Travis Kelce. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images
Travis Kelce’s grown-out beard helps him get “s–t done.”
The 34-year-old Kansas City Chiefs tight end hasn’t shaved “since before Christmas” and feels it’s helped him play “way better.”
“I feel when I look in the mirror, I look rugged. I’m focused — focused on something. I’m working towards getting some s–t done,” Travis said on the Thursday, February 8, episode of his and brother Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast. “I haven’t been worried about anything but getting s–t done. I feel the power of it. It gives me power. … I’ve been playing way better.”
When Jason asked Travis whether the look is his “playoff beard,” Travis proudly said, “Yeah!”
Many NFL stars opt for the grown-out look as a superstitious practice that involves not shaving facial hair until after the AFC and NFC championships and Super Bowl.
Kelce and the Chiefs are set to take on the San Francisco 49ers at the big game on Sunday, February 11. (The Chiefs scored their spot after defeating the Baltimore Ravens on January 28 as the 49ers beat the Detroit Lions.)
Elsewhere in the episode, Travis addressed his viral fade haircut. “Can you guys stop telling people I invented the fade? I didn’t,” he said. “I walked into a barber shop one day and didn’t even know what I was getting. I didn’t invent the fade.”
Travis previously called the claims he invented the look “absolutely ridiculous” during a Monday, February 5, press conference in Las Vegas.
“I got a good fade if you need it though. It’s a two on top and a nice high-to-mid fade with a taper in the back,” he shared, adding, “I didn’t invent that. I just asked for it.”
Kelce’s buzz-cut style, which is often associated with Black men, went viral late last month after The New York Times ran a story referring to the ’do as “the Travis Kelce.”
Critics were quick to point out that the piece arrived just before the start of Black History Month. “They throw me into the wolves like that,” Kelce joked during the press conference. “That was messed up, man. I don’t want anything to do with that one, man.”
