At 20 years old, I’m fairly certain that I’m completely done with puberty (I think I may have been somewhat of a late bloomer), and yet I don’t really grow much facial hair, aside from a rather juvenile looking mustache and a few whiskers here and there.
Now I’m sort of wondering…where the fuck the rest of it is? When, if ever, can I expect to start grow noticeable amounts of facial hair? Or is there a certain percentage of men out there who just…can’t grow it?
Most of my male friends became “men” (as far as hair goes) at 30.
And then, of course, at 50 you have ear and nose hair to contend with.
Don’t rush it.
Here’s one. I blame my mother, who said she was “behind” the other girls in school and never was what you would call especially voluptuous. My dad says he was shaving some in high school, so it’s her genes that must have won the fight.
I can’t grow anything worth keeping. The upside is that I don’t shave every day, but the big downsides are I don’t have a choice to grow anything and what does come in looks terrible instead of slightly Fred Flinstone-y.
And all you people who are about to chime in that you would LOVE not to have to shave every day, and I should be so grateful, shut up. You’re being an ass.
I believe there is a certain percentage of men who “just can’t grow it.” A good friend of mine has a Native American mother and a Mexican father, and just naturally has no facial hair.
He attributes it to his NA heritage; his younger brother (same father, different mother) has plenty of facial hair.
In your case, you’re only 20 and a self proclaimed “late bloomer.” I’d give it some more time, but even if it doesn’t ever come in as a full Grizzly Adams faceshrub, it’s just genetics. Don’t worry about it, work with what you got for now. (I, personally, prefer a clean shaven man… but don’t let that sway you. 
)
I was a late bloomer. I’m 42, and I still only have to shave every other day. I hated not having that atavistic look chicks dig when I was younger, but nowdays, I’m glad, because I don’t look anywhere near my age. So, as others have said, give it time, you’ll have the last laugh.
Yes there is. AFAIK it is a rare phenomen on caucasians, but fairly often on some asians, africans and native americans.
However, growing a dense beard often comes together with getting bald early, so if I were you, I would not be so mad about not growing a dense beard.
cu
My mum bought me an electric razor for my thirteenth birthday. I started shaving about a year earlier, not through some teenage bravado but because I actually had to.
Shaving is a complete bore - all that blood for a start, plus the cost (of razors, shaving preparations & unguents etc); then there’s deciding what bits to leave behind in order to look “trendy” (but actually looking like a complete twat). Even at the advance age of 45 I still cannot get it right. This recent moustache is, frankly, ludicrous and will come off soon.
Oddly, the more hair there is on my mush, the less there is on my bonce. (I’m a bloke, by the way.)
You’re better off without facial hair, mate!
Too right. I’m 21 now. I started to grow facial hair when I was 13. Now regular shaving irritates my face and neck no end and I have never once actually wanted a beard or stubble. I would love to get rid of my facial hair permanently, but all the methods I can think of are painful or expensive.
Plus the baldness thing’s bound to hit soon.
Count yourself lucky.
Well, the big downside is that, from what I hear on these boards and out in the real world, a lot of girls are attracted to guys who have a little stubble, or can at least grow some. It makes them look their age I guess?
And then there’s me, looking like I’m 14 years old. Definitely doesn’t put me at an advantage when I’m at a frat party (my best friend is in a frat).
Chicken shit.
Liberally slathered on your face and in no time you will have a crop to be proud.
Sorry but I cannot help you with the smell.
Trust me, it works. My mother taught it to me. She never lies.
I went through puberty starting about age 10 – no fun, let me tell you. If I’d had any sense, I would have played it up for all it was worth, but at the time it was an accute embarassment for a kid so shy he couldn’t even talk on the phone.
But here I am, decades later, can’t grow a beard.
All the men in my family have had full beards and moustaches at one point or another. But I can’t even grow a goatee. Most of my cheeks have no hair at all. Chest and legs… these got hirsute during adolescence, but at this point it’s certain I’ll never muster a beard.
And honestly, it’s made absolutely zero difference in my life. No one knows unless I say something. And I never say anything about it because, well, who in the world would care?
I also appear very young. Even up to my very late 30s, I often got carded, and frequently got the “hairy eyeball” from clerks and bouncers who had a hard time believing the DOB on my ID.
I do have American Indian ancestry – hadn’t thought about that as a possible cause. On the other hand, I frequently have difficulties controlling my emotions, anger, and impulses, so I’ve often suspected some developmental stunting, possibly hormonal. Inside, I often feel as though I’m a much younger person – very difficult to describe, but very real.
Well, and an even greater amount of girls doesn’t like hairy men at all. Just think about it: When was the last time, that you have seen a male model with chest hair? (Most models have it but shave it before shooting!) Why would marketing guys prefer them that way? Trust me, these guys study what people like and what they don’t like. If they use perfectly shaved hairless male models, there must be some reason to it.
Yet, I was in the same trap as you are, but just in the opposite direction: My eyebrows are thick and grow together above my nose. So I actually do not have two eyebrows but instead a single thick bar of hair on my forehead. Now, there was a time, when I believed this makes me unattractive, because neither male models nor any (movie) actors do have this kind of eyebrow. It took years to overcome this false belief, and it was not before I realized, what makes you really attractive: self-confidence!
Work on your self-confidence, and forget about that beard-thing.
cu
I feel your pain brother. I have no more than 11 hairs on my chin and above my lip (I know, I counted). What sucks even more is that I have two small moles on my left side that have hairs in them, and without other hair around them they totally stick out. On the plus side however, I have enough hair on the sides of my face to grow mutton chops, I grow them out just weird out people sometimes. If only I had hair above my lip, then I could connect them lke this guy Mutton I want. But I really look like this:
Mutton I Have.
I realize that more hair is more work, but it’s just the fact that I can’t do something that makes me wan’t to do it. This just sucks because I can’t grow a full beard or mustache but still have to shave often to look trim.
Amen to that, Frida Kahlo was sort of a sex symbol, I think. I don’t have the full uni-brow, but I have just enough hair there to make it noticible. It’s not so much, however, to make plucking it a labor intensive activity.
I see your “don’t detract from the clothes” attitude of clothes designers and raise you Tom Selleck, Burt Reynolds, and David Hasselhof.
Male modeling is a very specific vocation, where the emphasis is not on the man but the clothes.
Translation? Mush? Bonce?
Got to say that regardless of how much facial hair I’ve had when I met a girl (whether the Rugged Manly 3-O’Clock Shadow Look turns her on or not), when things got to the point of extending smooching sessions it all had to come off. If I’ve got the tiniest bit of stubble then she always looks like she had a run-in with sandpaper. I’ve got my shaving routine down to the point where I get a pretty glass-smooth finish with a safety razor (I thought about trying a straight razor which I’m told produces the Ultimate Shave and is kind of a cool ritual).
As far as body hair I don’t think I’ve met a woman who really likes it…they will put up with it but I think the average Jane doesn’t go for the wooly mammoth look.
Eagle, I bet that at least part of the reason that male models aren’t sporting a thick luxurious pelt is that it obscures muscle development. You can’t see all those cuts through the hair (same reason that body builders shave or depilate or whatever).
After inheriting my grandfather’s shaving brush, I switched to a straight razor, and after getting the hang of it kept it up for years. Before that, I was using my father’s old safety razor (the kind w/ the top that opens like double-doors and holds a double-edged blade).
I hate noise in the morning, so electrics are out, and I disliked throwing away the disposables.
A straight razor can produce a close shave, but you gotta accept the fact that you’re going to give yourself some nasty slices. A “nick” from a straight razor can mean a chunk out of your face (I have one noticable scar).
I bought mine from a small-town barber in his 80s who used to shave me when he gave me my flat-tops back in the day. He showed me how to use it, and gave me pointers on what never to do, which probably saved me even more scars. I highly recommend getting the low-down from someone with experience before you start out, if you decide to try it.
Moles etc can be a problem, btw.
I had to give it up when there were ambulatory kids in the house. In all seriousness, sudden noises and other surprises can result in blood loss. Plus, I didn’t have the time to enjoy the ritual. Because you’re right, it’s the ritual – and in my case, a feeling of connection to my grandfather – that’s what’s most enjoyable.
Razors with disposable heads that are made today will give you as close a shave or better, imo. I still lather up w/ soap and brush, though. I hate the noise of the aerosol can, and hate to throw the can away.
Another thing that doesn’t put you at an advantage at a fraternity party is calling it a “frat”.
Jude Law, Viggo Mortensen, Jake Gyllenhall, Pierce Brosnan, Russell Crowe, Lucky Vanous, John F. Kennedy, Jr.
I knew many guys growing up who never grew much facial hair, most of my friends were white. I personally started shaving in about the 8th grade, by the 10th grade I could have grown a full beard.
I grew my first goatee/mustache combo at 19 mainly because after years of being able to do something, it just becomes a big tempationt to actually do it. It has its ups and downs, and through the years I’ve noticed facial hair going in and out as far as trendiness goes.
I’d say it’s best to be able to grow it, because if you can’t grow it there isn’t much you can do about it. If you can then it’s easy to get rid of it if it falls out of fashion/girlfriend bitches about it.
My chest hair is something there is no compromise on. I do a lot of bodybuilding and everyone says my muscles would look more defined if I shaved it, but not me. Too much work involved and I just mentally attach chest hair with manliness. Growing up that was what separated “men” like our fathers from “boys” like myself and my friends in the locker room (as most men don’t have much chest hair until after HS.)
I’d say culturally chest hair has gone “out” for a lot of people. But there are roughly 140m women in this country, not hard to find a bunch that like chest hair.
Let me guess, you are/were in a fraternity? I have gotten lectures on the whole “don’t shorten it to ‘frat’” subject. :rolleyes:
Sometimes it’s just easier to type “frat” than “fraternity,” sorry if I offended you.
