The modern man and full beards

[Klutzz]

I grew a full beard for one simple reason: My face got cold at work.

 

[Sandjube]

I had no idea people were doing it because it's fashionable or whatever. I'm just really lazy, and it never itches or annoys me so I never have a reason to unlazy myself and shave it except like once a month.

 

[Phantom Kat]

Men are expected to be clean-shaven (compare a hobo to a business man for example) and woman seem to hate facial hair of any kind on a man.

What? When the hell did this start happening? I thought this was the rule.

This is exactly why I have a beard. It gives me a stronger jawline that compliments my strong facial features and without it, I look about 16. I keep it trimmed so I don't look like a hobo though.

Well that and my Dad always had facial hair so I guess I associate facial hair with being a man.

 

[captainballsack]

Am I the only one who's noticed there seems to be a lot of guys my age (Twenties) who seem to be wearing a full beard? Not like a goatee or stubble or something, but a full-blown beard, like you would see a lumberjack with.

I've found to be a bit odd, since as a society, we don't seem to like full beards. Men are expected to be clean-shaven (compare a hobo to a business man for example) and woman seem to hate facial hair of any kind on a man. I find it odd that a guy would willingly choose to grow a full beard with these kinda social pressures.

My perspective might be slightly warped, since I work in a PC store, and PC guys have often been bearded. But I swear, the number of guys my age who are sporting full beards seems to have jumped in the last few years.

Is this a fashion thing maybe? Like how fashions go from fashionable to unfashionable then back to fashionable after a few years, have full beards come back into style? What do you guys think?

CAPCHA "more chocolate"
That's a great suggestion, CAPCHA, but not really relevant to the topic at hand.

It's a whole part of the indie hipster thing going on, and personally, I think it's great. I think beards look good.

For some reason, beards just have some weird level of honesty to me. I feel like I can trust a guy with a full beard and a smile on his face.

 

[elvor0]

I wear a beard now. Beards are cool.

Though not a full lumberjack, just your standard box beard, like Snake. I really hated the idea of having one, but then a few of my female friends were said I should grow one, I did, and I'll never look back. Plus not only am I the only one of my friends that can grow facial hair at all, it's also that proper beard hair. No bum fluff neckbeard for me thank you very much.

Nah, if you really want aversion to facial furniture. Grow just a moustache. They look horrendous regardless of how thick it is on younger people. If you're a 40 year old man, go for it, they "work". If you're 20 and have just a moustache, you look like a twat. The only exception is if you're going for the Geezer Butler look, then it works. Especially the furry top lip look. It looks shit, shave it. I will shave it now for you. Just get rid of it.

 

[BunnyKillBot]

...
I've found to be a bit odd, since as a society, we don't seem to like full beards. Men are expected to be clean-shaven (compare a hobo to a business man for example) and woman seem to hate facial hair of any kind on a man. I find it odd that a guy would willingly choose to grow a full beard with these kinda social pressures.
...

Firstly, your use of 'seem to' represents nothing more than your own prejudices and/or pogonophobia. I am a married man with a beard and my wife doth protest if i dane to lop it off. Am I the exception to your rule, or the antithesis to your prejudice. 'Women' do not hate facial hair and 'men' are not expected to be clean-shaven.

As to Social Pressures, I have nothing but contempt for cowards who hide behind 'peer pressure' to justify their own illogical behaviour.

There are many reasons why I have a beard. Primarily, I don't believe in nurtured gender roles beyond physiological differences, but neither do I believe in homogenised gender. A beard is the hormonal consequence of having testicles rather than ovaries. It is thusly more manly to have a beard than be clean-shaven, which is more feminine or prepubescent, an ironic contrast to your 'men are expected to be'.

 

[conmag9]

Am I the only one who's noticed there seems to be a lot of guys my age (Twenties) who seem to be wearing a full beard? Not like a goatee or stubble or something, but a full-blown beard, like you would see a lumberjack with.

It's spreading! Bwahahaha!

I've found to be a bit odd, since as a society, we don't seem to like full beards. Men are expected to be clean-shaven (compare a hobo to a business man for example) and woman seem to hate facial hair of any kind on a man. I find it odd that a guy would willingly choose to grow a full beard with these kinda social pressures.

To be honest, any societal pressure against extensive facial hair seems less directed toward beards in general as much as unkempt beards. Now, it's true that bigger ones are more apt to be tangled, but they're not actually synonymous. A long beard in good condition can look quite dignified.

And I wouldn't generalize what women like. Some might dislike it, sure, but I suspect it's attractive to others.

My perspective might be slightly warped, since I work in a PC store, and PC guys have often been bearded. But I swear, the number of guys my age who are sporting full beards seems to have jumped in the last few years.

Clearly this indicates a surge in good taste!

Is this a fashion thing maybe? Like how fashions go from fashionable to unfashionable then back to fashionable after a few years, have full beards come back into style? What do you guys think?

Possibly. I doubt it's a conscious thing for most, however. You look at your face, allow a beard to grow a bit, examine the result, decide whether it looks good on you. Some people have the face for it. Some people (like me, IMO) have a face that looks hideous without some form of facial hair, a full beard being ideal. As I said earlier, I don't see this huge societal pressure against it, so I'd say in most cases it's a matter of liking the overall result.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

As someone from the US Pacific Northwest, land of beards, flannel, and grunge, I'm currently rocking a full beard, and have been for the last 7 years or so. It is trimmed down and professional looking instead of going all Duck Dynasty. I grew my beard largely cause I'm lazy about shaving, and it's a bit challenging due to my large chin (I'm secretly related to Bruce Campbell).

 

[The Gnome King]

Am I the only one who's noticed there seems to be a lot of guys my age (Twenties) who seem to be wearing a full beard? Not like a goatee or stubble or something, but a full-blown beard, like you would see a lumberjack with.

Quite simply, my wife hates facial hair.

Thus, no facial hair.

Personally, I find beards to be unattractive and dirty. This is totally a personal preference - I'm bi, and I've never dated a guy with a beard. Nor would I. Again, just personal preference. I know some women (and men) love guys with beards.

 

[Raikas]

I guess it's a regional thing, but I associate full beards as much with hardcore religious types as I do with hipster/artsy subcultures or youth trends. Unless the guy is also wearing pink skinny jeans, I assume that a guy with a beard is a conservative Muslim or an Orthodox Jew (when I lived in Calgary, I might have guessed a Hutterite/Mennonite as another alternate).

 

[Doclector]

I have a beard, I try to keep it trimmed but when I go through rough times I tend to default to standard cliche'd protaganist protocol and not bother. But most of the time, it's the one thing about my appearance that I don't completely despise. No matter what, I have to keep it, otherwise I would pretty much have no self esteem at all, a 100% negative self image, and I struggle as it is.

Besides, despite nearly being twenty three, I still only look about 16 without the beard. At least that's what I, and anyone who regularly has to ID people think. I have no real problem with being ID'd, but damn it's nice not to have to bother with it if at all possible.

 

[Barbas]

In Britain, where it is now too expensive to heat the house through the winter, a beard may save your life. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go and get some firewood for our Soviet-era wood-burning stove. I may be some time.

 

[FPLOON]

I hate shaving... and I've never tried to shave in the first place... That's how much I hate to shave...

On a more serious note, it's not just the beard I grew out, but the mustache, the sideburns, and an afro to top it all off... Though, I tend to keep them in check at least once a month, at the least...

Guess which facial feature came the fastest? (Hint: It's not the beard... That was a ***** to grow out properly for me...)

Also, the beard's now a fashion comeback? DAMMIT!! Most of my style is not that fashionable to the general public... Not that I even cared what the latest fashion trend was, anyway...

 

[C14N]

I'd say it's popular because most 20-something men kind of want to look older. "30 is the new 20" comes to mind, you don't think you look grown up in your 20s so a beard will help to sort that out. There's also a pretty popular school of thought that facial hair is generally just kind of manly. These days you see a lot of modern "rugged, reliable manly man" type of celebrities and characters with beards as well as guys who are generally considered very good looking just doing a good job of making facial hair look cool.
























And of course the manliest and most handsome of them all.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

I used to just have sideburns and a bit of a goatee, when I attempted to level up my sideburns into mutton chops it just kinda raged out of control and now I'm a scruffy beardo.

If I'm being completely honest, I'm too lazy too shave daily and my facial hair doesn't really grow too evenly. Having the beard makes it easier to just do weekend trim downs and saves me time on my morning routine.