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                                                Sam
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                                                Bearded since: 2007. I am a dedicated, permanent beard grower.
 Comments:
 I grow my beard as a sign of masculinity, freedom, and gender assertion.
 
 How do I feel about my beard?  I feel strongly about my own beard. I was self-conscious about small gaps in the sides (cheek area) of my beard since age eighteen. I have learned at age twenty-two, if you let the beard grow, it will fill in a majority of those gaps.
 
 My beard is liberating.  As a recently divorced man, it has proven slightly unfriendly to the dating scene...however, I feel that it will prove quite effective at the right moment and time in the near future as I identify myself with the beard! I am a man.  I am natural. I am confident. I am human.
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