Facial Hair

I never did go for really long hair, it seemed like a lot of trouble to maintain although, like you said, some guys didn't maintain it at all, just let it grow wild. I always did like beards, though. I mean, Abraham Lincoln had a beard. Who better to choose as a role model than him? My facial hair never did grow very thick, all I had was peach fuzz in high school. I had an electric razor that somebody had given me for Christmas, and I used it about once a week, usually on a Saturday night. When I got to Alaska, I just gave up shaving for awhile. It wasn't a political statement, I just didn't feel like shaving, and there was no reason to, until I got a job washing dishes at Paxson Lodge. The boss said that, since I was working in a restaurant, I should shave and get a haircut. Coming from a small business background myself, I could see his point.

In the army, they made us shave once a day whether we needed to or not. We usually had access to electricity, but when we were camping out, they still required us to shave, so I bought my first safety razor. Shortly after that, my electric razor broke down and I didn't replace it, couldn't see the point of owning two razors. About that time, my beard started to thicken up a bit. Common mythology said that, the more you shave, the more you have to shave. It was believed that shaving made your beard grow more, just like mowing a field of tall grass will make it come back thicker than ever. I have since read that this is false, the only reason your beard gets thicker as you get older is that you get older. At any rate, when I got out of the army I threw my razor away. There were three things that I vowed I would never do again: shave, wear a hat, or stand in line. This wasn't a political statement either, I had just done all three of those things so much while I was in the army that I was sick and tired of them. Since then I have shaven a few times for employment purposes, but none of those jobs lasted very long except the paper mill and, once I got into the union, I didn't have to shave anymore. I will stand in line when necessary, but I avoid it if I can. I wear a hat when practical considerations require it, but not otherwise.

When I first came to Cheboygan, people were always trying to hassle me about my beard, but I just laughed at them. That hasn't happened in a long time anyway. Like we both said, nobody cares whether or not you shave anymore. Have you noticed that a lot of guys on television these days are growing really short beards? I call it "the bum look". My hypothetical wife doesn't like it, she says they should either shave regularly or grow a decent beard. My own beard looks like that for a couple weeks after I buzz it off with my electric hair clipper. I don't shave with a razor, I just buzz it off close and let I grow back again. I do the same thing with my hair, but not as short. I do this about four or five times a year, when my hair starts tickling my ears. Again, it's not a political statement or even a fashion statement, it's just a convenient and easy way to manage it. I haven't been inside a barber shop in decades. I think there is still one regular men's barber shop in Cheboygan, the rest of them are called "hair salons" and they cater to both men and women. I suppose it doesn't really matter, but it's just one more thing that ain't what it used to be.