Born in 1946 in Bromley in the English county of Kent, even as a boy David looked forward to being able to grow a beard.He started to shave at thirteen, and age nineteen grew his first beard in a college vacation as a bet.

Since then he has never been without a moustache, and as the facial fashions progressed through the Sixties and Seventies, his beard styles moved between Goatee, huge Sideburns, Franz Josef sideburns connected to moustache, and full bushy beard. His job as a BBC Radio Sound Balancer in Rock and Pop music allowed extravagant beard styles and length to be tacitly accepted, and even became a personal trade mark.

By the Mid-Eighties, He had decided that a maximum length full beard was his destiny, and his ultimate beard length of 8 to 9 inches was achieved after about two years of untrimmed growth. His original beard colour was reddish-brown, with black and auburn areas around the chin.

David Dade retired from the BBC in 1999, and now does freelance audio work in London for TotalRock the Rock and Metal radio station on the Internet and digital satellite, where he's known as ZZDave. Almost every day, people passing him in the street will either mutter to each other or point and shout out loud: "ZZTop!"

He has been a regular contributor to Internet message boards, such as the "Beard and Moustache Oasis" message board at http://www.the-light.com/beardnmoustache/board.cgi and to the late lamented "Beards.Org" website run by Dan Adcock and latterly Nikita Simmons.

A long beard requires good maintenance to keep it looking well-groomed, and he was delighted when he discovered that even though his beard is mostly silver now, Beardsley still keeps it clean, soft and fragrant, and pleasant to the touch.

Beardsley & Company. Del Mar, California. 858 259 8230.
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