Hey, Tom! 

This may seem funny, but I did not recognize you at the last photo I was looking through your pictures, ... going to work, very neat appearance, good... handle-bars, nice, very nice, very becoming handle-bars... oh, what's this, who is this, why is the picture here... Surprisingly to me, this is you, my brother, not bearded you. What a stunning change have happened to you, definitely the change to the better! Keep it on, don't listen to anybody (except us guys from this Board), and you will be fine! 

Your beard seems to be already almost established, and I hope the Pillars of the Board will offer you an option to transfer your thread to the Short Beards section soon. You do really deserve it! 

At last, sorry for some technical advice. In order not to miss anything at the threads you like, there is a nice possibility here to be subscribed to them. Just look at the Quick Reply window, and at the bottom you find the Subscribe to this topic box, tick it off. Hey Presto! Now you will be receiving notifications via e-mail on all posts added to your chosen threads.  

Have a nice weekend, but do not play too much poker though, it might be dangerous for your beard

There is no reason not to grow a beard!