# Facial hair **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2005, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309 "2005-03-13T07:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peyton\_Farquhar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Peyton\_Farquhar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peyton_Farquhar)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/21 "2005-03-14T01:54:00Z")
My theory is that facial hair is there to attract the female, _a la_ the peacock’s plumage. I haven’t been able to prove it so far, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/22 "2005-03-14T02:23:35Z")
> [@Peyton Farquhar](#): > > My theory is that facial hair is there to attract the female. Then why ain’t the Inuits dead? ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/23 "2005-03-14T06:08:09Z")
Although I take after the men on both sides of my family (ie, my father as well as my mother’s brother) in many respects, they have both grown full, attractive beards and my only effort so far (about 12 years ago, in my mid-20s) was a relatively sparse affair. I’d like to try again someday, so I’m counting on getting hairier as I age. Not much happening in the beard department now, though. On the plus side, I’m not going bald. > [@Walloon](#): > > Another thing that doesn’t put you at an advantage at a fraternity party is calling it a “frat”. Isn’t the next line “what do you call your country?” Which brings up the epithet I usually apply to people in frats. (no offense) [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/24 "2005-03-14T07:31:05Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > 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’m 21. I doubt I could grow a convincing beard - my hair’s just patchy. Hell, I can’t even grow decent sideburns. Yet it grows enough that if I don’t want to look unshaven, I have to shave every day. Worst of both worlds. (Fortunately, I’m still a college student. So if I go to class looking homeless, no one really cares.) Personally, I have zero interest in having facial hair anyway, so I’d be glad to not have to shave. Some girls prefer facial hair, but others don’t. I know a lot of girls - probably a majority - that just don’t like facial hair (often for kissing-related reasons, but also just on an aesthetic basis.) Facial hair ain’t that big a factor in getting girls. Get a motorcycle or start a band or something if you’re not getting enough tail. > [@eagle](#): > > 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! Dude, pluck the unibrow. All you need is a pair of tweezers and two minutes. It doesn’t even hurt. A unibrow is probably the least acceptable feature in a guy’s appearance, and it’s also easily fixable. “Self-confident with a unibrow” is not sexy; it’s probably creepy if anything. ---
**Author:** ![eagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@eagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eagle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/25 "2005-03-14T09:20:48Z")
> [@](#): > > [Research has found that 61% of women like body hair on men, expecially on the chest, while only 16% say they do not like body hair on men.](http://www.theminddoctor.com/Beards.htm) This article seem to be based on 20 at least year old studies. > [@](#): > > [Psychology Today](http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19941101-000022.html) This article is still 11 years old. > [@](#): > > [Farewell smooth, all hail return of the hirsute man.](http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=202232004) Well this is new, from 2004 and it says: “So, is it a case of a return to men who look like men, after the preoccupation during the 90s of clean-shaven, eau-pour-l’homme-wearing men who did the cooking and changed the nappies? Have women - and those promoting men’s fashion and films - decided that women don’t want men to look like them?” And answers these questions with yes. So it might be, that my perception is old-fashioned (i.e. from the nineties), but it is not wrong. But I have yet to see the “new real men” the scotsman talks about, they are not yet visible in German ads. cu ---
**Author:** ![eagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@eagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eagle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/26 "2005-03-14T09:33:20Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Dude, pluck the unibrow. All you need is a pair of tweezers and two minutes. It doesn’t even hurt. A unibrow is probably the least acceptable feature in a guy’s appearance, and it’s also easily fixable. “Self-confident with a unibrow” is not sexy; it’s probably creepy if anything. Look this kind of thinking puts rather attractive women to plastic surgery and girls into eating disorders, men into penis enlargements and fitness studios into big business. The moment, that I pluck my brow, I surrender to public opinion, that is I exchange self-confidence with borrowed confidence, borrowed from people, that do not know me, but still try to judge me. Actually, when I was building my self-confidence I made my own survey, and asked people of both sexes around me, about my uni-brow. The answer I got most the time was “Oh really, I did not notice until you asked.” So, the _importance_ of such a detail of appearance is at least relative. cu ---
**Author:** ![eagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@eagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eagle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/27 "2005-03-14T09:36:27Z")
I wish I could edit, correct: This article seems to be based on at least 20 years old studies. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/28 "2005-03-14T09:47:39Z")
> [@eagle](#): > > Look this kind of thinking puts rather attractive women to plastic surgery and girls into eating disorders, men into penis enlargements and fitness studios into big business. The moment, that I pluck my brow, I surrender to public opinion, that is I exchange self-confidence with borrowed confidence, borrowed from people, that do not know me, but still try to judge me. > > Actually, when I was building my self-confidence I made my own survey, and asked people of both sexes around me, about my uni-brow. The answer I got most the time was “Oh really, I did not notice until you asked.” So, the _importance_ of such a detail of appearance is at least relative. > > cu I don’t know how bad your unibrow is. But comparing plucking a unibrow to plastic surgery - you don’t think that’s a little bit of a stretch? We modify our physical appearance according to cultural values constantly. I shave. I get my hair cut. I clip my fingernails; I dress in socially appropriate ways and try to generally make my appearance flattering. Tweezering your eyebrows once in a while is a smaller task than shaving every day. Why is it so important for you to prove your “independence” from society, especially when such an independence is impossible anyway? Why is it important to have your eyebrows in their natural state? Isn’t it unnatural to cut your hair? Or brush your teeth? ---
**Author:** ![eagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@eagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eagle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/29 "2005-03-14T10:51:29Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I don’t know how bad your unibrow is. But comparing plucking a unibrow to plastic surgery - you don’t think that’s a little bit of a stretch? No, because it is the same kind of false self-perception that often leads to both. > [@](#): > > We modify our physical appearance according to cultural values constantly. I shave. I get my hair cut. I clip my fingernails; I dress in socially appropriate ways and try to generally make my appearance flattering. Tweezering your eyebrows once in a while is a smaller task than shaving every day. Why is it so important for you to prove your “independence” from society, especially when such an independence is impossible anyway? Why is it important to have your eyebrows in their natural state? Isn’t it unnatural to cut your hair? Or brush your teeth? Why is it so important for you to fit in? BTW, I currently grow a beard and do not cut my hair. (But still brush my teeth!) It is what I want right now. There is nothing wrong with either shaving or not shaving, as long as what you do is what you want, and not what you think others expect from you to find you attractive. You cannot change what others expect from you, and even if at some point you qualify as “perfect looking”, the public opinion will move on and then you are again in the race to become “perfect”. This is not healthy. But it is healthy to make yourself feel good. And you can achieve this only if you become independent of external opinions. (But this indepence is not a matter of black and white, it is a scale on which you have to choose where you feel home.) You’re 21, I’m 33. So maybe it will take a few years for you to understand, what I’m talking about. I’m sure, that I wouldn’t have understood my posts at 21, I do now! cu ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/30 "2005-03-14T11:38:45Z")
> [@eagle](#): > > No, because it is the same kind of false self-perception that often leads to both. We’re wandering out of GQ here, but wanting to change your appearance isn’t the same as “false self-perception.” This is also a very distorted scale you’re using, since you can do things like shaving and plucking a unibrow for basically nothing, liposuction is major surgery, and eating disorders (which I’m pretty sure have components that go beyond insecurity) are life-threatening. It’s a big stretch. What he says about how people feel about unibrows is absolutely true. If you don’t care, that’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/31 "2005-03-14T11:59:24Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Translation? Mush? Bonce? I beg your Transatlantic pardon. MUSH = “a person’s face” (but also, generally, a man - “I got it from this mush in Shepherd’s Bush”). Always pronounced like ‘bush’ rather than ‘hush’. BONCE = “a large marble; the head (sl)” etymology unknown. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/32 "2005-03-14T12:15:16Z")
> [@eagle](#): > > This article seem to be based on 20 at least year old studies. Where in the article is that stated? ---
**Author:** ![eagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@eagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eagle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/33 "2005-03-14T12:48:15Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > We’re wandering out of GQ here, but wanting to change your appearance isn’t the same as “false self-perception.” This is also a very distorted scale you’re using, since you can do things like shaving and plucking a unibrow for basically nothing, liposuction is major surgery, and eating disorders (which I’m pretty sure have components that go beyond insecurity) are life-threatening. It’s a big stretch. The stretch is big but gradually and goes often unnoticed from “still normal” to “clinical disorder”. And yes there are other components, but “false self-perception” and dependence on others is almost always part of it: [Quote from ANRED] ([ANRED: Who Gets Eating Disorders](http://www.anred.com/who.html)): "\ ***People with eating disorders seek external solutions for internal problems.** They feel empty, depressed, anxious, fearful, sorrowful, guilty, frustrated, insecure and depressed. They want to feel better, which is good, but they choose woefully ineffective ways of doing that. In fact, starving and stuffing have the opposite effect: they cause MORE emotional pain and distress. ``` Nonetheless, manipulating food and body weight is encouraged by Western culture, which exhorts all of us, and especially women, to improve ourselves by "fixing" the external package, the body. Make-over reality shows on TV are a prime example. **The message is, "Change your hair color and style, buy new clothes, paint your face, shove your feet into shoes that hurt and make walking difficult, tone your muscles AND LOSE WEIGHT and you will be happy, admired, and loved -- an instant new identity, a new you.** The problem is, of course, that sprucing up the outside (or starving it to death) does not fix what's wrong on the inside. **True happiness and deep contentment are achieved through psychological and spiritual growth and ultimate realization of one's worth and place in the world, not by abusing the body. It takes a lot of wisdom and maturity to realize and accept this hard truth, and the young people most vulnerable to eating disorders are those who most lack those characteristics.***" (bolding mine) ``` cu ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/34 "2005-03-14T13:13:21Z")
I understand where you’re coming from, but it’s also true that changing your appearance is not necessarily a character flaw or a symptom of some deeper problem. ---
**Author:** ![eagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@eagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eagle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/35 "2005-03-14T13:26:36Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I understand where you’re coming from, but it’s also true that changing your appearance is not necessarily a character flaw or a symptom of some deeper problem. Yes, I agree with that. But back to the topic of this thread: If there is something about your appearance, that you cannot change easily (like sparse facial hair), do you think it is worth to feel bad (or insecure) about it? Or is it better to identify the other qualities, that you sure have? I think it is better, to identify your other qualities or even realize, that what you perceive as bad is actually a good thing. That’s what I tried to tell the OP on this thread. (Not a GQ thing to do, I know, but something that may help the OP more, than scientifically assembled statistics.) I’m off this thread now, but let me say this as my last words here: Everybody is attractive to somebody, but nobody is attractive to everybody. So to be perfectly attractive, you have to become a Nobody. Think about it. cu ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/36 "2005-03-15T02:39:57Z")
Stubble may look sexy, but its damn painful to kiss a guy with it. So your prospects at a party may be better than you think. My boyfriend’s 30 and he can’t grow a full beard. He can’t even grow a goatee–he can do the mustache and the chin bit, but he can’t connect them. He also looks younger than he is. I don’t mind–my dad’s had a full beard for most of my life, so it’s nice to be kissing a guy who doesn’t remind me of my father. > [@Soapbox Monkey](#): > > 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). Stubble may look sexy, but its damn painful to kiss a guy with it. Even though my boyfriend’s facial hair is sparse, if he goes more than 2 days without shaving, it can be really scratchy. So your prospects at a party may be better than you think. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/37 "2005-03-15T02:44:55Z")
Leave the unibrow. Shave your nutsack. Trust me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309/38 "2005-03-15T02:46:23Z")
Oh… but don’t do it with a straight razor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair/294309.md?page=1)