4 Questions Bearded Men Get Tired Of Hearing From Strangers

3. Would You Ever Shave It Off?

Addendum: "What? Not even for charity?" Why would anyone even ask this? Do people ask someone with a smooth chin if they would ever grow a beard? Maybe they do, but it sounds like an odd question. Maybe to them, having a beard is unusual and most people who grow them do it on a temporary-only basis and will eventually put razor to hair and promptly return to a state of 'normalcy'. These people are beard racists. It's unclear why some people are so fascinated by Mount Awesome Chin that they feel the need to ask if we'd ever get rid of it at any point. It wasn't grown for a bet so why would I remove it for similar reasons? The addendum above often follows when I tell people that I have no desire to shave off my beard. More than once I've had people pull bewildered expressions and then accuse me of not being charitable, because I don't want to raise money by having a shave. Is it really so cynical to assume that, were there a charity that needed money, there are other ways for people to arouse awareness of the cause without a shaver being involved? It seems that no matter how secularised we've become, most people are still aware of the tale of the biblical figure Samson, who's god-like strength comes from his hair. In another narrative, his hair is shaved by Delilah, leaving him weak. Maybe people asking if a bearded man would ever shave it off are asking not so much out of a failing wish to keep the conversation going, but to subtly hint at what would happen to said person if their facial hair was somehow removed.