This year I’ve been hearing a lot about people growing “winter beards”. This got me thinking about growing a beard myself. I’ve thought about it in the past, but I never followed through on it because I was pretty sure that it wouldn’t look good. The times that I had gone a week or more between shaves had taught me that my facial hair is patchy. I could get away with a goatee but I couldn’t count on my whiskers to cover my cheeks.
However, I couldn’t help wondering if I would be able to grow a good looking beard if I only gave the empty patches some time to fill in. I had never had the fortitude in the past to keep on growing it out after a week or a week and half. So, this year during my January term, I decided to try and see what it would look like.
I shaved on January 2nd in preparation for a wedding I was in on the 3rd. Since then, I’ve only shaved my neck and some little patches at the tops of my cheeks. Here’s the result after a little over a month of growth:
I think it looks pretty good from the front. However, the sides leave a bit to be desired. As you can see below, the patches didn’t really fill in all that well, even after a month. In addition, the beard doesn’t connect to my hair at all. There is no way I could pull off any kind of sideburns.