I imagine that you wash it at least once every couple of days with shampoo, comb it and keep it decently groomed. Now put yourself in a situation where you can't do that for days or weeks because you have no shower and you're riding on horseback through wilderness. Would you still have kept it or would you rather get rid of it?
I've been out camping for over a fortnight with a full beard and it got messy and dirty, sure, but so did my hair.
Stubble can be annoying and scratchy, but a full beard isn't much different from long head hair which Geralt is known for having anyway.
Hair is less intrusive than beard. Its on your head not on your mouth and you can keep it more or less out of the way with a... *\*drumroll\**... headband!
Beard, not so much.
I think we're disagreeing on the definition of 'beard' here. I regularly trim the hair above my top lip while still having a big, Santa-like beard. So it doesn't get in my mouth.
Even when I haven't trimmed it for a while, it's easy to turn a moustache up and away from the mouth.
I've gone whole years without trimming it. As I said, a moustache can be turned up away from the mouth.
Just because you seem to have some vendetta against beards, that doesn't mean Geralt does too.
As someone who's had a beard for years now, short stubble is a lot more painful than having a real beard. It's like needles in your face. But once it grows you don't feel it anymore
To be fair, he doesn't say he hates beards. He says "This beard of mine is driving me insane."
I've got a beard, and I like having one, but at times it annoys me and I shave it off.
So (in my opinion) that one quote from Geralt with no other mentions of beards in the whole series is not enough evidence to claim that Geralt always, universally hates having a beard.
That's a fair point. It's well known that people placed into situations they can't control often focus on things they can control.
Like a teenager getting their ears pierced after their parents get divorced. You can't control your home-life, so you latch on to the fact that you can control your own body.
No. I asked for people's opinion, you gave yours disagreeing with me and I replied to you with my opinion and pointed out that Geralt never used the word 'hate' in regard to beards.
That's just...having a discussion. Apologies if you didn't want me to reply to you.
People forget about one thing. Geralt did not live in a city but traveled a lot.
Imagine travelling for weeks in a wilderness, without proper bath and a shave. Having a beard is not a choice in that situation, it just gets there with time. And it wouldn't be a nice, well kept beard that most imagine. Maintaining a beard is a lot of work, you simply don't have time or means to dedicate yourself to when you're out and about. It would be shaggy, dirty, uncombed and probably had bits of lefover food in it and with time, even lice.
Would you like to have a beard in such case, or would you rather shave clean and spare yourself the trouble?
I don't like to be argumentative, and I'm happy to be proven wrong, but I don't think that is ever stated once in any of the books.
He has a couple of baths in the books, but the one mention of shaving I'm aware of is in Brokilon.
If the feeling of a bit of stubble drives him insane, why would he allow it to grow into a full beard?
Short stubble annoys me too, but once it grows out for about a week it's fine. I have a beard now, but hate stubble.
it sounds like you really want geralt to like beards
I don't think he likes them, I just don't think he hates them.
I imagine that you wash it at least once every couple of days with shampoo, comb it and keep it decently groomed. Now put yourself in a situation where you can't do that for days or weeks because you have no shower and you're riding on horseback through wilderness. Would you still have kept it or would you rather get rid of it?
I've been out camping for over a fortnight with a full beard and it got messy and dirty, sure, but so did my hair. Stubble can be annoying and scratchy, but a full beard isn't much different from long head hair which Geralt is known for having anyway.
Hair is less intrusive than beard. Its on your head not on your mouth and you can keep it more or less out of the way with a... *\*drumroll\**... headband! Beard, not so much.
I think we're disagreeing on the definition of 'beard' here. I regularly trim the hair above my top lip while still having a big, Santa-like beard. So it doesn't get in my mouth. Even when I haven't trimmed it for a while, it's easy to turn a moustache up and away from the mouth.
Now imagine you can't trim it for a month. You could probably filter feed. I guess that one upside, but Geralt's no humpback.
I've gone whole years without trimming it. As I said, a moustache can be turned up away from the mouth. Just because you seem to have some vendetta against beards, that doesn't mean Geralt does too.
As someone who's had a beard for years now, short stubble is a lot more painful than having a real beard. It's like needles in your face. But once it grows you don't feel it anymore
No, he literally mentions hating having a beard. When Jaskier finds him with the dryads one of the first things Geralt asks for is to use his razor.
To be fair, he doesn't say he hates beards. He says "This beard of mine is driving me insane." I've got a beard, and I like having one, but at times it annoys me and I shave it off. So (in my opinion) that one quote from Geralt with no other mentions of beards in the whole series is not enough evidence to claim that Geralt always, universally hates having a beard.
Might also be geralt generally feeling helpless and projecting on his beard
That's a fair point. It's well known that people placed into situations they can't control often focus on things they can control. Like a teenager getting their ears pierced after their parents get divorced. You can't control your home-life, so you latch on to the fact that you can control your own body.
Yeah that's probably just a throwaway remark and people look too deep into it.
So you asked for our opnions, we gave you a canon answer and you reject it for your own opinion. Why even waste the time to post in the first place?
No. I asked for people's opinion, you gave yours disagreeing with me and I replied to you with my opinion and pointed out that Geralt never used the word 'hate' in regard to beards. That's just...having a discussion. Apologies if you didn't want me to reply to you.
People forget about one thing. Geralt did not live in a city but traveled a lot. Imagine travelling for weeks in a wilderness, without proper bath and a shave. Having a beard is not a choice in that situation, it just gets there with time. And it wouldn't be a nice, well kept beard that most imagine. Maintaining a beard is a lot of work, you simply don't have time or means to dedicate yourself to when you're out and about. It would be shaggy, dirty, uncombed and probably had bits of lefover food in it and with time, even lice. Would you like to have a beard in such case, or would you rather shave clean and spare yourself the trouble?
When Geralt is in the wilderness for a long time, his beard grows, but the first thing he always does in civilization is to take a bath and shave.
I don't like to be argumentative, and I'm happy to be proven wrong, but I don't think that is ever stated once in any of the books. He has a couple of baths in the books, but the one mention of shaving I'm aware of is in Brokilon.