Based on tmwster’s comment in this thread the question needs to be asked, does increasing baldness inspire men to grow beards.
For me, the answer is “yes” - I’ve been losing my hair for about 10 years now and I’ve been wearing a beard of one form or another for about the last six years. Currently, it’s trimmed to a goatee.
If I’m losing styling options above my ears, I figured I’d add options below.
I’ve worn a moustache since early college, and lost nearly all my hair before I turned 30. I didn’t grow a beard until a couple of years after that, but have worn it ever since.
Could it be that the increased testosterone levels that cause baldness also increase the ability to grow a nice beard? May be a natural combination!
Not for me, I’m afraid. I takes about 4 days for me to get a five-o’clock shadow. This beard of mine is an act of commitment.
I don’t know, but I’ve always suspected the converse is true. I have very little body hair and can’t grow a decent beard to save my life, but I have a full head of hair.
Barry
Hmmm…let me guess. You have great skin too? Let’s not go into the other effects of lower testosterone levels. 
Just kidding - I’m not really sure about the testosterone thing. You wouldn’t find me throwing this info around in GQ!
Well, since you asked…
I do get an occasional zit (I’ve got one on my nose right now, as a matter of fact), but my fiancee keeps telling me how amazed she is by what wonderful skin I have.
Unlike my father, who is bald, has lots of body hair, and can grow a great beard in a short amount of time, I don’t have much of a temper and am not very aggressive.
And, last but not least, I’m also not particularly well-endowed (you’ll note that I’ve never posted in any of the “Does Size Really Matter” threads).
I have always assumed that I don’t have very high testosterone levels, although I’ve never been tested (assuming there even is such a test). And it’s always been a theory of mine that the reason women tend not to go after “nice guys” is simply because high testosterone levels tend to make men behave like jerks, while at the same time providing them with the an overabundance of the secondary sexual characteristics that turn women on.
Just a theory, of course…
Barry
Maybe you just have a really really big clitoris.
I used to have very long (head) hair and no facial hair. At the age of 22 I discovered a small bald spot.
After a month of denial, I came to grips with it and gave myself a buzz cut and started growing a “Galways” beard (I don’t know for sure if this is the right term but someone told me it was - the beard is a narrow band only grown along the jawline, think Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish icon).
As my hair began receding, apparently in some kind of race with the bald spot in the rear, I shaved the whole cannonball and grew a full beard. That was almost nine years ago.
So yes…my facial has increased as my head hair has decreased.
Now, what to do about all this gray.
I grew a short full beard around 1978 or 1979, back when facial hair was a bit more cool than it is now, and except for a few short episodes of temporary insanity have kept it ever since. I have to admit that I was also quickly losing my hair when I first grew the beard. However, I think I would have grown the beard anyway. In my mind, I’m still stuck a bit in the '60’s when I was a prepubescent, and couldn’t wait to grow the cool sideburns and beard.
Incidentally, my two brothers who still have their hair can’t grow a beard worth a damn.
Incidentally again, notice how most people tend to think all bald guys with beards look alike?
I am not bald, but have the classic “M” receding forehead and a bald, well maybe thin, spot. I can grow a beard, but it is spotty enough to take a bit, and I have very little body hair. I used to call myself well evolved.
I don’t think there is a link. I’ve been told that the male pattern baldness gene is a Mediterranean mutation spread by the Romans. I think of the ability to grow a beard as kind of a Nordic thing, so I doubt there is any direct connection. (Yeah Greeks can grow beards, but I’m hard pressed to think of any other nationality/ethnic group that can match the more northern peoples.)
Incidentally, baldness is not linked to testosterone levels, but to an offshoot known as dihydrotestosterone. Some cells can metabolize it, some can’t. The ones that can are in your prostrate and hair follicles - if you have male pattern baldness. That is how Propecia, or Finistride (sp?) work. Same compound, but one is a baldness “remedy” and one is a prostrate treatment.
I grew a moustache as a teen, then added long sideburns growing into Victorian style muttonchops which merged with the moustache, and finally stopped shaving my chin for a full beard by my early twenties. Developed classic male pattern baldness by thirty.:rolleyes: So in my case the beard definitely came first.
In summary, body hair - lots, face hair - lots, side/back of head - lots, top - chrome-dome. As a slight hijack, I believe that head and face/body hair are controlled by different genes, which would explain the differences between my head hair (dark brown originally, now almost all gray, fine & straight) and my beard (reddish-brown with some gray, thick & curly).
I have a full head of hair, almost white, with just the tiniest bit of receding around my temples. I’m proof of the old saw that you inherit your hair from your mother’s side of the family; my father’s side runs to early balding, starting at the temples. I’ve had a full beard since I was 19. Oddly enough, the level of gray in the beard runs about 10 years behind the hair. The people you see with obviously dyed dark hair and a white beard? I was the reverse for some time.
Pretty bald, pretty full beard. Both are signs of testosterone…are you looking, ladies??? The amount of facial hair in normal men is mostly due to getetics, as most men have more than enough testosterone to produce a beard. Seriously, women get bald too,but not in the same way…the genetics are interesting, and it doesn’t signal a overabundance of testosterone usually… Of course there aren’t too many bearded ladies, and they are normally due to adrenal tumors (where females produce most of their testosterone, which is required for sex drive)
Sun (proudly gleaming on the pate) stone
Forgot to add that the balding gene is inherited from both parents, but since the gene operates differently in men and in women (due to differing testosterone levels), the effect is usually seen in only Dad and not Mom
I think for me the answer to the OP is Yes. My hair line is slowly receding and last year I had this urge to add some facial hair. In the interviening 10 or so years since I had a beard it is rather grey, and that sucks.
OK, wiseguy, now how do you suggest I clean all this spritzed coffee off my monitor, and out of my nose? 
The beard came first. The hair is going.
But mostly it’s because the women I know dig bald men-- especially if they have goatees.
I don’t think they are related, either. I am bald, cannot grow a good beard or mustache, but have probably more than the average amount of body hair, though I am not the guy at the gym that is so hairy you have to have your glasses on to see if it’s him or a sweater.
BTW, Slowmind, it’s prostate - prostRate means lying down, usually on your belly.
:smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:
You’d think being over 40, and having had the requisite exam, I wouldn’t have made that mistake.