My partner has the heaviest stubble I’ve ever seen (he’s Persian). He says he’s tried it and it can’t be done, at least not with safety matches. He’s never tried it with “strike-anywhere” matches . . . but we both agree that if anyone can do it, he can.
I did this with cap strips when I was in middle school. I doubt you can even buy those anymore. My fingernail was brown and burned. Hurt like a SOB for a while too.
Fred MacMurray does this frequently in Double Indemnity:
They give you matches when you buy cigars, you know; all you have to do is ask for 'em.
That’s what I was thinking. I can light a strike-anywhere fairly easily on the scaly calluses on me heel, and occasionally on my elbow.
Well of course it can’t be done with safety matches. Those require a chemical which is only present in the striking surface, and not in the stubble of even the swarthiest Persian.
Tell him (I assume he’s a he 
) to try a strike-anywhere match and report back.
(FWIW yes I have tried and only succeeded in grazing my face…)