On the subject of beards....I recently realized that the people in three of the Youtube channels I love to watch are JW's. I don;t want to name these channels here, but you can message me if you want to know them. Shortly after the announcement of now being allowed to have a beard, the men on these Youtube channels started growing facial hair, whereas until that point, they were clean shaven. One channel is by a guy from my old home town (lived there for 5 years) of Bonita Springs, Florida. His channel was mainly a travel vlog. After seeing him with a beard, I searched my memory and realized that last year he posted a picture of him and his wife showing their brand new clothes for a special occasion. New suit for him and a new dress for her. That special occasion was the night of the memorial. After doing more searching on his Facebook page and all his pictures, sure enough, they are JW's.
The other two channels are related. One is a very large vegetable growing farm and market in northeast Pennsylvania. The other channel is a horse boarding stable that is attached to the farm market. Both are owned and operated by a very large extended family. There were subtle hints that made my JW radar ping on several occasions. On several videos, when the guy was showing all the produce in the market, there was a literature cart against the back wall. Then there was the early closing of the farm market on a day that just happened to be the memorial, and other things. Then lo and behold, in January, at least 5 of the related men of this family started growing beards. So....acting like a troll, hehheh, I checked out all of the two families Facebook pages. Sure enough, they are all JW's. I wouldn't be surprised if at least a quarter of the congregation in Hazelton, PA is members of this extended family.
Just because they have permission to grow a beard doesn't mean that they should. If all you have is blotches of hair on you face, forget it. A couple of these guys look like LLoyd Evans clones.....unkemped, sloppy, and greasy.
I think somewhere down the road, the society will comment on the fact that beards should be kept ineat and trimmed just like a good haircut.