I stopped shaving in the mid-90s (whilst at uni) because I'd get terrible shaving rash. It also seemed to aggravate spots. At first it was patchy and nothing more than stubble. There was also an element of laziness.
I kept the stubble as I started to like it and it made me look slightly older (I've always looked young.) I left it longer and longer in between trims, until it became more beard than stubble.
The beard has remained: Now I'm approaching my mid-40s, have a wife, three kids and it's part of who I am, if you know what I mean? I do nothing more than trim it with clippers every few weeks, or so. I don't do anything else to it - no conditioners, no shaping, etc. That's just too much! (I'm lazy remember.)
There's slightly more grey now, though and I've been tempted once or twice to shave it off to shed a few years and scare the kids!
Oh, no one has ever approached me simply because of my beard - that's, weird.