Facial Hair

This is a subject that I am "faced" with every morning. Not that I always do or think anything about it, but being a well groomed semi-thoughtful creature, I am uncontrollably compelled to do both.

The question is "does a person's personality dictate the kind of facial hair he has, or does his natural or acquired grooming habits shape the way he interacts with society?".

The simple answer, like the answer to so many other questions like these, is "both". Arguing that only one of the options is true will leave you in the position where it is possible for the other side to prove themselves partially true, which makes you wrong. So the question for me is not which statement is false, but in what ways and to what extent is each true.

I strongly believe that each of us has free will and the power to change our destiny from one inevitable fate to another. Just as we choose how we groom. But our fate is also largely controlled by things we don't make decisions about, like habits and being on "auto pilot". You cannot pretend that making a firm decision will change your fate and at the same time think that a firm indecision has no or little effect.

Now applying that to face fur. We see people who are or want to be a certain way, with their facial hair reflecting that image. Take a young business executive compared to the guy that works at the pawn shop, for an example. These men do choose to reflect the stereotype image of what lifestyle they live. Their facial hair alone did not make them what they are, but do you think that the business man would have been given all the same opportunities had he looked like the pawn shop guy? And do you think that muggers in the pawn shop part of town would even think twice about knocking off a skinny baby-butt faced guy behind a counter? This shows the coexistence of both affecting others' reactions, and just being yourself.

But what about those people who don't follow stereotypes and get away with it? Those tattooed long haired bearded fellas that have high pitched voices and laugh at corny jokes. They're out there, trust me. They are essentially fighting to be understood by people in an unnatural way, actually getting to know them. But it is not possible for everyone to know everyone. That is why we have stereotypes, for that good reason. So the people who are breaking the stereotypes are either wannabees who just can't escape who they are, people who just have to be nonconformist, or those who just don't give a crap or are too lazy to change because they're in a habit on auto pilot. But as life has taught me, it could very well be a combination of any or all of these.

You may or may not know that I have never shaved my mustache, ever. Nor have I had it shaved. Which makes me wonder if there is another type that is not too lazy or/and looking for attention, but is in fact too scared to shave because he knows not what he himself would look like if he changed.

So I wonder, what type am I? What type of person are you?


-Darryl Crist

Addition by Ralph van den Berg: (29 June 2008)
I thought it would be very interesting to get to know Darryl a bit better and increase our understanding of what he's actually written through the following photos of him.




Hope you'll laugh...