Boston Babyyyyyyy!

Now... This one is about my time in Boston after New York City. Boston for me was the better place to visit, after all, it's where I bought my flannel shirts from :D !! 

When we arrived in Boston via bus, we got a taxi to the hotel "The Verb" and Adam hoped the staff were friendly, as the ones in NYC were just bog standard. And they were, super friendly infact, helpful from the minute we stepped in to the minute we left for the airport. This automatically put us in a better mood. 

First night was a bit of a waste, we didn't know where we were going, so we just went in the sports bar next to the hotel, which was empty apart from a few die hard baseball fans due to the World Series Final being on. We stayed in there for just the one drink and then headed back to the hotel, but before going back we hit up the dominoes across the road for a late night snack as we'd only had breakfast that day. 

Second day came and we had planned to go to Salem with a friend of Adam's. We arrived a little early, so the shops wern't fully decorated yet, but you could see that everyone was out there eager to impress. My favourite part of Salem was the part of the shops that sold Harry Potter merchandise, as you can tell! 

There was also nearly a very sad moment on the way back from Salem too. One of the ticket people on the train came flying through the carriages when the grain had been stopped for a few minutes "STAY CALM, THE DRIVER THINKS HE HIT SOMEBODY". Now how the fuck people were supposed to stay calm I will never know, but to be honest, there was no "typical American" over reaction, everybody did stay relatively calm, to our surprise. After the train ride, we had our first proper night out in Boston, there was a strip of bars right behind the hotel, so we stopped off there and had a couple drinks, felt like home a lot more than NYC did, which was the best part of the trip out there! 

The daytime in Boston wasn't much to look at, not much close to our apartment, open, (fenway park was next door) and the weather was shit. However, the evenings/night were a different matter. We went watching the Boston Bruins (ice hockey) at the TD garden, which was an amazing experience.  

We also went watching the New England Patriots (american football) they dominated the Denver Broncos, that was a good experience, however it was ridiculously cold! If anybody goes to watch an AF game, take a lot of layers!!

This may sound a bit odd, but I think one of the best times of my trip to Boston was going to a store and buying me some flannel shirts! I had been looking all over for them and hadn't found what I wanted, until I eyeballed them! And for $14 I wanted to buy 50 of the things! 

And with that, a very quick round-up of what the trip to Boston was like... Next post will be about the beard trim and haircut I get on Friday, peace out!

New York City !

As many of you may know, via Instagram or Facebook, I recently took a holiday to America, the first place I visited was NYC! This post is just going to talk about how it was, what I did and what I would do if I went again basically, hope it satisfies :)

Okay, I'm not going to go into details about the flight and all that shit, just about the ups and downs of the actual time I spent there... I stayed at POD51 in NYC on 51st and 3rd ave, it was a little hostel type hotel with shared bathroom but it did the job for what I needed. 

Our first touristy thing that we did was go and visit Ground Zero, the site of where the twin towers were hit. The memorial site was a very emotional place, it was rather quiet for the amount of people that were there, quite eerey actually. The memorials are in a big square with all the victims names on there, one in particular that hit me in the heart, "Patricia Ann Cimaroli Massari and her unborn child" 

After seeing that, I had a little wander round and looked at some of the other names on the plaques, found 14 in a row, all names of people that helped during the time but lost their lives in doing so. 

The scene was rather emotional, so after that we took a walk towards Wall Street and a wander around near the Brooklyn bridge, I took a few pictures for my mum who wanted a picture to match the one in our living room. 

I'm trying to keep all these short and sweet to stop people getting bored of reading it, so if there's not enough info I apologise! 

After ground zero, we had a walk through Times Square a few days later and we went at night too, to see what the fuss is all about. In my opinion, it's not all its cracked up to be, FAR too busy at night and day, everyone is in a big crowd not moving anywhere fast, and it's full of people trying to sell things or the homeless asking for money (a good place for them, I don't blame for anything). 

Next on the list I believe was Central Park, we spent a good few hours walking around there, it was nice, not as nice as crompton lodges, but nice nonetheless. There was a huge open field with people throwing a football, playing catch with baseballs and frisbees, some doing yoga.. It was like a real community place and everybody was enjoying it. There were some street performers on, making bubbles for the kids, human statues and a street group who always seemed to be asking for money by doing an act that wasn't really funny. There was also a wild bear spotted at the side of a lake...

And these are the only real touristy things that we did whilst in the big apple, we hit some bars, did some shopping and saw the sights, but overall it wasn't what I'd been expecting, but perhaps that's just me being a boring lad. If I was to go again, I think it would need to be no more than a long weekend and with a big group of people to thoroughly enjoy the moments with!

That's all for now on the usa trip, I'll do another post about Boston in a few days, hope you all like what you read!

Halloween in the States

Soooooo, everyone knows how the films and tv shows perceive what Halloween is like over here, and I can tell you, in Boston and probably all of the big cities over here, it certainly isn't like what we see! 

Now, as it isn't a huge celebration on the UK yet, I have never dressed up or been to a party for the occasion or even taken part in the "trick or treating". Halloween really isn't my kind of holiday. However, being in the US, I really wanted this to change, so I went out, bought a new flannel shirt, some yellow braces and went as a generic lumberjack (due to already having an incredible beard and a good head of hair). This simple and cheap costume was good as the lumberjack is a popular thing here in New England and people got what I was dressed as. 

We went out and got into town at around 10pm, every single club/bar/restaurant had a huge queue, that either didn't move, or the place was shut because they had reached maximum capacity, not at all what I was expecting. I thought that everywhere would be busy, but a good busy, lots of people, lots of energy and a helluva time. Not the case. I ended up coming home early, just after midnight infact, due to not having entered any bar, not had one sip of alcohol and no other plans in the making, this just ruined my whole perception of the American Halloween. 

I know this entry has been a bit of a moan about the whole thing, but I really would have preferred being out in Bolton with my mates and just having a good laugh, so whilst I am sat in the hotel room, drinking a coca cola and watching the American version of The Office, I hope everyone out there has had a great night and aren't miserable bastards like myself!  

Peace out!

Been gone for a while

Okay, so. I know I've been quiet for a while, to be honest, I actually gave this thing up for some stupid reason! I will now be kick starting it with a bang and updating probably once a week regarding my beard, my hair, clothes or anything else that I'm interested in, or that appeals to me. I know this started out as a little shitty beard blog, but now it will become my own personal blog. 

The first matter of business. I AM IN FUCKING NEW YORK CITY with my good friend Adam Anwar (Youtube channel at the bottom). 28/10 is out last night here and we spent it in a Barcade (we need to get one of these in Bolton). This was fun, lots of retro gaming and lots of different beers, even though I was terrible at the games, I was good at the drinking! On 29/10 we will be heading out to Boston for 5 days. We will be visiting one of Adam's old friends from Uni who was a foreign exchange student now studying in Boston, we'll be going to Salem and we'll also be spending Halloween there! 🎃👻

Adam and I in "Joshua Tree"

So, now onto the matter of facial/head hair... My head hair can now be happily be tied into a bun (mun) with ease and is a hell of a lot easier to control like this than just waving around left right and centre. I am now very happy with how ly hair is turning out, 100% better than a zero back and sides cut! 

The beard is also going strong! Since my first shave in January, the beard had a little trim by myself around May and then I had it trimmed professionally at BarberBarber (instagram at the bottom). Although this was just a little trim/neatening session, it was done with the upmost professionalism and I will definitely be going back there in the furure!

Beard and hair before

Beard and hair after

I just thought I would update everyone on what's currently going on and that I will be getting the blog up and running again and keep everybody posted! 

Adam's Youtube: AAntertainment

Barbershop Instagram: BarberBarberUK

Queensbury Mens Products - Beard Oil

So, the time has come for a second post on a different beard oil, hope you all enjoyed the first post!

This beard oil was sent to me by a very generous company, Queensbury Mens Products. It was sent to me to try out after the company themselves told me to start a blog to try and get some oils. 

Now, obviously, I was excited to be receiving my first actual product for the blog and the wait absolutely killed me, and when I got home and found that I had missed the parcel I was devastated and had to wait over the weekend for it, very bad times. 

When I finally picked up the oil, it was packaged very neat and professional. 

The straw in the box is a very nice touch and makes it feel sort of country style, where every Man and his Dog has a beard, so it just felt right. 

The card on the inside is a very cool touch, on the flip side from the picture it insinuates that using this oil makes your beard look epic, which, in all fairness it definitely does!

Once I had opened up the package and got over the excitement, I went and had a shower and scrubbed out all of my previous oil, so that I could get a fresh start and get the full usage of this oil. 

The oil has a sort of quiet eucalyptus scent, which is rather lovely. It's also not too greasy, my first application, I followed the instructions on the box and put 10 drops into my palm, rubbed my hands and then massaged it all into my beard. My second application, I ditched the rules and applied the oil straight from the dabber, I did 2 layers, around 7-8 drops spread over my beard and then combed in with a wide tooth comb, then second layer was around 10 drops and brushed in with a smaller tooth comb, I feel like this is the better application method for my beard type and size. 

This past week, the weather was ridiculously hot and dry, so it was a good job I had this oil, it has rehydrated my beard so much, without it the beard would have been mega brittle and just not pleasant to have! Absolute beard saver for me recently!

Everybody should go and check them out on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook:

Instagram - @QueensburyMensProducts

Facebook - Queensbury Mens Products

Twitter - @QueensburyMens

Thanks for reading this one guys, hope you like it! 

More to come with the more products that I buy/receive...

The Bearded Bastard

First Olympian - Ares Oil

So here goes, the first post about a product I've used to help maintain my beard.

Whilst growing my beard the first time round, I never used any kind of special product, only Shampoo and Conditioner, this was good, however I don't know what kind of toll no product actually had on my beard. It probably didn't do any damage, but you never know with these beauty products flying about left, right and centre. When I decided to shave my beard and grow it again, I also decided that I would be a product man.

The first product that I saw and purchased was from the First Olympian team, spotted on Instagram. I chose this company because I was new to the beard oil game and wanted something small and low priced, just like the taster bottles they do at £5.00 each. I ordered all 4 scents that they sell: Eros, Zeus, Ares and Hermes.

Now, to say I was on edge to receive these would be an understatement, and once they arrived, many photos were taken of the oils: in their wrappers, stacked up, in a line. You name it, I took a picture of them in that way. The bottles came in little newspaper packages with wax letters imprinted on them. It was all very exciting!

Once I had gotten over the thrill of receiving the packages and taking all of my photos, it was time to unwrap the oils and see which one I wanted to use first. I did this by smelling the oils, they all smelled okay, apart from the Ares oil, which was, without a doubt the most manly smelling thing I have smelled up until present day. It was like a logger had chopped down Treebeard and then burnt him with Dragon fire. Yeah, I went there, that's what it was like!

I used the oil after my shower, I washed my beard with some hairdressing shampoo that strips it of any remains of dirt or sweat, or anything bad for it. Next, I towel tried the beard, as much as I could and then blow dried it on the cool setting, whilst running a brush through it to get rid of the knots. Once it was dry, I got the oil out and dripped a bit in the palm of my hand, just smaller then a 10p coin I'd say and rubbed my hands together to get it spread out on both palms evenly. Once the oil is on both palms I rub it into my beard, separating the beard through my fingers to get an even coverage. After the oil is in between my beard I use whatever is left on my hands to tame the beard and stroke it down, getting oil on the outside hairs.

When the oil is on, you know it is! Your beard is soft, it has a great shine to it and of course, the smell is always there, right under your nose. The only downfall to this oil, and I would presume it will be the same with all oils, is the fact that it's an oil. So there is a little bit of residue left over, not enough for you to feel it, but enough to stay on your hands if you touch your beard or enough to stay on your phone after a phone call. Apart from that, as a first time beard oil user, I would say it's pretty much spot on!

Voila! The first post is complete, hope this helps all you budding beard growers out there!

Below is a before and after picture.

On the left - just woke up.

On the right - after using the First Olympian oil.

Due to my beard recently having a trim, it's already fairly neat, the oil just gives it that little extra neatness and bounce.

Thanks for reading my first post - here's to many more!

The Bearded Bastard

About the owner.

So here we go, my first ever comment on my first ever blog. 

Firstly, a little bit about myself, I'm 20 years old, nearly 21, and I live in a town called Bolton, located in Greater Manchester, UK. I live with my Mum, who is the greatest thing since sliced bread, she knows she is, even though I don't act like she is and my Step Dad, who's alright, I guess. I work in an office, for definitely less pay than I deserve, but oh well, where I probably have the biggest beard in my department. 

I've been growing a beard since I was around 14 ish, but had to shave it in school. Once I left school, the beard came with me, but only as stubble as I was yet to discover the bearded fanzone! The first time I let my beard grow for real was last year around June/July time, this lasted for around 6 months, until I made the (wrong) decision to get rid and start again. 

The beard that I currently have is 6 month strong with a little trim here and there to keep it neat on the edges and the moustache out of my mouth. The goal now is to not even trim it until the end of the year and see how it turns out, hopefully it gets a helluva lot bigger!

So, why am I writing this blog? 

Well the aim of this blog is to get the beard of a 20 year old out there to prove that not only the older generation can grow great beards, but also to try out all the different products to help maintain a beard and see which best suits me. I'll be working with: oils, combs, brushes, waxes and anything else I can get my hands on that will help maintain this face monster. 

I feel that this is enough to cover the little bit about me right now and my goals of the blog, the picture uploaded is from about a month ago, I currently don't have a decent picture of my upto date beard (sad face).