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DFW

(58,137 posts)
17. "It's mostly soldiers of color who are impacted by this" Mostly, maybe, but not only
Sat May 24, 2025, 02:44 PM
Saturday

I suffer from it as well. I also suffered from my high schools (2 different in 11th, and 12th grades) pressuring me to shave, them being totally indifferent to the fact that if I shaved, my face would turn bright red like a boiled lobster. I bent in 11th grade, stopped bending in 12th grade. There were two guys in my graduating class with beards. One was a libertarian right wing type, so he was tolerated. I was not, and so the pressure, while not quite reaching the level of mobbing or harassment, was relentless. As a partial revenge, at graduation, when we were herded together for the class picture, my brother, one class below me, and at a rival school, who was next to me, tried to scramble over the arrogant jocks to be out of the way when the picture was taken. No one would let by, and I said, "look, the school doesn't care about us anyway, so stay put. I bet they'll never notice." Indeed, they never did. I let word filter up about six months later, but they were so indifferent, me being no Republican president's son, to this day, no one ever figured out who the ringer in the photo was.

My high school social life, never the subject of sitcoms to begin with, dropped to flatlining until I stopped shaving. Indeed, my last year of high school, the school paper ran an article about how the girls' school down the road considered us "Freaks, Jocks, and Zeroes," and then ran a photo of me under the headline (and they wonder why I never send them alumni contributions). It didn't take me long to not give a rat's ass if their alumni were put off about one of their students having a beard (this was 1970, after all) or not. That kind of emotional scar lasts a lifetime, and I never forgot it. I stood in unshaven solidarity with every beard-wearer I ever met since.

Recommendations

4 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

The things the Right find to complain about.... KatyaR Saturday #1
I dunno? These guys must have never heard od "Magic Shave", long know in the Blaci communnity for getting clean shaves.. brush Saturday #3
Magic shave is toxic... Blackbydemand2008 Saturday #6
News to me. Not confrimed you say? I've used if for years with no negative reactions. As have many others. brush Saturday #8
Cancer causing agents don't work that way... druidity33 Saturday #10
insidious indeed Be Leave On Saturday #18
Welcome to DU LetMyPeopleVote Sunday #24
Magic Shave has a very low danger causing cancer ... marble falls Wednesday #25
Or FEMA assistance to tornado victims BonnieJW Saturday #13
My nephew, who was white, could only shave two or three times a week because he'd get bumps. greatauntoftriplets Saturday #2
In the 28 years I was in the Army, it was common for black soldiers to have shaving profiles. TomSlick Saturday #4
It's these subtle little changes that undermine JMCKUSICK Saturday #5
I predicted this a while ago jmowreader Saturday #7
If Pete the Gleet could grow a beard Seinan Sensei Saturday #9
Hey Petey is so a manly man! BonnieJW Saturday #15
The ONLY real-world reason I could possible think of to demand that soldiers be clean shaven is... LudwigPastorius Saturday #11
JFC, is there a single aspect of our lives that these hate-filled, niyad Saturday #12
If you want the military to do KKK cleansing of domestic areas with African Americans.... JT45242 Saturday #14
The goal is to destroy the careers of POC, women, LGBT, etc. Irish_Dem Saturday #16
"It's mostly soldiers of color who are impacted by this" Mostly, maybe, but not only DFW Saturday #17
School... RobinA Wednesday #29
That last year, 12th grade, was a low point for me, though I learned from it DFW Wednesday #30
I have so little body hair I should have been a General. twodogsbarking Saturday #19
I hate shaving as I have sensitive skin of course I also hate having a beard so I'm kinda FUBAR 😆 cstanleytech Saturday #20
So do you perpetually have the BumRushDaShow Saturday #21
No but it gets to the point every few days where I have to shave or scratch my own face off to stop the itching. cstanleytech Sunday #23
WTF Skittles Saturday #22
Matter of time johnnyfins Wednesday #26
Um k_buddy762 Wednesday #27
"Not everything is a "gotcha" " BumRushDaShow Wednesday #28
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