# Facial Hair & Attractiviness
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 21, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972 "2014-10-21T01:40:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@IndianStones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IndianStones)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/1 "2014-10-21T01:40:19Z")
If I look attractive with facial hair, but unattractive without it, am I still considered an attractive person?
Like, do I deserve that label?
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### Author:  [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/2 "2014-10-21T01:41:15Z")
Are you male or female?
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### Author:  [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/3 "2014-10-21T01:43:56Z")
Cold, dude. (Or dudette)
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/4 "2014-10-21T03:18:12Z")
No.
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### Author:  [@IndianStones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IndianStones)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/5 "2014-10-21T03:31:48Z")
I’m male, obviously
so what’s the verdict?
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/6 "2014-10-21T03:42:17Z")
This is a ridiculously stupid question. Any given person is only as physically attractive as they are at the moment given hair style, clothes and even makeup. There is no one that looks as attractive as they can at all times. Every style conscious person has to go for their best look and that isn’t a cheat.
Check out candid photos of many so-called ‘hot’ celebrities some time. The vast majority of them look down right ordinary and some even border on completely unattractive in their natural state.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdb0R2DI-z0)
Even Tom Cruise, one of the most famous celebrities in the world, went undetected when he skipped the makeup and clothes and posed as common delivery driver. There is a lot more to perceived attractiveness than simple physical features. It is all about general style and confidence.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd4XkV5ojT8)
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### Author:  [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/7 "2014-10-21T03:45:28Z")
A label is just a label. If one person is attracted to you with facial hair but another hates it (and finds you attractive without it) which label do you get? Which person defines and awards the label?
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/8 "2014-10-21T03:51:06Z")
> [@DinoR](#):
>
> Which person defines and awards the label?
The hot one.
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### Author:  [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/9 "2014-10-21T04:18:01Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> The hot one.
You are so shallow, the hot one; really?
(I’m going for the meh-looking filthy rich one.)
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### Author:  [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/10 "2014-10-21T04:20:18Z")
Facial hair is makeup for an ugly face.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/11 "2014-10-21T05:06:56Z")
> [@DinoR](#):
>
> Which person defines and awards the label?
>
> > [@Ambivalid](#):
> >
> > The hot one.
> >
> > > [@Spiderman](#):
> > >
> > > (I’m going for the meh-looking filthy rich one.)
None of the above. The one who gets to award the label of attractive is the one giving him her cookie. And I would argue she’s the only one whose opinion matters, really.
If no one’s giving any cookies to the OP, he needs to determine whether the facial hair itself is a problem or not. Some women dig the wooly fur soup mustache/beard in your cereal look. Others prefer clean to 5’oclock shadow at most. If you’re fugly under that wooly-been-in-the-bush-for-a-year beard, then hold out for a chick who digs it and don’t worry about it, because no one has any idea what you look like under there anyway.
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### Author:  [@IndianStones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IndianStones)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/12 "2014-10-21T05:48:25Z")
> [@Stringbean](#):
>
> Facial hair is makeup for an ugly face.
Who here agrees with the above statement?
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/13 "2014-10-21T06:31:17Z")
> [@IndianStones](#):
>
> Who here agrees with the above statement?
I don’t. I think it can make an attractive face ugly. Do some guys use it to cover weak chins, double chins, whatever? Sure. Are some actually cute under the fur? Sure.
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### Author:  [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/14 "2014-10-21T07:49:57Z")
> [@IndianStones](#):
>
> Who here agrees with the above statement?
I don’t.
Facial hair is also make-up for a doofus hipster or old man’s face.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/15 "2014-10-21T09:48:32Z")
You do not get to label yourself. Your audience has the only vote.
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### Author:  [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/16 "2014-10-21T09:55:59Z")
> [@Stringbean](#):
>
> Facial hair is makeup for an ugly face.
Wrong again. Actor Tom Mison is quite attractive clean shaven. He was The Best Bingley Ever in _Lost in Austen_.
For _Sleepy Hollow_, they put him in a wig & had him grow a beard. And he became a Romantic Hero. A smart, sarcastic one…
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### Author:  [@Boogly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boogly)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/17 "2014-10-21T10:11:13Z")
Neckbeards are to prepare you for ball-fro.
Soul-glo!
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/18 "2014-10-21T12:15:04Z")
> [@Stringbean](#):
>
> Facial hair is makeup for an ugly face.
In my case, facial hair is the natural result when you are too lazy to shave.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/19 "2014-10-21T12:24:15Z")
Based on comments I’ve heard, guys with no chin who grow a beard are more attractive with the beard, because it hides the lack of chin. They also have the easiest beard-trimming task possible… just run the hedge clippers over it from time to time and they’re fine.
I, on the other hand, have a chin, and if I just trim with the clippers, I get a chin-shaped beard, and that’s just wrong.
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### Author:  [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-attractiviness/701972/20 "2014-10-21T13:48:09Z")
It depends on the beard, the face, and the soul of the man. Some men look terrible with beards. Some men look handsome with them where before they were plain. Some lucky handsome dudes look **even better** with beards (rare, but true).
Take Chris Evans or Andrew Lincoln. Both good-looking before, with beards they are smoking hot.
The trouble is, you yourself are probably not the best judge in this situation. Neither are your friends and loved ones, who may not want to hurt your feelings. The best thing to do is to spend 10 years working your ass off to become an actor of such prominence that gossip blogs post your paparazzi shots, and then read the comments.
If that fails, ask someone you trust to be straight with you re: the hair growing out of your face.
But even before that: look in the mirror and assess the density of your beard growth. A patchy, scraggly beard looks good on no one. Consider Orlando Bloom as an example.
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