Tag: Beard

Nothing For Her Birthday 🍰

If you have seen any of my November posts you might have heard me say that I was consistently not shaving my beard for November. It was No-Shave-November over here and my wife and my daughter were none too impressed. My daughter pretended to think it was cool but my wife was very open about how it made me look old and she thought it was not lovely.

This post should have come out at the beginning of December but I spent more time than I had anticipated on my last post: Long Rich Life of Novelty.

Dave at Target to buy minty beard balm with his adorables. Text on image "Nothing for her birthday"
Dave at Target to buy minty beard balm with his adorables

Why did I have a beard for November? Well, I am not going to lie, I like having a beard. However, the movement is about more than just doing what you like. I have a good reason to shave my beard, my wife hates it. No Shave November is actually a movement that recognizes men’s health. It is a statement to open the door for discussions around types of man-specific cancer and mental health. When a person struggles with their health they often lose some or even all of their hair. No shave November is an opportunity to grow out the hair, appreciate that you have health, and be thankful that you are healthy.

A Simple Birthday Present

Luckily, my wife’s birthday was at the end of November, so I could shave the beard just in time for her birthday present. Unfortunately, for my wife, I still had the beard for our wedding anniversary but I think we look distinguished.

Dave and his wife, Jeab at the Ritz Carlton St. Louis
Dave and his wife, Jeab at the Ritz Carlton St. Louis

Dave and his wife, Jeab at Oceano Bistro, Clayton, MO
Dave and his wife, Jeab at Oceano Bistro, Clayton, MO

I Had Options

I do not have any pictures of after me shaving, to see that you have to watch the video of me shaving my face for my wife’s birthday.

In this video, my son documents my act of shaving my face

I did have options, but when I was searching around on the internet for beard knowledge I found pictures of other options I had. I found these images that I probably do not have the rights to use on this blog, but they are also probably a FaceBook post from an Instagram post from Reddit, so they have gotten around at this point.

Oakland A's starter Mike Fiers with a beard that wraps down around his mouth and the hooks back up around and makes his mustache.
Oakland A’s starter Mike Fiers
A man with a beard that wraps down around his mouth and the hooks back up around and makes his mustache.
Some dude who is not famous like
Oakland A’s starter Mike Fiers

I don’t know what you call that type of curly “G” shave but I got some flac when I posted it on my social media. Then there is this guy who is all over the internet with his spiral beard but I can’t seem to find his name

A man with a spiral beard that wraps around 3 times.
Spiral Beard
A man with a spiral beard that wraps around 3 times.
Spiral Beard

OK I Lied, I Do Have a Nice Shot of Clean-Shaven Dave

We were fortunate to go to the Missouri Botanical Garden Light Glow with our good friends, the Prechtels, this year! Yes, I have friends. What? Why are you looking at me surprised like that?

You see!? Real friends, I have. I didn’t even pay them to hang out with me.
…Well, I bought the tickets but they paid me back on VENMO right away.

In conclusion, I feel that there was some friction around growing a beard for health awareness in men, but nothing that would deter me from doing the same thing next November 2024!

Thanks for reading!

David Kolmer is an Instructional Designer who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theater and a Master of Science in Instructional Design and Educational Technology. Sometimes he shaves his beard and other times he does not. When he chooses to not shave his beard he always insists on keeping his beard well trimmed and adds minty beard balm from Target that his daughter says smells very good.

linkedin.com/in/kolmer