tell me about yourself, where are you from and what’s you current occupation, other than being a awesome bearded father? Well, let’s see. Here are some basics: I’m 36. I was born in Independence, MO. I spent most of my childhood growing up in coastal Oregon and then southern California primarily living with with my Mom before moving to Georgia with my Dad starting in 8th grade (my parents divorced when I was about 4 but still have a good relationship). I have been living in GA ever since and have been in Savannah for the last 12+ years. I am a licensed Professional Engineer and a LEED Accredited Professional. I work as an environmental consultant for a small to mid-sized civil engineering firm. I got the job straight out of school in 2001 and have been there ever since. I like my work but I have always said that I work so that I can enjoy my time off. I could never be called a workaholic (although that show is hilarious).
what are the things you fill your time off with? Mostly spending time with my daughter. She has such an imagination it takes all I’ve got to keep up with her. Luckily, she usually tells me exactly what we are playing and what to say. And of course, I spend a good bit of time blogging about all the amazing things she does on Tumblr. She is definitely the best thing that ever happened to me.
My beard blog, themostinterestingbeard, is named after my Youtube video “The Most Interesting Beard in the World”, which I made as a spoof of the Dos Equis commercials. That was what really sparked my interest in video editing and I have fun putting together amateur video and photo projects when I have some free time.
I am a student of Aikido and have been since 2006. I have my 3rd Kyu rank and recently started teaching a kids Aikido class at my daughters gymnastics school once a week. I love the principals of Aikido. It is Ai, Ki, Do, “The Way of Harmony with Spirit”. Aikido sometimes gets accused of being choreographed in demonstrations and ineffective in a “real fight”. And it is difficult explaining to people why it would be effective in a self-defense situation but not in a contest such as MMA. People tend to think that MMA is like a real fight and it is pretty close if you are fighting with someone over honor or pride. They then conclude that since no one ever uses Aikido in MMA, that it wouldn’t work in real life. But the thing is, in Aikido, you never initiate the attack and you would never be in a real fight, because then you would actually be agreeing to fight instead of agreeing to be in harmony with someone who wishes to attack you. Yes, in Aikido you agree to be in harmony with your attacker. Even if that means talking them down, walking away, giving them what they want, or blending with an attack and redirecting it’s energy to neutralize it - if you have to. It does not mean trying to avenge your honor or to see who is tougher.
I also enjoy playing the guitar, camping, backpacking, snowboarding, video games (Rock Band especially), watching movies and listening to music (really all kinds), and all sorts of other things that I rarely get to do anymore.
I’ve followed your blog for a while. i really enjoy it especially your relationship with your daughter, its adorable. From what I’ve seen she likes your beard pretty well. How about the students you have in Aikido or maybe even the parents? Yes, my daughter has learned from Mommy, that she can pull me in for a kiss by pulling on my beard. She has never seen me without a beard (and neither has my wife, for that matter). She definitely notices when I trim it pretty short but she doesn’t freak out, thank goodness. My wife is my biggest beard supporter and loves it when I let it grow out. I’m not sure what my Aikido students or parents really think about The Beard. As far as I can tell, they just accept the beard without really even thinking about it. I did ask them one time if they could picture me without a beard and they all shook there heads no, like that was crazy talk.
I get compliments or questions on the street every now and then. The while back, a young bald faced ticket taker at the movies said “epic beard, man” as I was handing him my ticket. He had a pretty epic fro so I returned the compliment.
I had a gas station attendant ask me “so, your job doesn’t require you to shave” and all I could think was to laugh and tell him I grew it out slowly so they didn’t notice. I mean, I do (or did) get a lot of comments and teasing about my beard at work, since I work in a professional setting where most people are fairly conservative and almost no one has a beard and certainly none longer than an inch. I get away with it though and they just think I’m the hippie, tree-hugging, liberal, environmental engineer. In meetings, I have actually been introduced by someone saying, “this is our environmental engineer, as you can tell by the beard”.
Neither daughter or wife has seen you without a beard, how have you been a bearded man? I’m envious that you get say something like that. I hope they same for myself, when/if i get married. Do people ask to touch your beard, there’s gotta be at least one person bold enough to ask. or perhaps you’ve encountered an individual bold enough go in for a brush unannounced?The last time I was bald faced was about 17 years ago when I was 19 and worked at Wendy’s. They made me shave. Since then, I mostly kept it trimmed pretty short up until 2008 when I decided to start growing it out for a freak show themed Halloween party. I went as the bearded lady. I got so much love for The Beard that I decided to grow it out for a year. The Beard has been trimmed back a few times since then but never as short as I used to keep it. I don’t get many people who ask to touch it. People usually ask if it itches or how long I’ve been growing it. The vice principal of my company did reach out and give it a chin scratch one time and asked me if I was going to grow it forever. Awkward! Great thing is, I let it grow so long the first time I grew it out, now they are happy I trim it at all!
What kind of beard care regimen do you have? If you had to guess what your vice principal thought after he gave you that scratch what do you think went through his head after he touched your beard? I don’t do much as far as a regimen. I usually just wet it and use a widely spaced hard bristle brush to tame it in the mornings. I wash it about once a week with whatever shampoo I have. I usually trim up the mustache whenever I cut my hair, which I do myself with clippers. I am all about low maintenance and not having to shave regularly is one of the main reasons I love having a beard. I’m pretty sure my boss was thinking “He really is never going to cut this thing.” Oh, and I also realized that I meant to write “vice president” not “vice principal”. Wow, I spent too much time in school.
I thought that wasn’t right, haha. a final question and then you’ll get a chance to share whatever you feel like sharing with TDB followers about yourself/life/etc. what’s your favorite thing about your beard? Let’s see… My favorite physical attribute of my beard is the color. I like that it has so many colors from platinum to gold and reds (no gray yet but looking forward to it). I like the way it glistens in the sunlight. My favorite thing to do with my beard is to stroke it. With my left hand, my thumb on one side of my mouth and the fingers on the other, down from the mustache and then up from underneath. Repeat. My favorite thing about having a beard is probably not having to shave, as I have mentioned before. Though the opportunity to be part of the bearded blogging community is pretty sweet too. I must admit that it has become a defining feature. My wife has amazing dreadlocks and people would always remember her, if they had met her before, and others would just randomly stop her on the street to talk to her about them. Now I know what it is like.
Thank you so much for your interest in my blogs and for sharing all the worlds great beards. Mine may not be the biggest or the best but it has been interesting.
You can follow John on his tumblr: The Most Interesting Beard& Father of the Beard