end of an era in beard history

The original all about beards site:  January 17, 1996 — October 31, 2008.

Tomas

What is today the “all about beards” site that resides here at beards.org appeared initially at the address http://members.aol.com/beardguy/ on the 17th of January 1996.  On the 20th of January of 2005, the all-new all about beards site made its debut at its current http://beards.org address.  The old site was hosted on web space allocated to AOL members.

When the updated version of all about beards opened at beards.org, I left the original up as a legacy site with pointers to the current site.  Today, AOL shut down all of its members’ sites, including the all about beards legacy site.  So I am forced to bid a sentimental, fond farewell to the online presence of the early form of all about beards.   Rest assured, however, that all about beards will continue — stronger than ever — at beards.org: building the future by honoring the past.

I also have some housekeeping to do.  Actually, I never got completely weaned off of the old site, with a few features still residing there.  I have some extra work to do now to migrate those features here.

bearded ancestry

Leigh of Australia submitted his photo for the beards of the world gallery along with a couple of photos of bearded predecessors: his maternal great grandfather and great great grandfather.  All three are unquestionably fine examples of praiseworthy beards.

Walter Thomas

Dr. Walter Thomas (above).

John Thomas

Dr. John Thomas (above).

Now go to see Leigh in the beards of the world gallery.

six million already?

At the end of June, the galleries hit five million views.  Late this evening, the counter clicked over to six million views.  I wasn’t at the keyboard when it happened.  I missed seeing it by 188 views.  So I don’t readily know who was lucky number six million.  At five million it was Jason (although it was not this photo — this one does not appear in the galleries at this time):

Jason

Click on the photo above to go to Jason’s beard feature.

Beards BeCAUSE

Check out this beard-centric charity effort to raise money for a battered women’s shelter in Charlotte, North Carolina:

Beards BeCAUSE.
NOTE: Their website, linked above, is missing in action. You can still find them on Twitter here:
Beards BeCAUSE on Twitter.
UPDATE: Their website has reappeared. Visit them at either link.

good news: growin’ again!

You may remember Dale from “adding more beards to the world“.  Well, for wholly unknown reasons, he reportedly later went from the full beard down to a goatee and mustache.  And from there, went down further to just a mustache and soul patch.  The good news, however, is that Dale just emailed to proclaim that the full beard is on its way back!

Happily growing again:

Dale

Resting up a bit after doin’ even more heavy-duty growin’:

Dale

Good job, Dale!  Keep it growing.  Photos are courtesy of Dale and are used with permission.

For any of the rest of you out there who have shaved your beards, take a cue from Dale and start growing again!