Am I my beard?
TIME on the growing popularity of beards:
“Beards are back,” says Allan Peterkin, a pogonologist (a.k.a. beard scholar) and author of One Thousand Beards. “It is an act of rebellion. Men are trying to prove that they are no corporate slave.”
And later:
“Once beards become completely acceptable, they are no longer a statement of individuality,” says Phil Olson, founder of Beard Team USA, which competes in international facial-hair-growing competitions.
Answer to titular question: no, I am not my beard. But I don’t see myself getting rid of it anytime soon. I have big eyes and long eyelashes and I rely on the beard to defeminize my face (not that a swarthy brow and receding hairline doesn’t contribute to the cause).
If beards were to become too, too common, I suppose I could join the National Nosehair Squad or turn my eyelids inside out.
via Chris Glass
