Long hair/beard can be troublesome, and certainly unbecoming in 'certain' situations. Luckily, the wife knows how to braid. So we usually braid the beard in some special event, or when it's entirely too hot.
Gone my entire life with short hair, and shaving, and I am through with it.
Tried it once 15 years ago. Turns out the skin on my head has a bunch of ridges and blemishes that make it hard to shave and just don't look good. Also I have decided that the guy who shave their melons, must like shaving a lot more than I do! Heck I don't even like shaving my face!
Plus that whole white guy thing. Most of the whit guys who think they can pull it off...
..Not so much.
I'm 50. Seriously balding and almost completely grey. and I'm cheap. As long as I dry the razor after use I can go almost a year w/o a new one. Just using whatever cheap body wash is on sale. Shave the melon about twice a week in the shower.
God gave me a good lookin' head, and the chicks dig it. I can't tell you how many times a good looking gal has come over and rubbed my head.
I shave with a razor, every other day. I shave it because I got tired of paying the barber $14 a week to cut it so low, blending in the receding hairline, that I gave up. I may go and get the hot towel shave every other month, but besides that, I do it all myself.
The funny part is, I had hair until I washed my hair while deployed to Haiti. I noticed my hair felt very hard and brittle, then it just stopped growing. I should have put some chicken blood on it or something. They probably put a hex on us down there.