On Tuesday afternoon, he stepped behind his barber chair at the Skyland Barber Shop, grabbed a brush and worked it through the protruding, salt-and-pepper hair on his face. His beard, normally a lot shorter, hung down to the top of his Harley Davidson shirt.
Gilbert says his beard is something he could never imagine being without. In fact, he's never even thought about shaving it. It's become a way of life.
And that's the case for many people who live in the foothills and mountains. Beards mean more than fashion.
Facial hair has always been an art, with styles such as the modern goatee, the long, white ZZ Top look, the Santa Claus look and, most recently, the long, fat beards like the ones worn by the Robertson family on television's "Duck Dynasty."
Gilbert's goal is to grow his beard down to his waistline. His desire for a beard grew from the lack of a desire to shave, he said.
"We all had long hair back in the day," Gilbert said. "We' re talking about the late 1960s."
The desire to avoid a daily shave is just one of many reasons behind furry faces in Henderson County. People from all walks of life grow beards.
Bearded for the Gospel
Chuck Kuester's beard started out as freedom of expression. The 63-year-old had just been discharged from the Marines and he "wanted to look as non-Marine as possible at the time."
"I didn't have any money," he said, "but I did have freedom."
Almost immediately, the facial hair felt like a part of his personality.
"From the moment it stopped itching, it felt like I was meant to be a bearded man," he said.
As Kuester has aged, however, the long, white hair on his face has taken on a new role. Now Kuester uses his beard to bond and connect with Christian men. He found the national group Bearded Gospel Men, and decided to start a local chapter.
Bearded Gospel Men WNC started on Facebook, and the group, using their beards as a commo nality, was brought together to "glorify God." The group has 75 likes on Facebook, and at least 16 of those men want to start meeting monthly.
"It's more of a fellowship thing and to make those smooth, shaving men jealous," Kuester said.
Society of beards
For some men, beards are definitely a lifestyle. It comes with the mountain region and doing mountainous things. That's the case for a group of guys that get together on the first Thursday of every month to ride bikes and hang out at a local restaurant.
The group started after Chad Banner, an agent with the Brevard Insurance Agency, went to a wedding in Charleston. He discovered the Holy City Beard and Mustache Society, then came home and shared the idea with his friends.
"The core group of us had beards," he said, so all of his friends jumped on the concept, and the Pisgah Beard Society was born. Banner is the president of the society.
One of the society's key members is Wes Dickson. Dic kson, 36, is the owner of Sycamore Cycles in Brevard and Hendersonville. Dickson is not just a business owner, but also a member of the Brevard City Council.
His wife has never seen him without a beard, he joked. He began growing his beard in 2000, and it's a product of the world around him, he said.
"A lot of people I dealt with day in and day out had beards," he said of growing up in Pisgah.
And then there are his current surroundings. Dickson is a mountain biker and he lives that rugged, outdoor lifestyle.
"There's some lifestyle built into it," he said. "There's a good portion of mountain bikers that have beards."
Bearded identity
John Williams, 37, has taught science at North Henderson High School for the past seven years. He's also an assistant wrestling coach. He's been growing his beard for the past 20 years.
It's been short, long and has even trimmed down to a goatee. The one thing it hasn't been is â€" gone. And Williams d oesn't plan to shave it. It's a part of who he is.
The identity factor is why many men say they have grown beards, kept them and refused to shave them.
"Everything (in society) is changing so much," Williams said about the acceptability of beards. "Individuality is more important these days."
Beards don't get stares anymore, he said, and shows such as "Duck Dynasty" have driven the look into popularity.
For Dickson, even politics hasn't changed his desire to keep his beard. To shave his beard would be to alter his identity, he said.
"It's just one of those things," he said. "I've never hid from who I am. I am who I am."
As Dickson said, the trend may stem from a man's surroundings, family and friends, but for whatever reason, beards are becoming popular again.
"It seems to be picking up as the cool thing to do," Pisgah Beard Society's Banner said. "Maybe a part of it is the mountains."
Reach Millwood at 828-694-7881 or at jo ey.millwood@blueridgenow.com.
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