Leonard Gray / L’Observateur / February 19, 2000

“Here’s my beard. Ain’t it weird? Don’t be skeered. It’s just a beard.”Comedian George Carlin had a whole routine on beards and I appreciate it, since I’ve worn my face fuzz for at least the past 16 years.

Beards have an up-and-down history in America. One man was finedseverely just for having one in the 1830s, but by Lincoln’s time, beards were beginning to come back into fashion.

In fact, studies have indicated that during wartime, beards tend to reappear in the men’s fashion scene. Funny about that study, I don’t recallhearing that beards were in fashion during World War Two.

However, I have a strange relationship with mine. I first grew amoustache when I was 19 as both a form of parental protest and because I felt that older people would take me more seriously, viewing me as more mature. That, I hoped, would help me get established in journalism.During my college years, depending on my job at the time, I either wore or didn’t wear my moustache but it wasn’t until late in my last year of college that Susan, later my wife, persuaded me to go all out and grow a full beard.

To this day, she doesn’t understand that herself, since no one in her family had a beard, but she says she simply likes beards.

Consequently, I wore a full beard from that time on, unless I had a job where I couldn’t wear one. At that, I kept the moustache.If you’ve kept track so far, it means that my wife of 20 years has never seen me clean-shaven.

From time to time, I’ve toyed with the idea of doing just that – shaving it all off. At one time, I came very close and began with my cheeks. I gotdown to the point you see in my photograph above and my wife, watching me, stopped me and said, “I like that!” But at the ripe old age of 46, the time when I needed to try and look older and more mature (unfortunately) appears to have passed. I’m at the timenow when looking younger than my years looks more and more attractive.

So again, I’m in that strange period of trying to decide to shave it all off.

There’s some points in its favor. I’d immediately look younger, despitethose bags under my eyes. On the other hand, I simply hate shaving. I’mnever happy with razors and nick myself often, so I’m afraid I’ll carve up my upper lip.

Funny enough, I’m only at the point at age 46 where I only need to shave every other day. My second-day beards aren’t really noticeable and I worrythat if I did shave it off, it would take awhile to grow back.

I honestly find myself looking in mirrors a lot lately, trying to imagine how I look under that face-fuzz nowadays. But one day soon, I may shockeveryone at the office by showing up clean-shaven.

And, if my wife, nieces, goddaughter, mother, aunt and co-workers think I look better, I may keep it off.

Or then again, maybe not.

We’ll see.

LEONARD GRAY is a reporter for L’Observateur.

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