the bearded coverup

When I was about 19, I got a job at an insurance company. It was the first job that I ever had that allowed me to grow facial hair. My previous places of employment expected me to clean shaven as can be. So I took advantage of it. I started by growing a goatee. Then I added sideburns, a beard, and eventually a mustache. It's been more than ten years and I still wear my beard and mustache. One of the things that I really like about having facial hair is that it actually can be used a cover-up. I had a scar on my lower jar from where a mole was removed when I was a kid. That scar now hides beneath my beard. When I first grew facial hair, I was still dealing with the plague of teenage acne, and the beard and mustache went a long way at helping me to conceal my problems. Granted, there are all kinds of new lotions and potions, pills and treatments for acne. But when I was a kid all we had was stuff that burned your skin, like this gooey stuff called retinae and some painful dry ice treatments. Yikes!