Hi OneRiffTooMany,

Perhaps you could gradually lessen the amount of times you shave a day, starting by dropping just one shave, and moving forward from there?

Also, I am sure you're well aware that not everyone thinks negatively about those who sport beards, in fact, there are many of us who find it quite appealing. What does your wife think of the bearded look? Could you gain some inspiration from her (hopefully positive!) opinion of your face with a beard, or of facial hair in general? Would it help alter your perception of your beard if I again told you quite a few women find that look attractive? On the other hand, it's your face, and your prerogative to let it get a bit woolly, so what others think of it ideally should not matter.

As another approach, maybe you could try a smaller amount of facial hair at first as opposed to a full beard in order to get comfortable with it--go for a goatee as a beard test drive.

Best of luck, OneRiffTooMany. You deserve to be happy too, and I know that's a much larger issue. Hope growing a beard is one means by which you are able to attain some happiness in the near future.