Ritual

I don't do it as often as I should, but I enjoy shaving.  I have a beard, have had one for a long time, however I do my best to keep it short.  The exception being the fall and into the winter when it's nice to have a little bit more facial insulation.  Shaving usually occurs once a week for me because I just shave my neck.  Sometimes once every week and a half or two weeks.  I'm not always one for keeping to routines if I don't have to. I do my best to keep my beard at or just a little below my jawline.  There have been a few times when I've grown my beard out a little bit or done something different with it.  I've gone with mutton chops a few times.  Which was fun.  It was something different.  But now I just like to keep it full.  

The ritual of shaving with a razor wasn't really handed down.  There wasn't like some great bonding moment.  When the time came to learn how to shave, my dad taught my brother and I using an electric razor.  I used it for most of my high school years.  I hated it. I will never buy an electric razor, I will never use one again. To be honest, I couldn't grow a lot of facial hair until I was almost out of college.  It wasn't until I was eighteen and Gillett sent a Mach 3 that I had a razor.  It even came with a 'you're 18!  Here's a razor!' type card.  To this day, I don't know how or why they had my name and age, but they did.  And shit, I got a free razor out of it so what did I care?  In fact, I still have it, I just buy the replacement heads.  I hacked my face with it until I got the feel for it.  I placed my fair share of toilet paper squares on my face to be sure.  At the time I got that razor creepily in the mail, I couldn't really grow facial hair.  My first attempt my senior year of high school resulted in just a little bit on my chin.  I let it grow out a little bit and kept it.  

As far as I can remember, I have enjoyed shaving.  It feels like a great ritual.  Very manly.  You start out with a lot of scruff and end up with a smooth face.  It's like starting over.  And maybe that's why I normally do it just once a week (normally at the end of the weekend).  To feel like I'm starting anew.  One thing that has added to the ritualistic feel is having a badger bristle brush and a cup.  Like you see in movies that depict the 1950s and 1960s.  I keep telling myself I will buy a safety razor like they use as well, it just hasn't happened yet.  I even have a little stand for it!  

It's funny to look back at my first attempt to grow a full beard when I was in college.  It was my senior year, I was mainly focused on writing my senior paper and lining up an internship for my museum studies minor.  The last thing that was really on my mind was shaving. I also kept my hair a little bit longer back then too.  Once again, no time for grooming.  Plus, what poor college kid has twenty bucks for a hair cut?  That's a lot of money that can go towards beers!  Anyway, my beard was kinda thin.  A little patchy in some places.  A sad attempt really. Bit was what it was though.  

As I've grown older, it's filled out more.  There's some gray hairs in it now as well.  And by some gray hairs, I mean like five or six.  It's very distinguished looking.  People in my life (family, friends, co-workers) have come to know me what a beard.  Everyone would be shocked if I one day decided to shave it all off.  PERISH THE THOUGHT!  For it will never happen.  Short of being offered money to do so.  And it was take a lot of money to convince me to shave my beard off.  So for the time being, I will stick to just shaving my neck and enjoying the little bit of ritual routine I have.