About my beard
TIM BELFORD
I've got a beard. I've had it more or less for thirty years.
I say more or less because when I first started growing it was more like a neck ruff. For some reason the farther up my chin it went the sparser it was.
I spent much of my twenties looking like a short-haired, Anglo version of Che Guevera.
Now there's a belief out there, fostered by the clean shaven, that anyone with a beard is trying to hide something.
In my case it's not true.
As a matter of fact, if you believe my mother my chin is my only good feature since it draws attention away from what she once referred to as "my mean little mouth."
No, I grew my beard because I hated shaving.
The thought of getting up first thing every morning and scraping my face with a piece of finely honed steel was not appealing. Particularly when I discovered the joys of late night partying at university.
During this period of my life shaving the morning after went from being mildly annoying to highly dangerous.
Besides, wearing facial hair has a long and noble history.
For ages men have sported mutton chops, van dykes, spades and goatees. They've waxed their moustaches and strained their soup.
The pirate blackbeard apparently even tied blue ribbons in his beard. It gave him a bit of a sissy look but who's going to argue with a guy toting a cutlass.
The reason I'm talking about this is that I'm going through a bit of a dilemma. I'm thinking of shaving it off.
I've had it off before - briefly. With disastrous results.
My son threatened to run away and I kept catching the love of my life with her head cocked to one side, the way you do when you're trying to figure out an abstract painting.
Just the same, I think it will have to come off.
The problem with a beard is that after a while you lose track of your face.
Chin becomes plural and jaw becomes jowl.
So there it is. Time for a reality check. And since my son will be going away to school soon anyway there's no loss there.
It will even give my aging mother one last look at the mean little mouth.
Besides the nice thing about a beard is you can always grow it back.
Copyright © 1998 Tim Belford/Log Cabin Chronicles/10.98 |
Tim Belford is host of Quebec A.M. -- CBC Radio's popular English- language morning show (91.7 FM, 6-9, Mon.-Fri). He also is said to know a thing or three about wine.