Matt James shaves his beard with the help of Rachael Kirkconnell
Matt James is a freshly shaven man.
James, 31, showed off his new look – with the help of his girlfriend Rachel Kirkconnell – with a mustache through TikTok on Sunday, February 18. The Bachelor Nation duo kicked off the video with Kirkconnell, 27, telling James, “This is my real Valentine's Day gift,” before grabbing an electric razor and shaving off his beard.
“I don't even know where your face is,” she said as she trimmed the length of his beard and joked that his locks looked like a Brillo sponge. After shaving half his face, she joked that they should “just keep it that way.”
James then joked that it was “stache season” while rocking a manicured mustache.
“I'm going to cry, I missed your face,” Kirkconnell said before Season 25. Bachelor asked if she missed his beard yet. “No,” she replied, shaking her head.
“I will never let my girlfriend shave my beard again 😂 🤦🏽♂️💈🙋🏻♀️,” he captioned the post.
Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell.
Courtesy of Matt James/TikTokJames opened up before We weekly about his beard and said Kirkconnell told him he had to “take care of it” if he wanted to keep it.
“She's definitely more accepting this time,” he shared exclusively Us in October 2023, he joked that before he learned how to care for his facial hair, he looked like “a wild man.”
Matt James.
Courtesy of Matt James/TikTok“I think she appreciates how much thoughtfulness goes into it. So she thinks it's cool, as opposed to me just looking ragged and just letting it go,” he continued.
Although he didn't see himself shaving in the near future at the time, he did say he had gone “back and forth” with the idea.
Rachael Kirkconnell and Matt James.
Courtesy of Matt James/TikTokJames previously dropped his beard during an ad for his book in May 2022, First Impressions: Off-Screen Conversations with a Bachelor About Race, Family, and Forgiveness. In the clip, he acted as if he was kidnapped and “forced to cut his beard.”
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“The last time I cut it was a big deal,” he said Us. “I like the way it looks and feels…I don't know if it'll go there [again].”