# Ladies: Do you prefer, or tolerate beards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 19, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900 "2017-12-19T23:15:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/21 "2017-12-20T15:57:25Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > I’m mixed on facial hair. > > [Beards](http://www.gp.se/image/policy:1.4447566:1500105723/image.jpg?f=Wide%26w=1200%26%24p%24f%24w=834285a): an enthusiastic yes, as long as they’re well kept and thick, not scraggly. [Short](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03428/Beard-Heading_3428994k.jpg) is fine, but not patchy > > Goatees: Eh. They can look dated and often douchey, but can be pulled off in some circumstances > > Mustaches: No. Full stop. > > **Any other “creative” form of beard,** such as chinstrap (ugh), muttonchops, soul patch etc. is also a very firm no. > > That said, it’s not my face, so men should feel free to do any or none of the above. 🙂 You mean you would turn away these [fine](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/63/d0/8d/63d08de93aa094616721f9fecc6091be--facial-hair-bad-hair.jpg) [men](https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/full-circle-beard-around-your-face.jpg)? 😃 ETA: Just _had_ to add [this](http://dailypicksandflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/flawless-face-transplant.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/22 "2017-12-20T16:51:14Z")
I’m not a lady but I can tell you that soon after we were married I decided to shave just for the heck of it. For the last 25 years I have been under orders to never do so again. So I guess you can put her down as “prefers” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/23 "2017-12-20T17:04:05Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I can’t tolerate it. I always feel bad saying this, because there’s nothing inherently wrong with it, and it’s an entirely subjective thing, but my aversion to facial hair is so strong I doubt I could even kiss someone with it. Which isn’t to say men can never be attractive who have it. It’s the tactile experience. I just can’t. I like my men clean cut and clean shaven. I have to agree here. I feel kind of bad about it, because I’ve known plenty of men who grew beards out of religious obligation. I would never tell a man he had to shave (other than the one I’m married to, but he was clean-shaven when I married him, and even then, I know it’d be a losing battle if he’d made up his mind, but more on that below). There are some beards I don’t even like looking at, but I realize that is none of my business. The only thing that is my business is who I kiss. My husband, FWIW, has a burn scar on one side of his face that was grafted with skin peeled from his leg, so even if he did want to grow a beard, he could grow it only on about 2/3 of his face. For that reason, aside from the fact that he personally doesn’t like beards himself, he would never try to grow one. He could grow a moustache, but he doesn’t like those either (_whew_). My father had a moustache, and had it my whole life. I didn’t really see it, if that makes sense. I’m not sure how my mother stood 34 years of it, but it was always very clean, neat, and well-trimmed. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/24 "2017-12-20T17:27:12Z")
I could imagine a scenario of getting over it, if I were in love. If I really love someone, they just become attractive to me. Fortunately my husband has no real ability or interest in growing a beard. He regularly teases me about shaving his head, though. He’s got a fluffy Italian curly fro going on, so it would be a funny change. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/25 "2017-12-20T17:27:17Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > you mean you would turn away these [fine](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/63/d0/8d/63d08de93aa094616721f9fecc6091be--facial-hair-bad-hair.jpg) [men](https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/full-circle-beard-around-your-face.jpg)? > :d > eta: Just _had_ to add [this](http://dailypicksandflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/flawless-face-transplant.jpg). Eye bleach! Eye bleach! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/26 "2017-12-21T08:57:05Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You mean you would turn away these [fine](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/63/d0/8d/63d08de93aa094616721f9fecc6091be--facial-hair-bad-hair.jpg) [men](https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/full-circle-beard-around-your-face.jpg)? > 😃 > ETA: Just _had_ to add [this](http://dailypicksandflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/flawless-face-transplant.jpg). WTF? I know that if I grew my beard out, it would come in grey or white, and utterly ruin any chance I have of a date. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/27 "2017-12-21T10:15:30Z")
I don’t like facial hair of any sort. And short haircuts are my preference as well. If a beard were meticulously groomed I could probably get past it. But the one guy I dated who had one, just no. If I go to kiss you two hours after dinner, and I smell the food in your beard? That evening’s going to end with barfing, not Whoo hoo. And the whole goatee “just around the chin” thing? No way. Years ago a friend of mine dubbed that: Pussy Mouth and I’ve just never been able to un-see it. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/28 "2017-12-21T11:03:11Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > WTF? > > I know that if I grew my beard out, it would come in grey or white, and utterly ruin any chance I have of a date. At age 43, I started growing in may beard and it was mostly grey. Didn’t ruin my dating chances at all. That’s my wife’s job. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/29 "2017-12-21T21:36:22Z")
> [@Pabitel](#): > > I’m not a lady but I can tell you that soon after we were married I decided to shave just for the heck of it. > > For the last 25 years I have been under orders to never do so again. > > So I guess you can put her down as “prefers” Pretty much the same here. My moustache has been shaved once in my life 'cause the wife likes it (I do trim regularly). I took me over 50 years to finally grow a decent beard and she likes it, too. It’s all cool with me, I never liked shaving every day anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/30 "2017-12-22T01:54:38Z")
My impression is that most people like, or at least feel neutral about, facial hair, and that I’m in the minority. I can’t do long hair, either. I really think it’s that I like access to all the parts. Long hair obscures the ears, and man-ears are adorable. I want the ears, the neck, the face. My husband’s hair, when it grows out, gets fluffy, not droopy, (think [John Frances Daley](http://p.fod4.com/p/channels/legacy/profile/1217984/c3d0f51742a1f00779d6b2728896f334.jpg)) but I always get excited when he gets a haircut, because suddenly I can see/feel/kiss his ears. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/31 "2017-12-22T05:14:15Z")
I love 5 o’clock shadows (burn, baby, burn), and tolerate a very well groomed beard\*. My husband shaves on about day 3 during vacations … sigh. By then he just has the best scruff happening. But it’s his face and his choice. I would have to see a guy fully shaved before I would give him the time of day. Back when I had a choice, of course. And by seeing him I mean either in the flesh or recent-ish pictures. Because chins are one of those criteria that I looked at. For baby making reasons. \*jaw hugging or one of those few non-curly beards that hug the jaw line and grow from there. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/32 "2017-12-22T05:35:26Z")
Yeah, I’m down with 5 o’ clock shadow, at least. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/33 "2017-12-22T07:05:46Z")
Reluctantly tolerate. ---
**Author:** ![And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/and_his_buzzer_goes/32/377_2.png) [@And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/And_his_buzzer_goes)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/34 "2017-12-22T10:35:45Z")
> [@MoonMoon](#): > > [Beards](http://www.gp.se/image/policy:1.4447566:1500105723/image.jpg?f=Wide%26w=1200%26%24p%24f%24w=834285a): an enthusiastic yes, as long as they’re well kept and thick, not scraggly. My wife gets weak in the knees because of Kristofer Hivju. She encouraged me to get a beard I’d guess three years ago, it probably had nothing to do with me having red hair as well. :rolleyes: I have kept it since. Length may differ a bit, mostly because a longer beard is harder to keep in shape and I lose my patience with it. Always full though. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/35 "2017-12-27T19:11:44Z")
Thanks for the responses. I admit I am surprised that it appears more people here are either OK with, or prefer beards. My wife’s revulsion may just have something to do with me, perhaps. When I do let the whiskers grow out some (if I am traveling and no opportunity to shave), the whole thing comes in grey-white now. When I shaved my head a few months ago for the first time, I let the beard come-in, but was so white/grey I looked like an old man (and I am not), so now the longest hairs on my head are my eyebrows! (yes, another revolting thing for my wife). ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/36 "2017-12-29T02:11:07Z")
[Handsome](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnmTlisWEAA7idA.jpg) / [Hot](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/cf/64/a0/cf64a06e870bef5eff80cb2de44746f4--chris-evans-captain-america-captain-america-shirt.jpg) [OK](https://api.curtisbrown.co.uk/media/34761/show/328x328) / [OMG](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Dev_Patel_%2829870651654%29.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900/40 "2020-06-08T11:52:27Z")
This thread is so old that it has grown a beard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-do-you-prefer-or-tolerate-beards/804900.md?page=1)