Beard Blog

Number 21 on my list was growing a beard.

Last time I grew a full beard was in January 2008. I did it to keep my face warm when I went snowboarding for my stag do before I married Mrs P. 

Since then I've been pretty much clean shaven every day, especially since Olivia was born nearly four years ago. That includes weekends. 

I just got into a habit of shaving daily. 

I hadn't really planned when I was going to grow my beard, but naming my beer Beardstoker gave me the imputus to be slight more hirsute for the launch at MPAD's refreshed brand / 15th birthday party. 

I decided to start growing the beard on 15th April, which gave me 23 days to grow for the bash.

Day 1 without shaving

The one thing I noticed as my beard grew was that whiskers that had previously been ginger had now turned grey. 

Olivia even asked me if I was going to be Father Christmas. 

I was quite pleased with the beard at our party. It went down well with our clients and associates, as did Beardstroker. 

Day 23

The Beardstroker label

After five weeks the beard started to get slightly messy and uncomfortable, despite shampooing, conditioning and moisturising on a daily basis. 

Day 35

I now had a choice: to invest in a beard trimmer or to go clean shaven again. 

I decided to go for the beard trimmer.

Beard trimmer

Day 36 and a trimmed beard

Seven weeks and half weeks and counting and the beard is still here. 

Trimming every two or three days and continued moisturising is helping. 

Now I just need to decide when and if it goes....

In the meantime, here's a short time lapse film made up of five weeks of beard growth photos.