Monday, November 29, 2010

A Hairy Situation

I've decided to grow a beard.  Like many of the finer endeavors of my life, it was my wife's encouraging that spurred this decision.  It was not taken lightly.  For me, growing a beard is wrought with challenges.

First is the general patchiness of my facial hair.  That's why my first shot at facial hair was limited to a mustache and goatee.  I'm proud to say that over many years, this patchiness has evened out.  Mostly.

The real issue is my shaved head.  I let the hair on my head grow for a full week when I first started Project Beard (NOTE: one of these times I'm gonna misspell beard as bread.  I just know it. And spellchecker won't catch stuff like that.)  I studied the growth - and lack thereof - and remembered why I started shaving my head to begin with.  Chia-pets are not attractive, not matter how awesome they look in the commercial.

So now I have hair on my cheeks, and a sudden transition to nothingness at the top of the sideburns.  My goal is to ease the suddenness of that transition. My wife encouraged me to Google pictures of Chris Daughtry.  I think it is cool that I can get compared to him, because he's rich and famous and good-looking, and I'm just bald, too.  But I don't want to look just like him, because I'm a decade-and-a-half older than he is and I will come across as a poser (NOTE: 1987 called and it wants the word "poser" back).

For now I have a solution that I convinced myself is decent:

A hat.

Ha ha!  Just kidding.  But seriously, maintaining this look requires a skill and/or patience that I don't have.  Or at least, if I do have it, it has yet to fully manifest itself.  It's a lot easier to clear-cut a whole cheek than to gently taper the point as it rounds the top of the ear.  Trust me on that one.

But for now my wife likes my bread, so I'm keeping at it.

11 comments:

Sharon said...

I need a picture!! I'm sure you look great with a 'beard'... Brent called November something that I now can't remember-has to do with growing facial hair to be warm for the winter (good thing we live in TX).. Bradley started the same, but from the KC pics, he shaved in KC.....
I do recall not recognizing a 'dad' from early sports, he always wore a bball hat. I ran into him in 'public' and barely recognized him because of the bald head?!!
All that being said- I'm for a 'Daughtry' brother look-a-like; plus I trust Angie's opinion 100%!

Anita said...

I think we need a whole series of photos. My husband grows a beard as he sleeps.

Rick Daley said...

I might post a Daughtry picture.

Laurel said...

Makes me glad I only have to fool with my legs. They are long and borderline furry, but I've got the routine down. Nothing new to figure out. And as an added bonus, the growth patterns have not changed with age!

dolorah said...

It'll grow on you (lol).

Now I'm trying to picture you with hair - in the shape of a chia pet.

Hmmm.

.......dhole

Rick Daley said...

I have to go to Washington DC on a business trip next week. We'll see if the beard survives.

I do keep it nice and trim, we're not talking late-stage Jim Morrison or Unibomber growth, just a controlled shadow.

Eric said...

LOL, seriously funny post. And sorry I haven't commented for a while, but I HAVE been lurking. You do look alot like Daughtry though, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I mean, the guy can sing like nobody else, he's a serious rocker, and the chicks obviously dig him. I don't know that I could pull off the completely bald look though, so leave just enough on top to let people know I once had hair...or something like that. Anyway, thanks for the laugh.

Rick Daley said...

Thanks Eric! When my wife read the post her reaction was, "You wrote a post about growing a beard? You need to get out more."

My defense was, "Yeah, but it was kind of funny." Glad you have your affirmation ;-)

Rich said...

Hope it works for you. Maybe Daughtry needs a look alike to play the bass. R U into his music? We have a few of his songs. We followed AI when he was a contestant and felt he got dusted off too early.

It is cold enough on HHI this AM 37. A hat covers all heads equally. By summer time I'll change from wool to golf hats. Do you think wearing a hat contributes to hair loss?

Rick Daley said...

I like Daughtry's music. AI winners get a raw deal...their contracts are very controlling. Don't know if Daughtry's early cut freed him of that, I hope for his sake it did.

I don't think hats contribute to hair loss. Although now when I go a couple days without shaving my head, the stubble acts like velcro and you couldn't pull a hat from my head with a tractor!

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