The reason why I started growing my beard is kinda funny, allow me to explain –
I think it’s sort of a german tradition where the graduating classes are dressing up to different mottos for one week in their last school year. And one of our mottos has been to dress up like a bum. So I decided to have a beard this day, with ripped clothes and unwashed hair- and somehow I liked the look. Well, sure not the scruffy part, but the bearded part!
I wasn’t really growing my beard long that time, I rather kept it short, then I met my girlfriend… and she begged me to shave it off for her, because she wanted to see me beardless at least once. Do you think I regretted this? Of course I did! And since this day I never shaved my beard again. Growing since September 2014.
There are different reasons why I keep growing my beard – I felt older and more grown up as I looked so. Not many guys in my age are able to grow a beard so it feels kinda special.
When you have a beard you are in someway part of an unknown community as other bearded guys are giving you a nod while passing you. And in the end we all have to admit: a beard makes every man look damn hot. Beards became in vogue and are an important part in the male model business. That’s where I see my chances in life and decided to move to Sydney to have better opportunities as a model.
Furthermore- you can call me vain but I love using beard products like oil and balm or to wash my beard with an specific beard shampoo. And I also love combing it through multiple times a day. Taking care of my beard and my skin has become an important part for me and also the market for all this beard stuff is expanding and getting more popular. Men nowadays are „allowed“ to use care products without inventing excuses and earning weird looks from their gf/ wife. *laugh*
And it’s quite the contray: I have a vanilla beard oil by Melbournebeardoil that smells sooo amazingly good that my girlfriend even got jealous of MY care products. When I use it she sometimes burries her nose into my beard to sniff at it. Of course having a full beard means having some struggle sometimes. On my flight to Sydney I was talking to my girlfriend in German and earned an „Oh I never thought that you’d be German.“ from a security guy.
Also these comments like: „Eww, wipe that off! It looks disgusting!“, said by my girlfriend every now and then after eating ice-cream or a bowl of cereal…Eating a toast without crumbs stucking in your facial hair? No way! Got seriously asked on Instagram „How did you get your beard?“ Well, um… it just grows? Did you ever get touched in your face by strangers because they want to know what IT feels like? Get a beard and you will know…
But anyway… I love being part of this particular bearded community. And by the way it’s kinda funny how people are surprised with wide eyes and a big „Oh really?“ when I’m saying my age is 21.
Instagram – @philbottenberg