture, color, color (again), and highlight color of your hair, there seems to be no facial hair option. Tragic.
I have a goatee. For many years I had “designer stubble”, that is, I shaved my beard down to a number one with the same clippers I was using on my head. I used to enjoy experimenting with my head-hair and had a Mohawk in the late 90s and early 2000s. Unfortunately my receding hairline put paid to that, but I quite liked the crewcut look so I wasn’t too heartbroken. The goatee was really a way to soften my appearance slightly and look less like a skinhead. I’m unable grow a full beard as the hair on my cheeks is very patchy. In the 90s when sideburns were fashionable I was unable to wear them because of an annoying gap just above my cheekbones. So now I have a bald head, a goatee and a moustache waxed into points, though the moustache is rather wild and unruly, a bit “Catweazle”. I would describe my look as “avuncular”, edging into “wizardly”. I’m sure you were all dying to know these things! 