7
Ever wondered how to keep the perfect beard? Well if you’re a girl and you’re reading this then you probably haven’t, unless you like to wear fake beards…
Anyway, with some personal grooming issues of our own we decided to forego medical treatment, to hell with barbers and forget about asking our dads… We went to the internet and we were lucky enough to happen across one of the most helpful, chatty and fun websites and Facebook groups ever – Gay Boys with Beards. The group hosts discussions about beard care, issues beardy challenges to its beardy fans and creates a very accepting environment for everyone, not just gay boys with beards, and has rapidly risen in popularity, so much so that you can now buy some pretty funky t-shirts!
We sat down with the founder of GBwB to talk beards, games and Facebook…
What does GBwB stand for and why did you set up a group like it?
It stands for ‘Gay Boys with Beards’ and honestly, I set the group up as an experiment.
Where did you get the idea for Gay Boys with Beards? How did you first start to get the idea out there?
I’d never started a FB group before and the name just came to me. I’d always admired guys with beards. I made the page but then didn’t really have any intentions of it going anywhere.
What was the initial response to your blog and the Facebook page?
The initial response wasn’t very encouraging. I invited about three hundred of my friends of which one hundred or so accepted. It stayed that way for three months until one day a friend told me to check the page, since I had forgotten about it. The members were suddenly joining at the rate or 1 or 2 per minute. People seemed to love that page once word got out.
What sort of stuff can someone expect from the Facebook page?
The page is for the purpose of promoting friendship and acceptance with the community of bearded gay guys and their friends. You’ll find anything from articles on grooming to the Featured Beard of the day to people posting their own photos for the daily Beard Challenge. There are even Hot Topics that are open for discussion.
With regards the FB page, is it just for GBwBs and their adoring male fans or have you found others joining?
It’s open to anyone who wants to join. It’s the only way to ensure that the accepting atmosphere generated by the members can be dispersed and perhaps help to promote understanding of not just bearded guys but gay culture in general. I think there’s like 3% who are female even.
When did you get the idea to start printing the t-shirts?
I have to admit, it was another experiment. I love to learn new things and the idea of developing a logo and getting it printed was enticing to me. To get to see photos of all the great bearded guys wearing my shirts was merely a bonus! I never really push the sales very hard since I feel it would detract from the atmosphere of the page.
The shirts have received a lot of attention and a lot of people are buying them, how can someone get their hands on of the GBwB t-shirts?
That’s easy enough. www.redbubble.com/people/gbwb. The link is also listed on the main page below the daily Featured Beard photo.
Do you have any more plans for the GBwB franchise? What are you hopes for the future?
There is a blog set up that I haven’t been too good about updating. Life tends to keep me so busy these days. http://gayboyswithbeards.blogspot.com/. I also own the domain name, gayboyswithbeards.com but currently it redirects to the blog. I hope to someday develop it into the main website with increased content.
Finally if you were trapped in an arcade for all eternity, what game would you play to pass the time?
I would have to say I’d play my level 70 Undead Warlock…on WoW.
If you want to learn more about beard care or you wanna check out some hot boys with beards… then you can follow GBwBs here:
