Scruff.
On a daily basis, most men encounter and eventually cope with this constant annoyance; the scratchy, wiry, sometimes patchy hair that appears on a man’s face after days or even hours without shaving.
Men across the country and world spend countless dollars trying to tackle and tame scruff. There is, however, one inexpensive, easy technique in conquering the clutches of scruff: just don’t.
Why pacify something that naturally wants to be part of your face?
More and more often, men are deciding to put down the razor and groom and edge the shrubbery growing around their chin. There is a new style of professionalism that promotes sporting a well-groomed beard. It is commonplace to see men garbed in fine suits, shorts, slicked-back hair and a five o’clock shadow trimmed into a comfortable, precise beard.
Lengthier beards are also making their way into this developing trend. Long and full beards are works of art today and therefore are recognized as not only acceptable but professional.
This was not the case 20 or so years ago. It was considered professional to be clean-shaven each day without a spec of a whisker. The five o’clock shadow was viewed as a manifestation of the rigorous and tiresome work a man had completed and was erased to start fresh another day.
This escalated to such a degree that if a man walked into work or public place with stubble, people would assume he was in some sort of emotional distress. Movies even depicted a stressed-out man being relaxed by a nice clean shave.
Nowadays, men own their scruff and display the fruits of their manhood through a well-kept beard. This is simple to do.
The hardest part of maintaining a beard is knowing where and how to trim. While it varies in the type of beard, usually a beard can be trimmed slightly below the jawline but not too far as to avoid the dreaded neck beard. After a little experimentation, the perfect trim can be executed daily with ease.
There are also hair products that can be used to facilitate a good-looking beard. I recently have started using Argan oil in my beard to tame the whiskers so that it looks slightly fuller and clean.
The most important part of maintaining a beard to be proud of is finding the style that fits you and sticking with it.
While I support taking risks, not everyone can pull off every beard or mustache style. The easiest way to find out what style is right for you is to shave your entire face. Then let your stubble grow how it naturally wants to, and after a couple of weeks, just barely tweak what is already there by edging and trimming around the jawline
It’s time for men to stop looking like oversized boys and take some chances with the way they look. A solid beard or mustache can be an incredible compliment to an otherwise complete outfit.
If the first thing someone looks at is your face, why not have something that sets you apart
instantaneously?
Michael Tarver is a 20-year-old mass communication junior from Houma, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @michael_T16.

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Karen Welsh