DC ExtraTime: Crafting the Perfect Beard with Mr. Gentle Giant Ginger

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

For those in Canada, north of the Mason-Dixon Line and in an increasing number of American cities, this is the best time of year to be a hockey fan. Spring means one thing to those who follow the National Hockey League: the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the quest to win the oldest trophy competed for by pros on the continent, one that is considered the hardest to win of any of the four major sports, for the fact that one team will have won sixteen games to hoist Lord Stanley and to have to endure sacrifice, pain and at least a few overtime games to win the championship. And if what happened in the first round with all four division leaders, including the top-ranked Tampa Bay Lightning, all being knocked out, it has proved that the NHL playoffs are better than that of the NBA.

A tradition as sacred as the captain receiving the cup from the league commissioner at the end of the clinching final game, every player getting a day with the cup during the summer and the engraving of all the players' names is something that is synonymous with spring as most anything else. In the early 1980s when they became the first American team to win three or more Stanley Cups in succession, the New York Islanders began a superstitious practice of their players not shaving their beards while competing during the postseason, and only shaving it off if they either get eliminated or win it all. This eventually became known as the "Playoff Beard," which according to its Wikipedia entry, has become a symbol of team unity during the most intense time of the entire season and says playoffs to those who start their day brushing their teeth each morning.

The Playoff Beard has now become a tradition in April, May and June with every NHL team taking part in it, along with minor league affiliates as they battle for CHL's Memorial Cup and AHL's Calder Cup, as well as NCAA teams vying to advance to the Frozen Four, and even to the high school level. It's also expanded into other sports and leagues, with the Seahawks' Russell Wilson, the Steelers' Ben Rothlisberger and the Pats' Julian Edelman boasting beards during their teams' run to the Super Bowl. The Red Sox and the Giants boasted playoff beards during quests in October to their respective World Series titles, while Björn Borg boasted his own playoff beard during his great run at Wimbledon winning five straight titles at the All-England Club... likely the origin of this end-of-season tradition.

It's with this in mind that, back in March, a video emerged on the YouTube channel of a company that, according to its website, specializes in "uniting beardsmen and build a community." When it launched in 2012, BeardBrand grew to include a blog, a site on Tumblr and a YouTube account that has over 1 million subscribers and whose 1000+ videos have been seen almost 180 million times. Its content covers everything related to growing that beard, from grooming them and reviewing care products, to its unique lifestyle and of course dozens of videos that take place inside the barbershop... all with the goal of wanting to reverse any stereotypes about those who've not shaved in a while.

For those lucky to have caught The Real World St. Thomas back in summer 2012 -- the most laid-back season ever of that show (and where this blogger started tweeting and becoming social friends with Team MTV on premiere night), they got to see the first chapter of Marie eventually becoming a fan favorite during the most recent trilogy of The Challenge this past year. And for much of the time she and the six other strangers who took up residency in an island house while being marooned on an island overlooking the U.S. Virgin Islands, Marie was shacked up to Philadelphia area guy Robb Schreiber, who stood 6'6", played basketball in high school and, by luck of the draw, had matching "Hakuna Matata" tattoos when they met before flying down to the Caribbean. They stayed together during that season and during the rookie-laden Battle of the Seasons Challenge, before revealing their split during the St. Thomas reunion in between their first two times on MTV.

Since we last saw him on Rivals II back in 2013, Robb has resorted to post-MTV life back in the City of Brotherly Love, but it's with him growing that monumental beard that gave reason for barber Justin Polisi at the Men's Club barbershop in Philly to invite him over. The results of the 15-minute video embedded below is giving the one that I personally call "Mr. Gentle Giant Ginger" an old-school style haircut on the sides with both the scissors and the electric shaver, and to straighten out that massive beard. And by the looks of that long video, it's a much more complex process of maintaining all of that facial hair than it looks.

Those of you hockey players reading this: you have some company when it comes to that big facial hair you got on right now thanks to this installment of Robb's #7YearChallenge. That also means, that obligatory side-by-side picture of how things have changed from 2012 to 2019... yeah, a lot has certainly changed.

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