Saint Patrick: Ireland's Beard of Lore and Miracles

by Bill Alley, Broadcast Host, Producer and Beard Advocate

To think: One of the most famous figureheads of all time, from Ireland, a Catholic Saint to which many attributions flow...had a magnificent Beard.

Ireland’s most famous man, being a 5th century AD fellow, appears a bit different due to various artists’ imagination, but the Beard is always there with him throughout.

One of the stand-out likenesses in stained glass of Saint Patrick is found at Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California.

Part of the lore of this highly regarded saint and bishop swirled around a capture he suffered when in his teens, carried away from his boyhood home in Britain by Irish pirates to work on a farm before escaping several years later to return to family. Destiny was to have Patrick return to the area as his conversion to Catholicism led to his ordinance and to encourage conversion of the local Celts practicing pantheistic deity.

This Beard is highly revered for many documented church events, including the vanishing of snakes; a staff which blossomed; sizable conversions of princes and wealthy women to the Catholic faith. He was well noted for not accepting payment for performance of baptisms and other religious rites which did not sit well with kings and nobles; this led to several harsh captures, torments and even the threat of execution—all incidents eventually reversed.

Thanks to Patrick the Shamrock’s three round leaves (a part of his teaching of the faith) became the symbol of Ireland itself. Considering the spread of his name to churches, parades and celebrations of Irish history in countless Christianized nations, this Beard's legacy endures and prevails as large as the nation itself.

The church where I received infant baptism is named Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, still operational today in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

Origin of the Beard

Charles Darwin, born in 1809, was an English geologist and naturalist and is perhaps one the most influential figures in human history that ever lived. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection. His book On the Origin of Species caused a worldwide controversy when it was published in 1871.

Brush or Comb? It’s Personal

by Bill Alley, Broadcast Host, Producer and Beard Advocate

Talk to anyone with facial hair that needs grooming and you'll get every opinion possible about the kind of brush or comb (or both) to use. Wide tooth, the pick, horsehair embedded on wood, even fingers and a dryer – all can get the groom job done. But, could you change your grooming routine for the better with your tools? It really depends on the baseline factors of your whisker makeup. Those hairs are th best map to determine how you brush, what you use to style, and when to cleanse.

Brush: The density of the tool determines what effect you'll expect to get. Horsehair (the stiff real hairs found on natural wood brushes, typically) get high marks from users for being the most natural way for hair oil to “match” as your oils bond to the brush; it acts like a refiner and polisher that keeps whisker integrity. It is best to have moistened whiskers for best results.

If you are needing a looser “tooth” brush, there are many composite and plastic types available. For thick and stiff beards and hair needing 'fluff' volumizing this brush is best; gently agitating the undergrowth of your beard allows whiskers to 'breathe' and stretch. Your brush also retains some of the oils natural to your face, but it will be necessary to cleanse the instrument at least once a month due to build-up of oil and product on the brush.

Combs: Wooden, or Plastic? Again, natural wood has the ability to absorb your natural facial oils where plastic will eventually look dull after several weeks of continual use. Gentlemen are more about combing than brushing overall due to the ease of portability. The moustached among us have the option of specialized moustache combs which are great for keeping short and medium whiskers meticulous.

So, what's best? Try the brush or comb for a month and see how your whiskers respond. If you're getting the effect you wish when styling and the enjoyment of the routine as a bonus, you've got the right tool for the job. What do I use? It's a long handled, oval spacial pick brush, plastic and cushioned at the inside base of the brush. Biggest benefit of this brush compliments my using Beardsley Beard Lotion; the effect is guaranteed ease of brushing without pulls or snags. My favourite effect is “volumizing” the underbrush for a full, dense appearance, which best accent these older, semi-wiry whiskers.

Those Irish Whiskers!

Third in a year-long series devoted to the ethnicity and culture of the Beard.

by Bill Alley, Broadcast Host, Producer and
Beard Advocate

The calendar says March. Things are getting greener. More brogue is in the air. Corned Beef & Cabbage & Killian's, oh my! We have entered the Irish Beard Zone...a whole month of everything from kilts to pints to blarney...and Beards. So many Beards, so many ways!

Literally. To writing, bearded bard George Bernard Shaw equals the importance of Saint Patrick to the Church—a man who defines his nation. Consider Shaw’s peculiar traits: a young man who schooled himself away from traditional education to find his study contained within the British Museum’s reading space. An unending flow of ideas and opinions established him in 1873 as a literary and art critic in London, who fearlessly ventured into the more controversial arenas of politics and religion.

Spanning the ability to entertain in fiction, non-fiction and works of drama and early film, Shaw evolved, if not morphed, into a full-circle critical thinker who was deemed second only to William Shakespeare in breadth of content.

Guess The Whisker. A 2012 edition of Ireland’s The Journal newspaper took every bit of decorum away to form the context of 23 gents occupying Irish politics. A photographer prepared each subject to get the full extent of moustache, goatee or beard and lined them up for readers to accurately identify them. Not breaking news, but it did keep readers abuzz

Blarney on a Schtick? It took a potato famine transform the earth’s surface with generous hints of Irish. North America most definitely became refuge to many of their masses and it wasn't long before some became barons, outlaws, entrepreneurs—and more influentially—entertainers.

Present-day group The Bastard Bearded Irishmen of Pittsburgh, PA makes its mark far afield from the beloved crooners The Irish Rovers whom my generation remember with songs like the The Unicorn, a classic tale of Noah’s elusive search for the mythical beast. Theirs is a punk-styled edgy, purposed and deliberate party with every intent of ‘‘soothing the pain”—the Irish admittance of “letting go” of depression with total abandon.  This particular brew tune broke ranks with the regimented marchers in a long running, famous annual parade, turning their little square of downtown Pittsburgh into a lyrically jet-paced, quick stepping romp of a good time.

One thing about celebrating Irish: from the beards to the brew to the poet to the politician, it's not boring, not quiet, not understated. They are the “blare” at the end of a winter season, the shot glass seen ’round the world to toast almost anything and everything that needs stirring. Theirs is an animation so effortless it charges the atmosphere by the simple twist of a whisker.