So it's quotes today, is it? Well, here's one from the Bard himself, William Shakespeare:

"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man."

No mention of sideburns in there. I'm pretty sure you just replace "beard" with "sideburns" and "man" with...I don't know, let's say "porn star".

Well, here we are a week into How Not To Grow A Beard Month and I need only look around to see some fine-looking scruff gracing some...well, let's forgo the adjectives and just call them necks.

I'd like to remind everyone whose neck scruff is driving them bonkers right about now that it is well within the rules of HoNoToGroABeMo to shave it off; the front of the neck is fair game for your razor this month, just for the sake of sanity.

Of course, shaving off the neck scruff is by no means a requirement. If you want to eschew your razor altogether, you're more than welcome to do so.

Also, I expect that in another day or two we may have to start doing some minor grooming (say, around the lips). That's okay, too.

To all of our visitors (you know who you are), please feel free to comment on your favorite beards and cheer on your favorite beard growers! The comment form is there for a reason and I'm sure the gentlemen would love to hear how their beards have changed your lives (really, just make something up).

And if you've got a beard progress photo to share but you're not big on the whole blogging thing, just send it to me and I'll post it for you. My e-mail address is on every one of my posts and I check it at least a couple of times every day.

Finally, a big thanks to everyone—beard growers, beard admirers and even just the curious passers-by—for joining me in my little annual lark and sticking with it for a whole week. We're just shy of a quarter of the way through this thing, and it's been a lot of fun so far.

Okay, so this post is about 12 hours late, but I have a good excuse: I came home from work yesterday and went straight to bed. I had a splitting headache and the only thing I was in the mood for was quiet and dark.

As a result, I was up by 4:00 this morning and will likely be at work before 7:00, unless I find something supremely stupid to waste my time on between now and fifteen minutes from now. Which certainly could happen.

Today's photo composite, by the way, is for Nev (Weirdbeard), who brought the cross-eyed look yesterday.

Provided I can stay up until 7:00 this evening, look for another post later.

It is only as I sit down to write this that I realize I've inadvertently created another potential Brady Bunch comparison. I am not afraid.

I'm going to let the neck scruff grow unchecked until the end of the week (perhaps all the way through Sunday) before I shave it off. I have a feeling that my resemblance to Jek Porkins between now and then will increase dramatically.

It's Election Day in these here United States, and that can mean only one thing: tomorrow the endless acres of yard signs start to disappear! Whatever candidate or issue you voted for, surely we can all agree that it'll be a relief to see the yard signs go.

Note to self: next year, "Chins for HoNoToGroABeMo" signs everywhere.

Where there was once naught but a smooth, unbroken plain we now see the first signs that a beard may yet arise. This we shall name "stubble", and all who look upon it will shake their heads and mutter something about having some damn self-respect.

Yea, though your disdain be writ clearly upon your faces, my resolve is firm, not unlike the tough skin atop pudding that was accidentally left out of the fridge overnight. And like that same pudding, what lies beneath the tough, rubbery skin is still smooth, sweet and creamy, though whether that has aught to do with growing a beard is certainly debatable.

Okay, it's not as bad as it looks. I've just been holed up in the house all weekend tending to an ear infection and a sinus cold. So I figured, why not get the inevitable bathrobe/puffy eyes photo out of the way early this year?

I mean, it's not like it can get much worse than this, right?

Right?

It's too bad I'm going to shave the stubble off the front of my neck come Monday morning. I have a feeling that, if allowed to grow unchecked, this is the stuff that would be most impressive at the end of the month.

And I would look like I was wearing some sort of freaky scarf, or perhaps a stole made from a fox with the mange.

Here we have another entry into the ranks of the beardless. Kyle is my young apprentice and he, too, has vowed that he will not lift a razor to his face in the next 30 days.

Unfortunately, Kyle isn't much of a blogger, so he has opted to participate in a more passive role: he will largely be playing with toy cars and watching Go Diego Go! while the rest of us concentrate on turning our chins into the very essence of ruggedness.

Step One: Shave the beard.

Check!

The beard is gone and the growing begins! Today (October 31st) I put down my razor and I will not pick it up again until December.

Big thanks to Bob Voegerl for the fantastic new home of How Not To Grow A Beard Month and a hearty welcome to those who have decided to join us in the quest to see what sort of follicular masterpiece will spring forth from our cheeks in thirty days.

If you'd like to embark upon this madness with us, it is not yet too late! Shave now! Let your chin feel the caress of cool air against bare skin for the briefest of moments before a veritable forest of facial hair springs up to reclaim it!

Now let's get out there and do Chuck proud!