Beards anyone?

[ATX-Hiker]

How many people don't shave at all during their thru hike?

[buff_jeff]

I sectioned Springer to Maryland and I shaved twice.

[daddytwosticks]

Never thru-hiked (but I wanna) but I got a beard...does that count?

[Bearpaw]

My beard was sort of like a calendar.

Springer, March 99


Grayson Highlands, VA, May 99


Harper's Ferry, WV, June 99


Stratton Mountain, VT, July 99


North Woodstock, NH, August 99


Mt Katahdin, September 99


Beards are a great part of the trail, so long as you're not Minnesota Smith.

[Mags]

Hmmm...

I like this calendar motif:

I shaved for the first two-three weeks, then I said the hell with it:

BIG BALD


Vernon, NJ


The Big K:



The other trails, I started and ended with a beard.

PCT




CDT








Of course, my stomach is in indicator of time passage, too.

[Bearpaw]

Of course, my stomach is in indicator of time passage, too.

Amen to that. I took some measurements before and after.

Before: 36 inch waist, 207 pounds, 16.5% body fat. (Just out of the Marine Corps).

After: 31 inch waist, 168 pounds, 9% body fat. I lost over an inch off each thigh, AND an inch off my neck. (Of course the beard covered that up...)

[Mags]

Amen to that. I took some measurements before and after.

A lot more precise than I ever was!

Good excuse for me to take a long hike again..get some good before and after data!

In my non-scientific way:

AT: Overweight (195lbs on my 5'6" frame!) -> Freakin' Skinny! (145 lbs!)
( I really did look ultra gaunt once I shaved the beard. My family wanted to feed me there and then! (and I come from Italian stock to boot.. )

PCT: More active than before the AT: 183 lbs at the start
168 lbs at the finish

CDT: About the same, if more muscle 179 lbs to start
168 lbs to finish

PANTS: Looser for some reason when I finished...Hmm...

BEARD: Freaking huge every time.

(If I am trapped in a cube today..at least I can TALK about the outdoors...)

[bigboots]

I don't plan on shaving in 09'!

[ScottP]

shaving makes it way easier to yogi/hitch

[bigboots]

shaving makes it way easier to yogi/hitch

They also make it more obvious that you are a thru-hiker

[Serial 07]

i love this thread...some real nice beard progressions going on...now all we need is a crazy mohawk thread...

[Bearpaw]

shaving makes it way easier to yogi/hitch

The one time I tried to hitch south of Pennsylvania (into Franklin, NC), I NEVER got a hitch, and I had almost no beard at all then.

By Pennsylvania, when the beard was kicking, and I started needing to hitch more often, I never waited more than 10 minutes for a ride.

[bigboots]

...now all we need is a crazy mohawk thread...

Kyanite class of 08' and several others hade great mohawks this year!

[Mags]

shaving makes it way easier to yogi/hitch

Alas, do to a genetic quirk, I have a very thick and heavy beard.

It is a PITA to shave my beard after 10 days.

So I just let it go for hiking.

Kind of symbolic for me at this point.

In the "real world", I am clean shaven (and, since due to another quirk of genetics mens I have less and less hair, have a shaved head). I look like a nice clean cut young man... I even wear shoes other than outdoor ones.

When hiking? Grow the beard out, wear my hiker clothes and take on my other persona.

On weekends/vacations, it kind of blurs together as I seldom shave on days off.

[rainmaker]

Haven't shaved since '75, trimmed but not shaved.

[handlebar]

I had what I call a "corporate beard" before starting the AT --- short with shaved neck, cheeks, and lower lip. After the AT, I returned to the corporate beard look, but after the PCT, I only shaved a bit of the fuzzy stuff from my cheeks and the sides of my neck. I'm keeping the rest---kind of the ZZ Top look. Waiting to see how long it will get. Maybe I'll wait a couple years until after the CDT to take it back to the corporate look. My daughters day it makes me look old, but I am, my grandsons like to pull on it, and I like the way it keeps my neck warm in the cold weather. Plus I've saved a bundle on shaving cream and razor blades.

Never noticed an issue with hitching due to the beard, but apparently not many hike in a kilt out west (I knew of only two others and we were all AT veterans) and I think that was often an issue in hitching. Would you give this guy a lift?
http://www.trailjournals.com/photos....=389681&back=1

[taildragger]

Rarely shave or trim in general. I've gone 8months before w/o a trim, if that counts at all...

[ChinMusic]

Kirby hadn't started shaving yet, had he?

[twoshoes06]

I didn't shave for the 4 1/2 months I was thru-hiking.. this became a good thing once it warmed up and the New England bugs wanted to taste my face. Sorry, beard in the way.

[10 o'clock]

I didn't shave or trim for my entire hike. It was a personal challenge for me to make it.