DMcG -- I had much the same experience with my wife. With her, however, it wasn't a request as such. I was, at the time, in the habit of not bothering to shave if I wan't booked somewhere on a particular day. That was sometimes three or four unshaven. One day she asked me,"Are you going to get serious about that beard or are just going to sit around being scratchy for the rest of our lives?"

I grew the beard.

Stephen