307 Hours Later

Not long after 9/11 I shaved my full beard and kept my face clean shaven after that day. I did this because a friend of mine wanted to see my face and one day I got a free Mach 3 razor in the mail. So I said change is good.

I still have the razor, only the second razor I've ever had in my life. The other one was the razor the US Air Force gave me when I went to basic training in San Antonio in March 1969. It was the old fashion double edge single blade razor. I still have it too.

But since shaving my beard in the fall of 2001 I got tired of shaving and didn't want to grow a beard again, so in July 2005 I decided to go through electrolysis to remove my facial hair. Yes, it's painful and takes a long time.

The time was an hour a week from July 2005 to March 2011 and then every two weeks from then to now. And today, after 307 hours of electrolysis, I'm done and will never have to shave again. Well, sorta'.

I still have to go back occasionally for awhile because regrowth is normal, the first 20 minutes or so for the last 2-3 years was removing regrowth. But now regrowth is all I have left which will dimish to only a few times a year.

And while you say it's not "manly" not to have facial hair, a lot of men don't have much facial hair and many more, especially those in some cultures or ethnicities, have little if any facial hair. And now I never have to deal with a razor again in the morning.

And that's far cooler.