Watch This Guy Shave Off His Beard for the First Time in 8 Years

Anyone who’s slapped on a long white beard to play Santa Claus knows what a difference facial hair can make. Not just in your appearance, but in how you see the world. You might even say there are two ways of going through life: bearded (guarded and ready for anything) or clean-shaven (open but vulnerable). Start to grow a beard and it becomes part of your identity; shave it off and you profoundly change yourself. Beardbrand founder Eric Bandholz is obviously a facial-hair partisan; he runs a beard-grooming supply company, after all. He also has a years’ worth of thick, luscious gingerbeard—or rather, he had. He decided to shave it all off, for reasons ranging from obvious...