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Hairy and proud area men (and their women) sound off on pros, cons.

Hairy and proud area men (and their women) sound off on pros, cons.

By Mike McGinley mmcginley@timesleader.com
Features Writer

King’s College professor Brian Pavlac of Kingston grew a beard 25 years ago so his daughter wouldn’t be afraid of men with facial hair.

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Bill Davidson says his beard warms him and keeps women at bay.

Mike mcginley/for the times leader

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Zack Hammond’s beard and mustache is OK by his girlfriend, Meghan McSweeney. In fact, she’s fond of it because it reminds her of her father.

Mike mcginley/for the times leader

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Years before, he had witnessed a niece and nephew become frightened by a bearded male relative, and he didn’t want his daughter to react the same.

“I think that’s one of the reasons why kids are afraid of Santa Claus,” he said.

The national beard boom might have a local foothold, anecdotal evidence shows. Several area men are still sporting old facial hair, while others are growing it to avoid the drab task of the morning shave.

Take Bill Davidson, 58, of the Hazleton area.

After two bad divorces, he decided to grow his beard longer for “just the idea of it.”

“It gives people the standoff approach,” he said of his scruff.

These days, he’s not looking for a relationship, so he believes his long, dark and gray chin hair, which he’s had since getting out of the Army in 1974, might make women shy away a bit.

An avid outdoorsman after working in construction and timbering all his life, Davidson said the beard helps keep him warm, even if it’s just a “mental” warmth.

“I think that facial hair is becoming more popular because I believe that there is once again a shift in how people want men to appear,” said 21-year-old Tom Gensel of Nanticoke.

After graduating from a Catholic high school four years ago where young men are forbidden to have any sort of stubble, Gensel decided to grow a beard, largely because of his quick hair growth.

Shaving can be a nuisance when “you grow a beard in the matter of a week,” he said.

Gensel tries to keep his beard in tip-top shape, given his girlfriend, Sarah, and his grandparents prefer a well-tended and neat beard, rather than one that looks like “Grizzly Adams.”

Others, such as 21-year-old King’s College junior Zack Hammond, don’t have to do much maintenance to keep a beard trimmed: it grows in just how he wants it.

Hammond, a Maryland native, said there’s a definite “laziness aspect in it all,” something his girlfriend, 20-year-old Meghan McSweeney of New Jersey, doesn’t mind.

“I love it,” she said, noting Hammond was tired of having to shave.

“It reminds me of when I was little and of my dad,” she said, “and it’s fun to play with.”

Hammond’s been growing his red fuzz since freshman year. Two years later, it’s filling out and growing in just as he desires.

Unlike Hammond, Matt Trafer’s fianc� wants his beard shaved before their upcoming wedding.

“A lot of my friends who are girls love clean-cut, shaven guys,” said Trafer, 24, a King’s College alumnus now living in Brick, N.J.

Until his boss asked him to trim it recently, Trafer’s beard hung inches off his chin and quite a bit off his sideburns, he said. It grew onto his cheeks and down his neck to his chest.

“It was manly. But nothing as awesome as Chuck Norris’s,” he said.

Pavlac, a history professor and department chairman at King’s, likes that having a beard saves him time in the mornings, and it can’t be bad that his wife “loves the look.”

“It does tickle her,” he said.

The professor shaved it once – on a trip to Europe – but didn’t like how he looked without it.

Pavlac noted many presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln, wore beards in the 19th century, and it gives him a more “professional look,” he thinks.

“I don’t know why more men don’t do it,” he said.

While he’s not seeing a ton of young men on campus growing new facial hair, Pavlac said “a beard is always a classic look.”

Brian Redmond, professor of environmental engineering and earth science at Wilkes University, agrees that the beard won’t be going out of style anytime soon, and now it seems to be making a minor comeback.

“It was big in the 1960s, and then after that, it kind of dropped again,” the 63-year-old Shavertown resident said.

He’s been sporting his 6-inch beard for about 30 years, growing it when he was overseas volunteering in the Dominican Republic.

One reason he grew it was so he didn’t have to button the top button of his dress shirts, which he wears with a tie each day to school.

“I have a very thick neck,” he said.

“Plus, in my profession, it’s more acceptable,” he said. “I just think people have images of scientists having beards from previous generations.”

For a while, he said, his beard was three colors: red, white and dark brown. Now it’s pure white, with maybe a strand or two of red straggles.

“That’s the thing about red hair: It doesn’t seem to last long.”