My wife (girlfriend at the time) wanted me to shave my beard while we were on vacation. I didn't have my trimmers, just a razor to clean up my neck for the wedding we were attending. After, what seemed to be an hour of yanking out my beard, she said, "I don't like it, you look too young." Since then, I've only been without some sort of beard once, and that was when my trimmers went crazy and scalped my beard. It was too far gone to try and fix it, so I shaved it all off. My wife has been trying to get me to trim it up a bit, but this will give me an excuse to go all out.
I had to quit last year due to Fire practicals... Sucked. My daughter (5 year old) this morning told me to shave the face and quit shaving the head, I laughed, as she knows my day off when shes at school, I buzz my hair off every week.
This for me as well. Maybe I could have something that wasn't completely embarrassing by November 2014 if I started now... I blame it on my 12.5% Native American blood. How.
I let the chin pubes go au natural about 2 weeks ago. I can't handle a full beard though. I've tried several times, once it gets to that itchy stage about a week or so in, I'm toast. I just don't have it in me to wait it out until I gets longer, softer, and stops itching.
To obtain a full arse man beard by November 1, I need to start early in October. Mine seems to grow at about 3 different rates. Takes a couple trimmings till I don't look like a coyote with mange. Mine is more of a piece of personal protective gear than a fashion statement. I will be lighting up the outdoor woodburner soon and a little singe of the beard is better than burnt facial skin any day.
i'm a couple weeks in. It's goes from a deer season beard to a no shave novemember beard to a its winter beard and then it comes off when i eventually get tired of looking like a mess around February
Been working on mine since mid July.. Trimmed it a couple of times to even it out, and it's past time to trim the neckbeard off. Oh well.. I'm not out to impress anybody.