dbindc and Ol Grizz, thank you for that my finely bearded gents!

Ginjah, thank you!  No, right now I can't imagine ever going back but, then again, I never imagined while wearing a short beard or (perish the thought!) no beard, that I'd ever have something like this hanging on my face and, much less, be utterly ass-over-teakettles with it!  So, for the foreseeable future I'm continuing to grow it out.  On the color pattern, it's not that the old growth (hmmmm) is lighter than the new, it's that my mustache and upper cheeks still have pigment whereas the lower cheeks and chin have gone grey.  Since the latter grow longer, at least in my case, it gives the impression that my beard bleaches as it gets longer.  I actually had someone ask me once if I bleached it to get that pattern!

It's grand, indeed, metallic1.  Thank you for that!  Beard ties, at least for me, are something I couldn't do without now.  Try picking up a pack of transparent ones at Walmart or some similar store.  You get 400 or so (no exaggeration there!) for a couple of bucks!  You'll be amazed at what a tie can do to keep your beard from wandering into things like dinner.

Thank you, gato!  The feeling is mutual.  On the coat/hat combo, chalk it up to blind luck.  I got the coat in the Cotswolds years ago and the cap is Harris Tweed.  Thankfully all parties concerned are on good terms these days

Arsenio, thanks for dropping in!  Yeah, it's definitely a transformation.  I look back regularly and ask why it took so long

Hey , webwzrd, I think there are a few things at play here.  First, when I wear my beard without the braid it takes a MUCH larger bead or band to contain it.  For that I use one of the elastic bands I mentioned in my reply to metallic1 above.  I simply stretch the band between two fingers on one hand, coax the beard to a point, and whip on the band very near the bottom.  Th elastic band does all the work in that case.  When I wear the braid the hair is already packed well enough that a bead can fit without damage (at least I hope).  That's when I thread it through using the floss as I mentioned.  I must say too that your beard looks denser at the bottom than mine (read loads of jealousy here) so you may need a bigger bead than I anyway.  The bead you see me wearing in these photos has a 5/16" opening.   I simply braid the bottom couple of inches of my beard, pull it through with the floss, and then slide the bead up, place the holder where I want the bead to sit, slide the bead back down, and I'm done.  When I braid my full beard it's a different matter entirely as that requires either a very loose, big tie - about 1" in diameter - or that I braid it down to something that can accommodate a bead near the end, the latter of which still needs a pretty big bead compared to what you see in the photo.

Cheers!
Tom


Some helpful links:
Library Central of Beard Growing


Taming the Wild Mustache
Tips for eating and drinking with a big mustache

Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. ~ W. Somerset Maugham
A jerk with a beard is just a bearded jerk, but a bearded gentleman is awesomeness personified. ~ Triibeard
Last Edited By: Tom E Nov 3 15 1:44 AM. Edited 2 times.