Wednesday, 1/5

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

As I mentioned yesterday, one of the things I did over the extended holiday period (aside from (sigh) working) was to conduct an experiment on myself. Don't worry; I treated myself ethically and humanely during the test. And the end result surprised me a little, so I guess it was worth it.

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 (well, aside from working and everything else I've been writing about in here since then), something I've only done a few times 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. The first day was okay. The second I started to scratch my face a little. The third day I noticed my beard seems to have more gray hair in it than brown hair. On day four 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”.

So on day five I shaved.

There are some people who look good with facial hair. My brother has grown a beard the past few months, and it looks really good on him. And since he & I do resemble each other, you'd think I'd look okay with a beard, too. But trust me...I don't think I'm one of those people, 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 cool 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, all the gray (perhaps too much of it) is on the sides of my head, and since I got rid of the stubble 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 have all the reasons I need.

(jim@wmqt.com), stubble free