Filou wrote:
What an awesome and inspiring beard you have! I am wondering what motivates any man growing out such a mane. I have been sporting a rather short and professional beard and been going through terrible bouts about having a big and untrimmed beard. I do not care anymore and I do feel the envy of growing a bigger beard. I need support and such epic growers as you can provide some support. I'm in it now and wonder what the result will be. Your beard proves that anyone can get satisfaction . Cheers

Thank you, Filou. Motivation for bearding can run the gamut from being too lazy to shave, being ardently independent, to being adventurous and daring. Circumstances may dictate certain norms, but opportunity plays a role for some of us also. Your beard is growing out very well, and you can and will enjoy the results at whatever length you choose to maintain. Even long beards do mature with time as the length of sideburns, neck beard, cheeks, and moustache catch up with each other and balance differently with trimming style.

Just in the last two haircuts, I've had Jeremy trim up the length below my chin but keep the width along the sideburns, and this has created the illusion for some that my beard is bigger, when it is only proportioned differently. I'd never have known that would happen if I had been constantly trimming instead of letting it all grow out untrimmed for several months at a stretch.

Enjoy the journey, Filou. You are already in good company.

Triibeard's Thirty-NINE years of being bearded    (The recent journey from a short- to a long-beard)
Introducing LEGO-Sheriff Triibeard     (The origin story for our polymeric polychromatic hero)
Sheriff Triibeard and The Case of the Missing Beard Balm   (In search of that scoundrel RiffRaff)
Sheriff Triibeard and the Hermit Hoarder    (Consequences of acquisitiveness)

In a world of shorn faces, it is our privilege to offer those around us the exquisite opportunity to know a gentleman with a beard.