My Fundamentals — Beards

Men with responsibility are supposed to have beards

Alright men, this week’s post is for you… if you can grow a beard (no not stubble)... do it.

As you might gather from the My Fundamentals posts, it’s largely about going to the basics because they just work. Steve Jobs had a saying that I continually harken back to, “good design just works. You don’t have to think about it.”

I really struggled with my “masculinity” over the years but one day it dawned on me that masculinity is about building a sense of responsibility towards a higher good. I really struggled to show it, until I realized that a beard is the best way. Men with responsibility are supposed to have beards.

Every culture in human history has regarded beards symbols for growth and wisdom. To me, beards symbolize “focus” as we journey into the “unknown”; you can’t shave when you are on a quest.

Beards are a great hack because they hide some of my insecurities, has an SPF of 15 and may naturally increase testosterone. It makes a dramatic difference in perception too, just take a look at James Harden. There is a reason why the slogan “Fear the Beard'' applies so well to Harden 😅.

Fear the Beard — https://beardfull.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/james-harden-without-a-beard.jpg

I recommend it to keep it as natural as you can. No artificial trimmed lines and keep it oiled.

Like good design. beards just work, not to mention all the money and time saved by not shaving. So f*** you Gillette! I already have the best the man can get.

Word count: 250
Emoji count: 1
Twitter: @bhavprajapati

My Fundamentals Series — For the indefinite future, I’ll be writing posts about my renewed fundamentals to live by. I’m not making recommendations or providing medical advice, rather I hope the posts serve as thinking prompts. My intention here is to help people review their own life. I trust readers have the agency and wherewithal to take their own action.

Fiftytwo250 (Fifty-Two Two Fifty), a collection of random, recurring, ruminations written with patience for depth and brevity. Each post is written over the course of a week in 250 words or less as a personal exercise of freedom and focus in a time of placid tumult and despair.