Shaving Woes

A picture of my mother Joyce and I

As an adolescent, my caucasian colleagues started to shave at the early age of thirteen. As you all know, Asians in general aren't able to grow a decent amount of facial hair, no matter how hard they try. As I was driving my sister to the airport this morning, she commented on how there was a hair just sticking out of my cheek. A lone ranger as Grace called it , which got me self conscious. Nevertheless, on the way back home I decided to pluck it out with my fingers. Who said men can't multitask?

As mentioned before, it is rare to find an Asian male with a healthy amount of facial hair. Our biology teacher mentioned that people are generally more hairy if they are from colder climates. However China's demographics is vast and ranges from ice fields to deserts. I found this argument unconvincing yet I still some how got on with my life.

If you look at our forefathers from China, it is evident that facial hair is very thin that is widely distributed.

Confucius, had a vast knowledge base however lacked thickness in his facial hair. You see how his beard is very delicate and very straight, sort of like Asian girl hair. The beard also lacks any true volume and merely dangles from his face as it grows longer.

In this picture, Qin Shi Huang Di also lacks in the same regard. According to this portrait, his beard was made up of approximately 30 or so long dirty hairs. His beard is split up into four dirty sections, lower chin, left/right cheek and a weird soul patch. Although he was the Emperor of China who strived for the elixir of life, maybe it was the lack of facial hair that killed him, not the amounts of mercury he swallowed daily.

What does this have to do with me?

First of all, I thought I'd put forward you a dilemma which has haunted me for years. As you all know, when you first shave your hair becomes less delicate and comes back thicker as stubble. This is because the shaver cuts the hair mid-way as opposed to ripping it out from the root. The more you shave, the more it comes back.

My problem is that there are hairs growing all the way up to the bottom of my eye. I have hair all over my face. The hair is thin but is starting to grow longer. I'm afraid if I were to shave all over my face, I will begin to have stubble all over my face including the area under my eyes. So when I shave, I'm really not sure whether I should shave my cheek or not. Am I supposed to shape it so I can look like a normal person, or will it grow back just as thin? If I do shave it, will I look like these guys from ripley's believe it or not?

If you are observant enough, which I hope you're not, my cheeks are generally hairy as I try not to shave that section too often. I try to make sure it doesn't come back like a weed infestation. Any thoughts on this?




Burita