Tuesday, 1/2

Five days. If anyone ever wonders, it's five days.

First of all, happy New Year. Hope you had a great weekend and that your hangover has finally disappeared by the time your read this. I'm also joining you in the wish that 2018 exceeds 2017 (not that the bar was set very high there). So Happy New Year. Now the story of what I did between Christmas and New Years, and how I discovered my limits.

Because it was cold, because I didn't have to do any TV, and because (in all honesty) I was really lazy, I did something between Christmas and New Years I hadn't planned on doing, but did for the first time in my life. After doing so on Christmas morning, I stopped shaving for a few days. Normally, I try to avoid having hair on my face. At least to me, it doesn't seem to do me any favors, and since I think I actually look younger clean-shaven (especially on TV) I usually don't go more than two days without shaving.

But for the reasons listed above, and because I was curious to see how long it would take me before I was driven insane either by the itchiness of the whole thing or by how I looked (or both) I stopped shaving for a few days. Tuesday was okay. Wednesday, I started to scratch my face a little. Thursday, I noticed my beard seems to have more gray hair in it than brown hair. Friday, the itchiness ramped up by several degrees, the stubble made me look more like a homeless person than, say, George Michael, and Loraine, in that way that only a wife can, said something along the lines of “Looks like it's been a few days since you've shaved”.

Saturday, I shaved.

There are some people who look good with facial hair. I don't think I'm one of them, especially after seeing five days of growth on my chin. It seems to age me, which, as we all know, is something I don't handle very well. And there's just something not... “me” about it. Maybe, if I let a full beard grow and kept it for a couple of years, it'd be okay. I could look in a mirror without wondering who the strange person was looking back at me. But after just five days of growth for the first time ever?

Nope.

And then there's the itchiness. Maybe, if I tried not shaving in the summer, it would be better. But doing it in the winter, especially during a cold spell when the heat was constantly running and making your skin itchy anyway, was the final straw. Maybe I could've powered through the way that I look for a few more days. Maybe I could've colored in the gray to make me look a little more like a rock star and a little less like Santa Claus. But the itchiness was the final straw. I don't know how guys who grow full beads or even cultivate stubble year-round do it. After five days it was just so bad that it had to come off. And I'll be the first to admit—it was heaven. I look younger, the only gray is around my ears, and since Saturday morning I don't think I scratched my face once.

So now I know. Trust me—if I ever skip shaving again, it won't be for more than a day or two. After this little “experiment”, I now know a lot better.

(jim@wmqt.com), stubble free