It didn’t take long for Covid to throw off a lot of things about life. Some of it wasn’t so great (I’m looking at you, toilet paper and hand soap shortages), but for our family, there were some memorable moments that we remember fondly. Like, Jack’s Covid beard.
When Jack truly committed to growing out his beard to see what would happen, he had grandiose ambitions of a handlebar mustache and a pointy beard tickling his belly button. Fun fact: everybody’s hair has a predetermined length that it’ll grow, otherwise we’d have Rapunzels left and right. The longer Jack let his hairy face go wild, the more apparent it was when it’d reached its limit. His beard grew about five inches, then quit. His mustache? Other than curling around his lip, it didn’t grow much more than to serve as a soup strainer.
Since the girls had never seen Jack with much more than the occasional scruff, they found it HILARIOUS to decorate his beard. First attempt, it was baby nubbins that were color coordinated…
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| Sneezing butterflies. |
Peter also probably doesn’t remember Jack clean-shaven since he was a toddler when Jack started, and Adam was born at the height of Jack’s beard mania. We’re interested to see what Adam thinks of Jack once the beard is shorn. I mean, there won’t be anything to rip off Jack’s face. It’s entirely possible Adam will be severely disappointed at the change.
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| Jack taking an evening stroll with his homemade leather blanket. |
One of the things I learned as Jack grew out his beard is that there’s a whole beard care culture out there. Jack’s sister sent him a box of beard wash and beard essential oils with names like Rogue Sleuth and Tavern Brute… er, something manly like that. Point is, Jack has never worn cologne a day of our married life, but hair oils, balms, pomades, washes, moisturizes? Yes, please! Every day, I was consulted about which I preferred–there were sage and leather scents to pine and baby powder, which, after so many children, is not what I want to smell on my husband’s face. There was definitely a learning curve to this new avenue of styling, though. As Jack grew his hair on his chinny-chin-chin, the hair atop his head also needed appropriate styling gel to keep it out of his eyes. With some trial and error, he learned to style his hair in an attractive swoop which was an appropriate look for everything from date night to road trips to church to mushroom hunting.
Jack asked friends and family to vote on their favorite (slightly ridiculous) beard style, and he committed to wear it for a week. Most people, the more cringey, the better. It takes a confident man to sport a beard that looks silly. At the end of the popular vote, The Sparrow (as in Jack Sparrow, the pirate) won. Side note: it was HILARIOUS how much Kate resisted him shaving his beard into The Sparrow. It’s one thing to wear the look yourself, it’s a totally other thing to be the daughter of the man who’s wearing The Sparrow, I guess. 😆
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| Is it just me, or did Jack look kind of sad to be shaving his beard? 😅 |
It took me about half an hour to cut his hair and shave his beard, then Claire braided his itty-bitty, wiry beard hairs into twin braids. Surprisingly, the look suits him. Or maybe, not surprisingly. He has the cheekbones for the Jack Sparrow look. It will be a temporary look, just so he has time to share in the laugh with everyone who was invested in the changing of his beard, then he’ll go back to clean shaven for a while. Who knows? The beard (or a goatee or The Klingon or a Monkey Tail or a Soul Patch…) might show up later. For now, au revoir, beard. You marked an era of interesting times for our family!
