Blog du Wren

Half Beard 2016

My ridiculous beard posts have gotten noticeably fewer in recent times (perhaps following the trend of BdW posts in general). One of the main reasons for this is that I've been growing the beard longer than usual. To me, it's more or less the same, except that I do enjoy have something to fidget with. But as I'm reminded when I head out into the world, it can catch some people off guard, which in turn catches me off guard. Some people, esp. those who I've met more recently, very much do not recognize me beardless.

With the heat of summer weighing heavily and with the knowledge if I didn't shave it soon, I'd have to wait until next Spring(!?), I gave Della the clippers and said "have a go!". She decided it was time to chop the hair as well which was fine by me! Plus, she beat her personal best hair cutting time by 10 minutes (which even included time for a mid-trim photo shoot!)

Monday June 20 2016

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Thirteen Months of Beard

Yesterday, I shaved off my beard after letting it grow longer than I ever have before, 13 and a half months*. An epically long/ridiculous beard wasn't the plan from the get go. I was on track for my normal not-shave-until-it-becomes-ridiculous-or-inconvient-then-lop-it-off-and-start-over plan. But after a while, we started to get curious what a year's worth of beard would look like on me. And since every man should grow a year's worth of beard once in their life, we* thought we'd give it a try*.

To you few remaining longtime BdW readers, you might be expecting something extra fun for the once in a life time 1-year beard. And we tried. But in the end, all we ended up with was a few wacky pictures, nothing as creative as what has been featured in previous beard posts. Enjoy (or cringe, if you prefer).

Before & After

The Process

Other Ridiculousness
Now I'm "clean"* shaven and it feels pretty dang good. Plus it's kind of nice to have people not cringe when they meet me. Eventually, I know, the beard will be back. But until then, I'm going to enjoy beard free living!

Tuesday December 1 2015

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The Mustache Makes the Man

After making "this-is-how-I-creatively-attempted-to-shave-off-my-beard" posts for the past 8(!) years (you can view the 25 or so posts here), it is hard to come up with new twists. Well, with thanks to the lovely Della, here's a new twist.

It was time to chop the old cookie duster in preparation for my big TV appearance. Della, the ever creative, decided she wanted to make a fake mustache out of my real mustache, a process she's working to perfect. After much snipping, gluing, and a bit of creative craftery, she succeeded. There's a bit still to be desired about the process: my Burt Reynolds somehow turned into a Mike Ditka. But there's a neatness to knowing that this fake mustache is a real fake mustache.

Wednesday July 2 2014

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A Winters Worth of Beard (Before And After)

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the therm "A winter's worth of beard"*? Well, I do. This past winter, I grew exactly that: a winter's worth of beard (and scraggly hair to match). But with the advent of the warm weather (and constantly having small birds nesting in my beard), I decided to clean it up. Della so kindly hacked away at my hair (her second hair cut ever and a pretty dang good one, I'd say).

Yes the mustache is a bit silly/stupid. But what beard post here on BdW hasn't? It's kind of amazing what a change a good haircut and beard trimming can have. More than one person claimed they barely recognized me (which I don't know whether to take as a compliment or not). Anyway, the cycle begins anew. And I, for one, find that comforting.

Saturday May 10 2014

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Kitty Corner Beard

It feels like it's been a long while since I've done a good old ridiculous beard post. That doesn't mean I haven't been creating ridiculous beards, just that they all seem to be repeats of previous ridiculousness that have already been posted here on BdW. Well, this last time around, we* came up with a fun-ish one. The mark of a truly ridiculous beard, in my opinion, is whether one would wear said beard out in public. And while my adventurousness for wearing ridiculous beards in public has grown, it's not nearly to this point.

Speaking of required adventurousness, one's would have to be very high to wear one out in public. Maybe someday. Maybe someday.

Thursday October 3 2013

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Road Face

One of the neat things about traveling is that in another place, you are anonymous. No one knows you and chances are you won't see many of these people again. That introduces a kind of simple freedom, to try out new things or to take a break from habits and expectations people have of you at home. I could wear long pants from the moment I leave the house to the moment I return and no one would say "Whoa, Wren is wearing pants!" Or get drunk every night. But I won't be doing either of these things.

I'm not saying that this lack of anonymity on the home front is a bad thing. I love it that people know me so well that many of my quirks can go unexplained. But it can also be nice to take a break.

Introduce a mustache. I've tried one out here at home once or twice, but never really owned it. Since I was due for a shave before I hit the road, I thought, why not give it a try? The worst that can happen is to have 6 weeks worth of photos with me looking funny. No biggie.

So that's the plan, to see what the world at large thinks of me with a mustache. I'll bring back a full report. In the meantime, I'll be posting from the road. Stay tuned (but try to keep the "crazy mustache" comments to yourself ;-) ).

Wednesday April 10 2013

File under: beard, travel

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Beard Post - Interactive Edition

It has been a really long time since I've made a beard post*. This is partially because I've been bearded more than normal this past year, and partially because I'm having a hard time coming up with new beard art ideas. This time around, however, I thought I try to employ a little technological fanciness for some fun.

The Sweep

The Fade

If you aren't using Internet Explorer, click here to see the fun canvas version. (If you are using Internet Explorer, click here to learn why you're doing it wrong.)

Sunday February 3 2013

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Beardamation

It has been a long time since I've done a true beard post*. In fact, it's been a long time since I've shaved. According to my records, it's been 7.5 months(!) since last semi-respectable Wren graced the world with his presence. Well, to go with my fancy hair cut*, I decided it was time. And since an opportunity like this can't be passed up, we had some fun.

Artistic director Della took control of the camera and the razor. I did the fancy* computer work afterwards to stitch it all together (my first animated .gif, believe it or not.) Anyway, I think it is pretty darn fun. Hope you get a kick out of it too.

Wednesday May 30 2012

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Beard - Pony Boy Edition

It's been a long time since I've done a beard post here at BdW*. The reason is simple: it's been a long time since I've shaved my beard. In fact, this last stint was the longest I've ever gone and I have to say it produced a pretty rad beard*. (The time previous to this with an epically long beard was 8 or so years ago and let me tell you, it was skeeeeeetchy. So sketchy in fact, that the good folks at Cape Kennedy in Florida barely let me by to watch the space shuttle launch*.)

But all good things must come to an end. As always, however, there is fun to be had along the way. My fashion consultant/barber and I came up with a great plan for this shave, but you'll have to wait until all the filming and editing is done before you can see it (hopefully within a week or so). In the meantime, here's a scary picture of the halfway point.

Monday April 2 2012

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Chops Mustache and More

Two notable things about this iteration of Fun In-Between Beard: the mustache/chops/chin beard combination is kind of hard to see because without the shaved part being shaved with a blade, the stubble kind of blends in together making the awesomeness of the beard kind of subtle. Secondly, I like it so much that I've kept it 2 weeks now!

This time around, I was off the hook again for coming up with an idea for FI-BB because I again handed the buzzer off to the guest artist that did such a good job last time. I think she repeated the success with this one.

On a separate beard-related topic, I'm hoping to soon compile 5 years worth of beard pics in to a monster beard post, or maybe even a separate page to better track future beards*. Behind the sleeping around schedule, it is the thing I share most with people. Anyway, I'm sure once it happens, you'll hear about it here first.

Monday October 24 2011

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