Sunday, September 30, 2012

So, I shaved.

Been meaning to for ages now, but I don't think people fully realize what a big change it is.  If a party needs a wizard, people won't be coming to me.  If someone needs to carry the ten commandments down from the mountaintop, it won't be me.  God has a message, not coming through me.  Someone needs their sins forgiven, no longer in my domain.  Comparisons to ZZ Top, random complements from people I don't know, and annual request from my sister that I bleach my hair and beard white and impersonate Santa, not going to happen, but actually none of the things in this sentence will be missed by me.

Mostly it's just that it's a major change and I no longer look like a prophet.

Before I show pictures, I do have to point out that I suck at looking good on camera.

Before:

Halfish way through:

After

12 comments:

  1. I don't think people fully realize what a big change it is.

    Of course it's a big change. I manage to get used to the fact that you have a face, and you go and get yourself an entirely different one. (Well, except the glasses, which are necessary but not sufficient for a glasses-wearing face to look like itself*.)

    *Have I mentioned how much I hate when official picture-takers insist I take my glasses off? You said you wanted a picture of me, not some other dude. (Masculine word intentional. You wouldn't expect glasses to make the difference between a feminine presentation and a masculine-side-of-neutral presentation, yet somehow it happens.)


    (I'll cope, don't worry. It's not like I'm expected to know you on sight anyway.)

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  2. Goodness, that was practically a unixbeard. Mine goes all straggly before it gets anything like that long, so I keep it vaguely trimmed. (Which is still less faff than shaving every day was.)

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  3. Oddly, with half a beard you look like my brother Tom, but you don't with either a whole beard or no beard.

    cjmr

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  4. cjmr - that's possibly hairstyle? In the half-beard picture his hair is tied back (presumably to avoid accidentally shaving it too...)

    Redwood Rhiadra

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  5. I remember when I was about seven years old, and my Dad got a job at the newly-opened Epcot Center. After his first day on the job, a stranger came home (Disney at the time had a rule requiring most male employees to be clean-shaven - Dad, as the troubadour at the UK pavilion, was told he'd be exempt when he was hired, since his beard was part of the persona. Someone in management apparently decided differently, and the beard came off.)

    Redwood

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  6. My guess would be that any similarity in appearance in the during but not before and after pictures is due to hairstyle.

    -

    I was surprised at how long it took my mother and sister to notice, I wouldn't recognize someone whose appearance changed that much, they didn't recognize that there was a change at first.

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    Replies
    1. When I shifted from glasses to contact lenses, people either didn't recognise me at all or didn't notice a difference. Since then I've tried to cue my recognition of faces on bone structure rather than furniture.

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  7. Congradulations on major changes that aren't for the worst (at least I guess so, since you don't seem to regret your decision). I hope you'll have more of those and less of... the other kind.

    ---Redcrow

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  8. That's quite the change, congratulations!

    (I quite like the "after" picture, I hope it is not irritating to say.)

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  9. It's odd; I feel like there's more difference between Photo 1 and Photo 2 than between 1 and 3. Presumably because of the missing glasses.

    I like the change (though I also liked the beard). I'm terribly fond of chins, and their general habit to reside below the mouth, and I note with pleasure that yours is in its customary place. Very good.

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  10. ...ok.

    Wow, that's different. I am a beard supporter, but I'll get used to it. The kids will definitely not recognize you the next time they see you.

    Also what Ana said about chins.

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  11. As in, I am generally a supporter of at least some facial hair, beyond a mustache, on dudes who can grow it. However, your Before picture looks like you are hiding from the world, and since in the After we can see your mouth, it makes it easier to imagine you saying all your awesome posts/comments. So that's a win.

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