The Beard Series - Brian & Johnathan

Sometime last year I stumbled across an Instagram page that blew my mind! Brian and Jonathan are two bearded friends who started an Instagram page (@thegaybeards) dedicated to, well, their beards! I cannot believe the skill required to pull off such awesome bearded creativity, and I had to reach out and find out more.

What I found out is Brian and Johnathan are two really positive, outgoing and fun loving guys who do what they do because they love to make people feel good. I’ve asked them both some questions and each question will be followed up by one of their bearded photos. Enjoy, and learn.

Tell us a bit about yourselves!

Our names are Brian Delaurenti (white streak) & Johnathan Dahl and we both are 25! Brian is from Idaho and Johnathan has been born and raised here in Portland, Oregon. By trade, Brian is an artist focusing on both painting and photography & Johnathan is a musician. We have been best friends since the wee ole’ age of 8 (we met in 1998).

How did your Instagram page start?

One day in July of 2014 we were sitting on the couch, feeling anxiously creative, and we though why not go take a picture of our beards? We went off exploring, took a couple photos for our newly created Instagram and the rest truly was history. You could say it just felt right.

How long have you had you beards for, and why did you grow them?

Brian originally started growing his beard back in October of 2013. You could say it was brought on by the rebellious instincts of a 23-year-old living in Portland, Oregon – but maybe it was fate. Johnathan started growing his shortly after, and between the extra warmth and excess flower-holding capabilities, we just couldn’t get rid of them.

What’s your favourite thing about having a beard?

In all honesty, and as weird as it may sound, growing a beard for the first time is like having an extension of you that you didn’t originally know was there. A beard takes a fair amount of time and patience to grow, but for us, it really added another level to our personalities.

Whats the downside to having… oh wait, never mind….

You have had some rapid growth on Instagram, and it’s clear as to why. What has been some of the most memorable things, or opportunities, that have come from having your page?

Getting to meet people out in public has by far been the most memorable thing from starting The Gay Beards. We don’t consider ourselves to be extraordinary people, however having the pleasure to meet strangers from time to time while we are out and about is simply extraordinary. We both can be very social individuals; so creating relationships with those who we may not have otherwise is really special.

How long does it take to create your beard art and how do you come up with the ideas?

We usually have creative sessions at least once per week, but sometimes things spark ideas for us in everyday life (i.e. the Christmas light beards). Depending on what we are putting in our beards, it can take anywhere from 20 minutes all the way up to two hours or more (i.e. the glitter beards).

Where to from here? Any exciting things in the works?

We are constantly evolving our vision of where we would like to see The Gay Beards go, and there are always special projects in the pipeline. In the near future we will be releasing a series of comedy sketches via YouTube, where both of us will be appearing as various whacky, yet relevant characters. As well, we are currently working on a children’s book, which we will be speaking more about later this summer. Beyond that, we have a million beard ideas coming up so of course, stay tuned!

You can find Brian and Jonathan on Instagram @thegaybeards 

You can also view the video below to see their daily beard care routine and what products they use. Maybe a bit of our beard oil? Who knows… Check it out!