Movember - Social Interaction - Help

[AceAngel]

Hey to all,

(Backstory)
I was wondering if the good folks over here could lend me a hand for some things which are coming up (apologize if the thread is the wrong section, couldn't decide between General or Advice section).

I will be having a small meetup with a couple of friends and other people outside said circle, smack in the middle of November.

Some of the guys I know of, have had certain issues in their family, namely depression and cancer, are going to be there, and in terms (and reasons of solidarity) me and a couple of other guys decided to grow our beards for Movember.

(Short TL;DR)
Here are my questions to the above stuff:

1- Beards, now I never grew a full fledged beard in my life, I tend to shave alot, every 6 days, I MUST shave, or else I feel like a blitz if coming down in my beard. It's get's very itchy, it looks messy, and it's becomes a magnet for bacteria, so basically my question is:
(A) How do I stop the itch.
(B) How do I control the mess.
(C) How can I stop it becoming a fungal battleground.
(D) How do I groom it properly.

2- Secondly, I tend to be a very Introverted guy, so this means in social interactions, I'm always tired, as I feel I'm giving out all of my energy, so by the time I'm in the 2nd hour of whatever intercourse I'm in, I feel like I'm about to fall asleep, if not, my interactive capabilities are fallen drastically. To this regard, what is the best way to:
(A) Always be active/full of energy and not tired.

Much appreciated for any help, cheers and ciao.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Hey to all,

(Backstory)
I was wondering if the good folks over here could lend me a hand for some things which are coming up (apologize if the thread is the wrong section, couldn't decide between General or Advice section).

I will be having a small meetup with a couple of friends and other people outside said circle, smack in the middle of November.

Some of the guys I know of, have had certain issues in their family, namely depression and cancer, are going to be there, and in terms (and reasons of solidarity) me and a couple of other guys decided to grow our beards for Movember.

(Short TL;DR)
Here are my questions to the above stuff:

1- Beards, now I never grew a full fledged beard in my life, I tend to shave alot, every 6 days, I MUST shave, or else I feel like a blitz if coming down in my beard. It's get's very itchy, it looks messy, and it's becomes a magnet for bacteria, so basically my question is:
(A) How do I stop the itch.
(B) How do I control the mess.
(C) How can I stop it becoming a fungal battleground.
(D) How do I groom it properly.

2- Secondly, I tend to be a very Introverted guy, so this means in social interactions, I'm always tired, as I feel I'm giving out all of my energy, so by the time I'm in the 2nd hour of whatever intercourse I'm in, I feel like I'm about to fall asleep, if not, my interactive capabilities are fallen drastically. To this regard, what is the best way to:
(A) Always be active/full of energy and not tired.

Much appreciated for any help, cheers and ciao.

Being an extrovert, I can't really help you with the second part, but I can give you beard advice.

First of all, when you say you have to shave every six days: do you mean you can go that long without looking scruffy, or that you've just never gone past that point because of the itch? Because you're not going to get a very respectable beard unless you're shaving daily to begin with.

Basicaly, all of your questions fall under the same answer: keep it clean. It should be a no-brainer, but I'm guessing some people don't do this. While it's short, wash it with the rest of your face, using whatever soap you've got. If it ever gets long enough to shampoo and condition it, go ahead and do that, too. Incidentally, the itchiness will calm down a lot by the time it's a quarter of an inch thick, and be pretty much gone by the time it hits a half inch. You're always going to be scratching occasionally (just like every other part of your body), but it shouldn't have a constant background itch to it, and it really shouldn't be burning with the pain of a thousand firey suns.

Oh, as for proper grooming: Figure out which parts you want to grow out, and keep it trimmed just to that. A comb can help, but not until it gets a lot longer than you're going to be at any time soon. By the time a brush helps, it's probably been years since you last saw your chin.

 

[similar.squirrel]

If bacteria are the problem, introduce a culture of Penicillium chrysogenum. That's all I can offer. 1am, working on mycology reports. Blegh.

 

[Dags90]

While it's short, wash it with the rest of your face, using whatever soap you've got.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa.

You should not be using soap on your face.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

While it's short, wash it with the rest of your face, using whatever soap you've got.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa.

You should not be using soap on your face.

Pray tell, what should you be using? Even those facial scrubs are just overgrown soap. You have to wash your face sometime, and soap does the job. It's only bad for you if you're using a harsh soap, like, four times a day. Washing it when you shower is kind of recommended.

Edit: Soap, bodywash, whatever you use to wash your body, I guess is what I should have said. Soap is a bit harsh on /hair/, but until the beard is long enough to shampoo, it still needs to be washed. There's absolutely nothing wrong with using soap on your /skin./

 

[AceAngel]

First of all, when you say you have to shave every six days: do you mean you can go that long without looking scruffy, or that you've just never gone past that point because of the itch?

Basicaly, all of your questions fall under the same answer: keep it clean. It should be a no-brainer, but I'm guessing some people don't do this. While it's short, wash it with the rest of your face, using whatever soap you've got. If it ever gets long enough to shampoo and condition it, go ahead and do that, too. Incidentally, the itchiness will calm down a lot by the time it's a quarter of an inch thick, and be pretty much gone by the time it hits a half inch. You're always going to be scratching occasionally (just like every other part of your body), but it shouldn't have a constant background itch to it, and it really shouldn't be burning with the pain of a thousand firey suns.

Oh, as for proper grooming: Figure out which parts you want to grow out, and keep it trimmed just to that. A comb can help, but not until it gets a lot longer than you're going to be at any time soon. By the time a brush helps, it's probably been years since you last saw your chin.

Itch is the answer, can't get past the 6 day mark without scratching it every 10 seconds. So I'm guessing I have to endure it till my beard stop poking me in the background?

Also, thanks for the extra info.

If bacteria are the problem, introduce a culture of Penicillium chrysogenum. That's all I can offer. 1am, working on mycology reports. Blegh.

I did not see that one coming, ha!

While it's short, wash it with the rest of your face, using whatever soap you've got.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa.

You should not be using soap on your face.

Pray tell, what should you be using? Even those facial scrubs are just overgrown soap. You have to wash your face sometime, and soap does the job. It's only bad for you if you're using a harsh soap, like, four times a day. Washing it when you shower is kind of recommended.

Edit: Soap, bodywash, whatever you use to wash your body, I guess is what I should have said. Soap is a bit harsh on /hair/, but until the beard is long enough to shampoo, it still needs to be washed. There's absolutely nothing wrong with using soap on your /skin./

Ah yes, that makes more sense. I tend to use everyday soap, which causes my skin to even more itchy, so that makes sense.

Thanks guys, keep those points coming!

 

[Dags90]

Pray tell, what should you be using? Even those facial scrubs are just overgrown soap. You have to wash your face sometime, and soap does the job. It's only bad for you if you're using a harsh soap, like, four times a day. Washing it when you shower is kind of recommended.

Edit: Soap, bodywash, whatever you use to wash your body, I guess is what I should have said. Soap is a bit harsh on /hair/, but until the beard is long enough to shampoo, it still needs to be washed. There's absolutely nothing wrong with using soap on your /skin./

The skin on your face is thinner and more sensitive than the skin on your body. Thus, you should use a gentler detergent, which generally won't be "soaps", something more like fatty alcohols.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Pray tell, what should you be using? Even those facial scrubs are just overgrown soap. You have to wash your face sometime, and soap does the job. It's only bad for you if you're using a harsh soap, like, four times a day. Washing it when you shower is kind of recommended.

Edit: Soap, bodywash, whatever you use to wash your body, I guess is what I should have said. Soap is a bit harsh on /hair/, but until the beard is long enough to shampoo, it still needs to be washed. There's absolutely nothing wrong with using soap on your /skin./

The skin on your face is thinner and more sensitive than the skin on your body. Thus, you should use a gentler detergent, which generally won't be "soaps", something more like fatty alcohols.

If we're getting pedantic, you can't buy real "soaps" in stores; they're all detergents. Real soap is made out of lye and animal fat, and if anything, is probably gentler than the detergents.

 

[Dags90]

If we're getting pedantic, you can't buy real "soaps" in stores; they're all detergents. Real soap is made out of lye and animal fat, and if anything, is probably gentler than the detergents.

Irish Spring uses sodium tallowate, which is "soap" soap. A fair amount of bar soaps use tallowate. It's fairly cheap to buy the tallow from slaughterhouses, and it's easier to make it into a solid. A win win.

And skin care is srs bsns.

Surprisingly apropos captcha:

Which of the ionic surfactants is "stronger" is sort of a moot question, because the concentration will be variable. Fatty alcohols are an altogether different class of surfactants.