“I am a Plumbing Lecturer in a Further Education college, a husband and father of three.

“I enjoy cycling, photography and generally acting daft.

“I first grew a beard when I became self-employed in 2006; it was then when I got the 'bug'. I have made the fatal shaving error twice but for good reasons when I changed career, however the beard came back, naturally, and now it is well on the way to establishing a decent length.

“I find that in my job the beard acts as a good ice breaker when new students arrive and often sparks the odd one into sprouting a few chin straps.

“My daily routine and care of said beard is to soap wash with an organic 'free from' soap, followed by a good rinse and a 'patted' drying.

“Then I apply a spray-in conditioner and sometimes blow dry on a cool setting in a downward direction to encourage lengthening.

“I have a growing selection of oils, some of which are supplied by my new found batch-fellow. This is applied and combed into gloriousness (new word) first by fingers (nature's comb) then by a long toothed comb.

“I like the baller beard as this is full and makes my pinhead appear normal size.”