The birth of a child, the death of a parent, changing jobs, or moving into a new house – each of these things changes who we are on some level as we make our way through life. Now it might seem silly to group having a beard into this category, but we here at Bangalore Beard Club have always believed that growing a beard is much more than simply letting hair appear on your face. Becoming a Beardsman goes much deeper than that and more change comes from growing a beard than most would surely ever let on. True, becoming a Beardsman encompasses changes in grooming and style, but it’s also a change in daily behavior, a change in the way you approach life, and the way that you focus your time.
We could probably write a list of one hundred ways that having a beard changes you, but as Beardsmen, we prefer efficiency and focus. Rather than looking at all the ways having a beard changes you as a man, let’s take a gander at five of the biggest ways.
HAVING A BEARD MAKES YOU MORE PATIENT
Beards take time and that time requires patience. As having a beard becomes an increasingly defining part of your life, that patience inevitably bleeds over into other aspects of your day to day. You’ll find yourself becoming more relaxed and chilled out in stressful situations as having a beard mellows many and allows them to slow down and acknowledge that many of the best things in life take time. Just like a beard itself, those who are patient shall be rewarded.
HAVING A BEARD AGES YOU
Even those with the most boyish faces can suddenly look decades older with the addition of facial hair. Once dimples, chins, and jaw lines become enveloped by hair, it becomes increasingly difficult for onlookers to determine how old you really are. But more often than not, others assume you’re older than you might actually be once you’ve successfully grown out your beard. Aside from the obvious aesthetic aging, growing out a beard helps you mature and makes you come to terms with your increased age and what having a beard represents to onlookers.
HAVING A BEARD CHANGES HOW YOU’RE PERCEIVED BY OTHERS
As many have noticed in movies and television, the wisest male characters almost always seem to have beards. Wizards, Jedi, generals, and the like from all sorts of different genres rock beards as signs of experience, maturation, and as a not subtle way of telling others, “I’ve seen some shit in my day, man.” Although we don’t expect that you’ll be taking Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter under your wing anytime soon, having a beard does change the way others view you as they may impart an unfound wisdom or maturity on your behalf. Beardsmen automatically look as though they can handle themselves in tricky situations. How much of that is simply aesthetics vs. something deeper, an actual change in the way we view ourselves once we’ve successfully grown a beard? Let’s take a look.
HAVING A BEARD IMPROVES YOUR SELF-CONFIDENCE
Some guys sadly can simply not grow facial hair and guess what? That’s fine. Although we fully support an increasing number of men putting down the razor and letting their beards run wild, we know that it’s not for everyone and we support those gents in their decision to live the completely shaved life. However, if you ask most of those gents about other guys’ abilities to grow beards, they’ll usually answer that they might not wish they had a beard, but they do wish they could choose to have one if they so desired. For those of us with beards, the ability to have one if we want is empowering and helps us build our self-confidence through that ability to decide on our own terms. Choice is power and power helps form confidence, simple as that.
HAVING A BEARD EMPOWERS YOU
Beards make you feel manly. Beard allow you to hide flaws. Beards allow us to become truer versions of ourselves. Each of these is a truth that sits with every Beardsman in some shape, way, or form, along with a whole slew of others that vary from man to man. Growing a beard makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something that your father and grandfather before him have done as well. Whether it’s genetics or something even deeper inside our psyches, once each of us has successfully grown a beard, we feel empowered to take on the more chaotic aspects of our day to day lives. As Beardsmen, we hope that this empowered feeling brings more good into the world, but that’s a decision that each of us must make on our own. Choose wisely.
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