Craig Melvin‘s fans got a rare glimpse of the (slightly) unshaven TODAY co-anchor thanks to a member of his family making sure he shared his vacation look.
Viewers are used to seeing a clean-shaven version of Melvin when he appears on the morning show alongside his co-anchor, Savannah Guthrie. But in an April 19 Instagram post — thanks to a helpful nudge from his daughter, Sybil — Melvin showed off his five o’clock shadow in two vacation photos.
As it turns out, Melvin looks just as good with a little bit of stubble as he does with a freshly-shaven face.
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Craig Melvin jokes that daughter Sybil “seems to understand social media shaming”
“My daughter wants me to post what I look like at the end of vacation week with no shaving and hair care,” Melvin captioned his post. “She’s not on [Instagram because] she’s so young but seems to understand social media shaming nonetheless. Back to work tomorrow. See you there.”
Melvin was all smiles in the two photos he shared, and got some support from his wife, Lindsay Czarniak, in the comments section.
“I think it looks [fire]!” she told her husband.
Fans agreed with Melvin’s wife that he looks great with some stubble, but of course, one of Melvin’s TODAY colleagues couldn’t resist poking a little fun at his friend.
“You look terrible,” TODAY feature anchor Carson Daly commented, making it clear he was joking by adding a laughing emoji. Daly proved that Sybil was right — her dad was in for a little social media shaming, after all.
The unshaven version of Melvin was short-lived though. The journalist returned to his co-anchor duties on the April 20 episode of TODAY, fresh-faced and clean-shaven, as always. He was absent from TODAY during the week of April 13 for the best reason: He was vacationing with his family.
In an April 13 Instagram post, Melvin shared a peek into what he was doing with his time off.
“Out of office for a minute. My daughter thought this was a good idea,” Melvin wrote alongside a photo of their feet as they relaxed on a gorgeous beach.
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It seems like Melvin’s daughter has unofficially taken over her dad’s Instagram account for a bit.
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In Melvin’s absence last week, fans were treated to a reunion over a year in the making. Hoda Kotb filled in for him to once again co-anchor TODAY alongside Guthrie. The duo co-anchored the show together from 2018 until Kotb’s departure in January 2025.