I recently tried an experiment. It wasn't conducted in lab and I definitely didn't follow the Scientific Method that I used to teach kids in OE (Outdoor Education).
I only used 2 things: a razor and some confidence.
Relax, all my skin is intact and I'm not having suicidal thoughts up here on Tick Hill.
After participating in No-Shave-November, my beard was really starting to get to me. But instead of shaving it all off and fitting in nicely with society, I decided to try out the "Fu Manchu". My goal was to see if people would take me seriously with this trimmed set of Handle Bars on my face. I didn't change anything else about myself. I wore the same clothes and acted normal. Here's what I discovered:
- People stared.............a lot. You would have thought I had two arms growing out of my nostrils with some of the intense glances I got.
- It doesn't fit with my job. I deal primarily with Youth Pastors, who are infamous for the Soul Patch, Goatee, Chin Straps, etc. But the Fu screams out, I'M LIVIN ON THE EDGE!!
- Other than Cops and Truck Drivers, no one else had one........which made me stick out like a traffic cone.
- People thought I was joking at first, but when they saw that I was serious about it, situations got awkward. Classic example of a Snickers commercial, "Want to get away?"
The only other time I've felt out of place was when I went to Kenya for a month and little black kids would stare at me and tug at any kind of hair within reach. I felt more like a God than anything else. They were fascinated. But evidently I took it too far in the Northeast Corner of Oklahoma, where cut off shirts and mullets still reign supreme.