9 March 2015

What Is It With All These Beards?

This might sound like the most random topic for a blog post ever but I felt like I just had to say something.

Why has everyone gone crazy about beards? Beards used to be for tramps and old men. The only person who used to be able to rock a beard was Dumbledore but now it seems like everyone's bloody got one. Maybe it's because I work in the creative industry but I feel like it's hard to go a day without seeing 10 guys with beards. Not short beards like Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp sometimes have - I mean more than a few week's stubble. I mean proper full-on beards. And since when does having a beard make you a hipster? And what's even worse, do girls actually find these beards attractive?





I know I'm probably being a bit harsh but personally I just don't like them. When I see what could be a decent-looking guy with a really long beard it just makes me think of The Twits by Roald Dahl.




For anyone who had a deprived childhood and didn't have this read to them it's about this really gross old couple who played mean tricks on one another. But Mr Twit had this really gross long beard and I remember a particular section where it described him getting food stuck in there:

Having spoken to a friend who has one of these beards this is actually a real problem! Apparently rice and milk are quite hard to get out. I mean can you imagine walking around with your dinner stuck to your face for hours? Maybe even days? I certainly can't. Although thank god a sweaty beard is apparently not all that common in winter.

I think men use beards to express their masculinity. If you can grow a proper beard, you're a proper man. Wikipedia (the font of all true knowledge) says that in Ancient Egypt the men of highest rank grew beards and in the Middle Ages holding someone else's beard was a serious offence that had to be righted in a duel. Nowadays there seems to be a lot more beard-loving between men with compliments and admiration flowing freely between men with beards and men without. 

It's only recently that they have really started to get on my nerves though. And I've been thinking, how much longer is this trends going to go on for? More inside knowledge from my experienced bearded-friend tells me that they actually take quite a bit of maintenance with trimming and even brushing! I know you can get beard oil and a whole load of other products for it. Perhaps it's like a male version of concealer? You could hide a whole host of skin issues in one of them.

But if you ask me, a beard just suggests you are lazy and/or unhygienic. I read an article posted on the BBC website a year ago which said that once we hit a 'beard peak' they will become less attractive because too many people will have them; they will no longer be a rarity. Hopefully the summer the trend will be driven out as people start to get too hot because I'm not sure I could cope with sweaty beards on the tube! 


1 March 2015

What Should I Do Now?

The reason why I haven't written in such a long time (3 months if you're counting) is I wasn't sure what to write about. You could call it 'writers block' but I'd have to be a writer for that to be true. It's probably more accurately defined as a lack of inspiration. At university it was easy to write about being a student and the trivial problems I had then, like how to concentrate long enough to do my work (How To Stay in the Library Longest..!) or what costume to make for that week's fancy dress theme (Love Dressing Up?). Not that I wouldn't give anything to relive those carefree three years - I feel like recently my life has got a whole lot more serious.

I have my first 'real' job. A 9-5, 5 days a week, fixed salary job. Okay, officially it's an internship but it's the closest I've had to an actual, adult job. (I've worked full-time before but not in the industry I ultimately want to pursue). I live in the capital, the biggest city in the country and the place I've dreamed of living for the last 7 or 8 years at least. I catch the tube to work at rush hour everyday and I've never seen the same person twice - not in the 4 months I've been here. I have contents insurance. I mean I actually pay my own insurance and have things worth insuring! Could I be any more mature? Well today I went one step further, I bought my first piece of furniture and put it together all by myself.


What you're probably thinking is, 'This all sounds really boring' and the truth is it is. My life's not crazy and wild like a student now, it's the slow and complex life of a young professional. But I'm doing the things I've always wanted to do and I should be really happy, right?

I feel like after leaving university I've stepped outside what I know and what I'm used to, and actually started living life for real. It's not a fairytale like I hoped it would be. Things don't just happen for you. You have to make your own luck, your own decisions and your own mistakes.

I haven't been writing because I didn't think I could write anything people would want to read about. But then I thought, I shouldn't be writing for other people. I should be writing for me. I've been doing this all along because I enjoy it and so it doesn't matter if not a single person reads it. I'm going to write about what I'm interested in and that's all there is to it.

That's what I'm going to do now on.