Career Beard

I have lately been going without shaving. As I may have said at some time recently, it began during that trip to Big Bear. It made little sense to shave on vacation, and moreover it was problematic to shave with the restroom being shared by an awful lot of people. On returning, I reasoned that there was no sense in shaving until something like an audition came up that compelled it, and so I have been letting it grow during a period of idleness.

Being an actor with headshots and audition tapes floating around puts you in a unique position. You depend on your look being a part of how you get auditions and how you win parts (and this, I should say, is the understanding of this humble novice). Consequently, I am not exactly at liberty to do whatever with my appearance as someone else could. Changing way I have my hair is not simply a way of expressing myself differently. It's a career decision.

I never put a lot of thought or effort into it when it was the former, but now that it's the latter, I am more motivated. I have been taking in feedback on the scruff I've had lately, and engaging in terribly serious discussions with trusted friends and such over just how this new look works for me and how it could be cultivated as opposed to have my previously established look (as recorded in headshots and about everything I have on tape).

I have, as yet, made no decisions, but it's evident that adding something of a beard to the mustache I have already could very well be a positive change. As what I have now is several weeks growth, it would be regrettable to get rid of it, promising thought it is. It would not be disastrous though, as would be the cutting of my hair. That would be a far more radical, and probably inadvisable decision, which I am determined not to make for a change.