Folklore: Why do folkies have beards

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Leadbelly
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 01:40 PM

Folkies do have beards because they want to look like pirates, behave like pirates (after boarding/ a gig taking some money and all of the women) and live a life like pirates (from one harbour resp. gig to another). And that's only because a long time ago a folk-song like this was sung: (Yes folks, that's absolutely true, haha!)

Alle die mit uns auf Kaperfahrt fahren

Alle die mit uns auf Kaperfahrt fahren,
das müssen Männer mit Bärten sein
Alle die mit uns auf Kaperfahrt fahren,
das müssen Männer mit Bärten sein
Jan und Hein und Claas und Pit,
die haben Bärte, die haben Bärte
Jan und Hein und Claas und Pit,
die haben Bärte, die fahren mit

Alle die Hölle und Teufel nicht fürchten...

Alle die mit uns das Walroß schlachten...

Alle, die öligen Zwieback kauen...

Alle die mit uns zur Hölle fahren...

Originally from Flanders.

Bearded Fred

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:41 PM

I like a bit of hair round my lips.
G.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Art Thieme
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:03 PM

My father died when I was five years old, so I never had a proper shaving roll model.

For that same reason, I don't wear a tie.
Art

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Art Thieme
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 11:54 AM

At the very least, those of us who have beards have them to keep folks who dislike people who have beards from making our aquaintance.

Art

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Mick Tems
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 04:00 AM

Spot the literal - "in the HOT weather..."

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Mick Tems
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 03:57 AM

I grew a beard two years ago (just like my predecessor!) And while we're on the topic of bearded stereotypes, I was in Ireland just browsing at a village clothes store when something caught my eye. it's really useful - in the cold, it's warm, but in the weather, it's cool. Yes - I love my Aran jumper!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: GUEST,H W Jennings
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:52 AM

I can't grow a decent beard, but once I tried. My father saw it and asked me "why do men try so hard to cultivate on their face, what grows so wild on their a** ?"

I took the hint.

Not knockin 'em. I just can't grow one.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Chip2447
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 11:38 PM

We grow beards so that on those cold hungry nights we can at least have warm soup by steeping our beards and all of their collected foodstuffs in hot water.   MMMMMMM yum!!!

Chip2447(fully bearded, brindled though it be)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: MystMoonstruck
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 09:48 PM

Someone mentioned listing beard songs in order to keep this in the song forum. What about an albumful by a group named The Beards?! Here's a link to their site, where you can listen to the songs:

The Beards and their beard songs!!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure if this appears anywhere, but here's a link to another beard-containing song, "True Blue Bill" aka "Truthful Bill":

TRUE BLUE BILL or TRUTHFUL BILL

Here are lyrics from a children's song:
My Beard Has Three Hairs

My beard has three hairs,
Three hairs has my beard.
If it hadn't three hairs,
Then it wouldn't be my beard.

I know there are many traditional songs that mention beards. I'm thinking of one recorded by Common Stock; I'll have to look for that cassette.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 08:45 PM

"There is already a thread on this: No, Joe F - this is the same thread s the one you linked to...

Of course the question really is "why do so many men shave?" Growing a beard isn't an action, it's refraining from the action of shaving. And a rather peculiar action that is too, when you think of it.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Joe_F
Date: 06 Sep 07 - 08:25 PM

There is already a thread on this:
thread.cfm?threadid=64637#1061343
As mentioned there, an obvious explanation is that people who do not follow fashion in their musical tastes are likely to be people of independent mind & thus likely to ignore fashion in their other cultural choices.

I consider myself a man of independent mind, but candor forbids me to claim that link in my case. I was exposed to folksongs as a child & adolescent, so I was conforming when I sang them. And I eventually grew a beard because (1) when I was little, I wanted to be a kitten, and (2) as I grew older, I came to believe that anything that would have shocked people in 1950 was ipso facto sexy.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Dec 03 - 11:02 PM

Nope. Never been to the Fylde Folk Fest. Must have me confused with another. And yep, thinning out some on top, but still plenty there to keep the brain warm.

Spock! Get outta there!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: GUEST,t'other hand
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 02:08 PM

Cluin - If you are the same? Fylde Folk Festival

       If not - No, or maybe

But isn't every bearded folky is going thin on top?




live long and prosper

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Beverley Barton
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 04:07 AM

Thanks Don, It worked! What a great tip that is for all new beard growers.I tried several hammers and found that a 6pound lump hammer was the most effective.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Don Firth
Date: 01 Dec 03 - 03:15 PM

el ted,

Drive them in with a hammer
And bite them off inside.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Cluin
Date: 01 Dec 03 - 11:10 AM

LH.... nope, not good enough. Turn in your card on the way out.   ;)

Guest, t'other hand... have we met?

el ted.... at least another couple of weeks. I sympathise. My beard, being wiry, grows the same way and I experience the same discomfort for the first few weeks. Not much to do about it, I've found; just gut it out.


I mentioned above that I don't use an electric razor. When I started shaving in my early mid teens, it was with a safety razor. Then I went to using those trac-2 disposable cartridges and disposable Bic-type razors. I have never used a straight razor (mostly because I am fairly hopeless at any kind of sharpening or honing) and wouldn't know how without cutting my throat, I bet. I almost never nick myself with the other kinds, though. How many of you other guys have ever used a straight razor?

And another question. I've never gotten a shave from a barber either. Is it worth it or does anybody even do that anymore?

Actually, an item on my to-do list is to get a shave from an old west style hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold, like you always saw in the old westerns. For a high one, maybe I'll ask my girlfriend to shave me someday (not mentioning the hooker part) since she's a nurse and had a lot of experience.

...now the pleasures of the harbour
   don't include a lady barber
   if it wasn't for Long John Silver
   all of us pirates would've been martyrs...

         High and Dry,   Gordon Lightfoot

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Beverley Barton
Date: 01 Dec 03 - 09:55 AM

I have just spent the last two weeks trying to grow abeard, and it is driving me mad! It is growing back in on itself and stabbing me! how long will it be before it stops itching/stabbing me? Am i just unlucky to be stabbed by my own beard?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Zorg
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 03:48 PM

Since being promoted to a civilian.From when Adam was a boy I have sported, if that is the word,a beard. And I have cheated the razor industry out of many pounds in revenue, also hairdressers.Besides which it hides my weak chin,

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: GUEST,t'other hand
Date: 30 Nov 03 - 02:47 PM

cluin - you've got lovely hair (what's left of it)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 08:00 PM

I think it was Mrs Lemon who asked "WHY do some of you men shave your beards? Why!??"

Well, this is why, in my case:

1. Intial conditioning (at a very young age) formed observing my father every day shaving HIS beard. "Monkey see, monkey do."

2. My admiration as a boy for American Indians and Romans (most of whom were beardless...the Romans shaved, the Indians didn't have beards for some reason).

3. My general like for the look of the clean-shaven man...who was the hero in most comics I read, movies I watched, etc...bad guys often wore beards.

4. The fact that I have a sparse beard that doesn't lend itself to rapid growth.

5. It's a habit.

6. Beard looks cruddy and miserable while growing in, and is bloody uncomfortable too!

Is that good enough?

- LH

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Joybell
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 05:03 PM

I do like to have my morning coffee with a bunch of hairy men. Just like a folk festival! Thanks guys for sharing your descriptions. My hairy feller isn't up this early.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 04:01 PM

Cluin wrote:
it did present the theory to me that the fellow who invented velcro must've been a bearded long-hair like I was.

This is not the kind of thing I'd usually know, but just happened to read yesterday that the fellow who invented velcro (no, I don't remember his name, but I do remember that velcro is an [abbreviated] combination of "velvet" and "crochet"[French for "hook"]) got the idea for it after going on walks in the woods & having to remove burrs from his clothing.

Cheers,

YY

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Dug
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 03:10 PM

I suspect that the person who started this thread was just stirring it.    The 60 hours a year that I would spend shaving every day if I didn't have a beard is spent on more worthwhile activity- sleeping.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Cluin
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 01:51 PM

My beard is pretty coarse and wiry (using an electric shaver is pure torture; it does more pulling than cutting).

When my hair (which is curly too but much finer) was long, and when it wasn't tied back, I was forever pulling the side locks out and away from my beard where they often got hung up. So I started shaving the sides, leaving a goatee with bits extending a bit up the jawline--what I call a "Doctor Quest".

This solved most of the problem of my hair getting hung up in my beard at the time, but it did present the theory to me that the fellow who invented velcro must've been a bearded long-hair like I was.

Hair is much shorter now, but the goat is still there, usually. At the moment though, it's a combo Pancho Villa `stache and soul patch. If I quit shaving today, the beard will be back in about 2 weeks. Seems to be more grey in it each time, tho'...

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Don Firth
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 01:02 PM

Menopause. . . ?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: GUEST,clean as a babies.....
Date: 29 Nov 03 - 10:41 AM

Mary????

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: GUEST,Trimmed Bearded one
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 10:17 AM

Morris-sey - Not true - It takes me far more time shaving around my beard and trimming it than it would do if I didn't have one - I know some let their hairy growths run wild - others don't

Not all "Bearded" ones are lazy - an I object to you saying that they are!


Mary

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Morris-ey
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 10:11 AM

Because they are lazy.

Complete (bodily) hairlessness can be very erotic, for a time, then hairyness becomes the turn on. Variety is the spice of life etc.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: JennyO
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 09:40 AM

I looked around the circle at the session last night on the James Craig, and counted 12 men, 11 of them with beards. 'Nuff said!

Jenny

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: GUEST,The O'Meara
Date: 28 Nov 03 - 07:51 AM

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan
He had whiskers on his chin again
He shaved them off but they grew back in again
Poor old MIchael Finnegan. Begin again

There was an old man named..... (etc.)

O'Meara

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: GUEST,heir today goon tomorrow
Date: 27 Nov 03 - 07:43 PM

Like the darkeness hirsuteness is a natural state to be in.... it's what happens naturally

I remember my days in Bolton when we were reclaiming the right to walk over t' Winter 'Ill - many days we would spend looking for a pub to have a shave but none could be found - we all grew beards - the lads looked rite bonney.

Girt..

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 12:32 PM

After fooling around with goatees, sideburns, moustaches, etc., during my college years (65-69), I quit shaving completely after the final summer that I lived at my parents' house.

I was working in a factory downstairs from where my mother worked in the office. She drove back and forth, and was insistent that I be freshly clean-shaven each morning. Fair enough. Later, she would forbid me to sit at the dinner table because my face was purportedly dirty -- "Go wash your face before you sit at this table!" I would comply, and she would insist that I hadn't scrubbed hard enough. It didn't take long for me to realize that I would have to shave -- for a second time each day! -- to pass her inspection.

I had (and still have) a very pale white complexion, plus a heavy and completely black beard (which has faded to gray by now), so I tended to have a "five o'clock shadow" before lunchtime every day. (Not unlike the late Richard Nixon, one of my least-favorite public figures at the time.)

Needless to say, at the end of that summer when I left for one last year of schooling and then to be off on my own, there was no razor blade among my personal effects.

A couple of years later, I was arrested for draft evasion and would up spending about 11 months as a non-combatant conscientious objector in the US Army, wherein daily shaving was unavoidable. Again, as soon as I was out from under authoritarian rule, I quit shaving and let all my facial hair grow.

I the mid-80s, a partner and I went into business, and as a concession to commercial culture I started shaving my neck and about a square inch on each cheek, giving the full beard a more defined shape and cleaner appearance. I have continued this practice to this day. I can get away with shaving 2-3 times a week (especially since the stubble is not nearly as dark as it used to be.)

I also generally run an electric trimmer over the beard once a week, keeping it about a half-inch long. Since I've begun working/playing as Santa Claus each year, however, I've quit the trimming regime each autumn to grow a longer beard for the holiday season. Last year was my first year; I got the job in early October and quit trimming right away.

This year, I got an earlier start on lengthening my whiskers; my last trim was Labor Day weekend (first weekend of September). The long beard is bugging me like crazy! I don't rememeber being bothered in the least 20-30 years ago, when I let my beard grow indescriminantly, but after keeping it relatively short for so many years, the unaccustomed length is driving me nuts. I might add that it has always been very kinky, and it's impossible to get a comb through it without pulling a few hairs out by the roots! This must be what so many black folks have to put up with their head-hair, and why braids, dreads, and shaven heads are so popular among those of African ancestry.

So, that's everything I have to say about beards, or about my beard anyway. The next quesiton, I suppose, is: Am I a folkie? Maybe not -- but if not, what the hell am I doing here?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Splott Man
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 07:53 AM

It could be an age thing, i.e. that was the trend in our college days. I was watching a video of the Old Grey Whistle Test from 1973 last night:
Bob Harris - full beard
The Who - 2 out of 4
John Martin - full beard
Bob Marley & Wailers - several wispy beards and a thin tash
Average White Band - 2 out of 6
Clifford T Ward - only 1, but the rest of his band looked too young yet
Sensational Alex Harvey Band - exceptionally all clean shaven
Rory Gallagher - 2 lots of mutton chops out of 4

I can't think of a band from that time that didn't have at least one beard in it.

Go on then, come up with a whole list to prove me wrong!

:-)>

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Gurney
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 04:42 AM

Giok, on behalf of the non-PC silent (Well, fairly) majority...

Did you hear the crack that was going around about the meeting of Saddam's body doubles?

"Well, lads, you will be glad to hear that our beloved leader survived the dastardly attempt on his life!!!
The bad news is that he lost an arm...."

Can't remember where I heard it. Maybe even here.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: beardedbruce
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 03:28 PM

... and why would I want to take a sharp knife to my secondary sexual charactoristics?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 01:46 PM

Why do Iraqi men all grow moustaches?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Cos they want to look like their Mother!
,,,
,,,
That's it, the PC police will be after me now!
Giok

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: bill\sables
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 01:02 PM

Having a beard keeps me slim. I don't eat ceram cakes because the cream tended to squish out onto my beard.
Bill

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Schantieman
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 12:59 PM

Hear hear!

I grew my first beard - sorry, stopped shaving for a bit - at the age of 17 during the summer holiday. When I turned up at school for Rugby training the day before term began in September the master-in-charge was less than impressed! It's been on and off since then - even a 'Zapata' moustache while at University - but I reckon it's here to stay. What's the point in shaving?!!

I also echo the points above about sailing, saving time - and sore faces!

Fuzz-faces of the world unite - you have nothing to lose but your razors.

Steve

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: IanC
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 12:18 PM

As a relative youth, I was one of the 'Owd 'Oss Mummers (Nottingham, England). We spent quite a few weekends in the summer camping at various folk festivals and other events where we performed. In the mornings, I would shave in the usual fashion with a safety razor.

One morning, while doing this, I was subjected to a running commentary from my colleagues, which went something like this.

"What's he doing?" ... "Don't know - perhaps it's some peculiar ritual - I saw him do it yesterday." ... "Look, he's rubbing soap all over his face, then he's got some kind of knife and he's scraping it off again." ... "Don't stare, he probably belongs to some wierd religious sect." ... "Most peculiar."

Whilst I ignored them at the time, I thought about it and realised that there was something innately peculiar about this kind of behaviour, even when carried out in the privacy of your own bathroom, so I stopped doing it.

Oddly enough, that's all it takes to have a beard. You don't even have to grow one.

:-)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Cluin
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 11:45 AM

Then there's the fun of snapping off the icicles from the moustache after coming in from shovelling the driveway on a really cold day.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 09:04 AM

The only cleanliness problem I have with my facial hair is mustache drip. Dairy queen swirly cones are the worst. Spaghetti sauce is a close second. Darlin' Wife says I should find out what I'll be eating at my next meal and wear clothes that color.

O'Meara

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Blackcatter
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 12:05 AM

p.s. Clinton, why would a eunuch need to invent shaving?

Maybe it's sorta like working in the garden in winter. It reminds you of better times.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Cluin
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 11:25 PM

Well, as long as there's some theorosophizin' about beards goin' on here, I'll through my Canadian 2 bits ($0.19 US as of noon today) into the kitty.

Considering it takes some pretty good quality metal to hold an edge suitable for shaving, it was probably a costly item in the old days. The cost of the apparatus, combined with the amount of "leisure time" needed to perform the act of shaving, likely meant the option was out of the hands of the poor. So maybe a clean-shaven face, or even moreso, a stylishly shaven facial hair arrangement like a goatee or vandyck, etc. which took more time than just shaving the whole thing off, may have been seen in the beginning as advertising that you were well enough off to be able to shave at all.

Then came the commercialization of shaving... the mass-producing of shaving implements like razors, brushes, lather, lotions, etc. And the advertising of beardlessness, the clean-shaven look being more hygenic and preferable. It was presented as being cleaner ("cleanliness is next to godliness") at a time when bathing more often came into vogue. Spas were springing up all over Europe in a "let's get clean" health craze, due to the discovery of "germs" by medical science. It also helped to sell razors and you could further distance your image from the backwoods dirty rustics who commonly spoerted unkmpt beards. Of course this produced an intellectual backlash and many grew facial hair in defiance of the fashion of the times. But of course they were kept trimmed and clean.

Now today, many still think of beards as being dirt-catchers, food&drink catchers, skin-blemish-hiders and generally less clean, young&healthy looking than those with a more clean-cut visage. This in a day when, if you don't shower at least once daily, you're considered a pig.

So why do folkies have beards?

I think it's because they don't like shaving.



p.s. Clinton, why would a eunuch need to invent shaving?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: GUEST,Vidal
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:42 PM

Because they're worth it....

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Blackcatter
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:24 PM

I stopped shaving 9 years ago - didn't seem like there was any point. Stopped having my hair hacked off 6 years ago - once again, didn't seem to be any point.

Prior to that, I was probably spending $100-$120 a year on haircuts and $60 or so on shaving products. I now have a good pair of scissors that keep my hair in control and a $30 beard trimmer that's going strong for nearly a decade. I've saved probably 50 hours a year by not shaving and occaasionally trimming (do that a few minutes once a week for the parts of the face I still like hair-limited and every couple weeks I spend 10 minutes trimming) and 6 hours a year getting my hair cut.

I've saved approx. $1,100 so far. And figuring that my awake time is worth an average of $10 an hour, total it all up and I'm looking at a grand total of about $5,500 over the past 9 years that I've been able to use for things.

So why does much of mainstream America consider me odd?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Joe_F
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 02:25 PM

Gurney: I have no experience with hand-to-hand combat, and cannot guess how I would counter a man with my beard in one hand (it's a short beard, so it would take a strong finger grip; he would do better to grab my head hair) and a sword in the other. Mackay cites no source for his statement, and it is indeed a plausible guess that he was repeating folklore.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Gurney
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 02:24 AM

Melani, on behalf of hirsute folkies, thank you for that opinion.

Or do you mean they are sex-specific, like bicycles?
(I just realised that that dates me!)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Melani
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 01:46 AM

Beards are sexy. End of discussion.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: Naemanson
Date: 23 Nov 03 - 07:51 PM

Because we're too lazy (or busy) to shave.

By the by, I grew mine before I became a folkie. I have been bearded since 1972 (or maybe 1973). I had to spend most of a year clean shaven for a job in 1981 but have kept my chin properly covered since then.

Mind you, I did shave my head earlier this year. But it was too much effort to keep it so. See first remark above, i.e., too lazy!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Why do folkies have beards
From: GUEST,Topcat
Date: 23 Nov 03 - 07:47 PM

Well done everyone, and not just defensive males but the ladies have excelled themselves with appraisal of their preferences. I think Yorkshire Yankee produced a sound explanation of the "retro-beards" who took up the anarchic cause in the mid sixties and one rebelled by alternative dress code and facial hair. There is of course many aspects of image defining cults,tattoos are an obvious diversity,and
rarely seen amongst folkies.Bald oiled heads and wobbly flab and beefcake present equally with work-out weight trimmed bodies in the heavy metal fraternity. The executive and "clean cut" image of the white collar worker again defines what we expect. I recently had a stay in hospital and the young registrar who breezed into my pre-op room was a cool,hip dude who bedecked with pony tail and facial piercings did give me an identity crisis. We are after all tribal in our need for social acceptance. Image after all is everthing!.
This thread has provided some unusual and illuminating insights into the perceptions of a broad focus group.
Thanks to all
Topcat