To Shave or Not to Shave? That is the question.

Full disclosure, I may be biased: 

This is my beard. There are many others like it, but this one is mine. 

Beards; one of the many depression era styles and habits making a return to the collective US cultural hegemony. Beards in particular reflect this rejection of modernity. A whole generation is coming of age in a world with fewer opportunities than the generation before it.

Consumer culture has taken total control of the modern social discourse. New developments are only as good as their market value. It gets out of control with unnecessary changes increasing the price without an associated increase in end customer value.

Look at the ways men's razors have changed over the past two decades. Few people who actually know what they are talking about, and aren't trying to sell you something, will tell you that 5 or 6 or 12 blades on your razor will give you a better shave than 1 blade can.

It could be argued that these changes were made out of a genuine concern for the consumer, but like organic foods and earth-friendly products the manufacturers are selling you the idea that you're getting something better for the extra money rather than actually giving you something better. If these product were genuinely designed to help the world, then they would be priced out as alternatives to what's already on the market. The problem is as long as people are believe that idea that they are getting a better product when they pay extra money for 5 organic earth friendly blades on their razors, there will continue to be more uselessly marked up products that aren't actually better products than what was previously available.

So how does my beard fit into all this? For me at least, there was partial motivation to reject the needless men's shaving products arms race. Now I know, one less razor sold won't change the world. It won't make any company stop their ridiculous quest to one up the other razor companies and create new ways to jam more amounts of nonsense onto their own line of razors, but I will at least save some money on all those expensive razors and creams.

I can't help thinking this comes off as me trying to make more out of my lack of shaving than there really is to it. I can't remember thinking any of this when I decided to stop shaving, but I always loathed buying new razors and new shaving creams; so although it may not have been a conscious thought, I'm sure it was there someplace though.

My beard has been with me for the better part of the past year, albeit always smaller than it is now. Truth be told when people have asked me why I grow a beard, they don't get an earful about ridiculous razor blade arms races. When I need to explain it to people I fall back to the wise words of  Nick Offerman:

That and it keeps my face warm while I ride my bike.