# Men absentmindedly stroking their beard, annoying/irritating or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 5, 2011, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252 "2011-09-05T09:33:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/21 "2011-09-05T21:12:43Z")
Male, bearded. I stroke my beard when I’m thinking, using my left thumb and forefinger sorta slide along either side of my chin, coming together at the chin cleft. I can’t stand it if my wife strokes my beard, feels very alien to me. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/22 "2011-09-05T21:55:16Z")
self delete. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/23 "2011-09-05T21:58:38Z")
> [@Skyscrapers\_Are\_Gravestones](#): > > It also annoys several of my oldest friends, one of whom will reach over and grab my hand mid-stroke to make the. Incessant. Beard stroking. Stop. Same here. . ---
**Author:** ![BunnyTVS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BunnyTVS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyTVS)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/24 "2011-09-06T23:35:36Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > Male, bearded. I stroke my beard when I’m thinking, using my left thumb and forefinger sorta slide along either side of my chin, coming together at the chin cleft. I can’t stand it if my wife strokes my beard, feels very alien to me. Same method of stroking here\*. I also had a girlfriend a few years back who would sometimes stroke my chin when we were curled up on the sofa. Always stroked the left side though… Then one day I found out why. She was waiting for the chance to pluck the single white hair that was groing there\*\*. \*That just sounds soooo wrong. \*\*These days she’d have a lot more options to pluck. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/25 "2011-09-06T23:47:05Z")
I’d never thought to be irritated by it. When I have a beard, I often stroke it. It feels smooth and nice, why shouldn’t I? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/26 "2011-09-06T23:48:44Z")
What’s to be done with this Homer Simpson? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/27 "2011-09-06T23:57:52Z")
Another (non-bearded, occasional) chin-stroker here. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/28 "2011-09-07T00:34:10Z")
I have a very full red beard. I don’t because a year before I grew mine, I knew a guy with a sizable beard who did it in a real showy way and it struck me as kinda gross. I’ve never been tempted as a result. I don’t mind seeing others do it. This guy just had a hippie hygiene vibe. I am, however, a real and figurative moustache twirler. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/29 "2011-09-07T02:00:20Z")
I have a short pointed beard and mustache, do not stroke the beard, and do not consider it annoying. However, I occasionally do twirl my mustache diabolically, as befits a landlord of my station. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/30 "2011-09-07T02:43:07Z")
Yeah, I’m with **pravnik**. How the hell else am I supposed to show my super-villany? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/31 "2011-09-07T03:03:27Z")
You grew out the beard huh? I too am rocking a fabulous bush these days. I am a non-apologetic stroker. I usually stroke it with a scissor motion, grabbing the hairs below and to the left of my mouth on the side. I seem to mostly do it while reading. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/32 "2011-09-07T05:30:42Z")
The motion of beard-stroking (heh, that sounds dirty) doesn’t bother me. It’s the _sound_ that makes me nuts. Some don’t make any noise and so don’t bother me at all, but some have rough hair or something, and there’s a _sound_ it makes that makes me stabby. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/33 "2011-09-08T22:24:03Z")
> [@willthekittensurvive](#): > > why would you grow a beard if you don’t want to stroke it? I grew a goatee senior year of high school specifically because I wanted to stroke it while looking thoughtful. Seriously. Later I realized that it’s good camouflage for my unmanly chin, so it stayed. I still stroke it, and hypocritically think other people doing it is sometimes pretentious. I then wonder if that’s what I look like while doing it…I think about that hard, stroking my chin in thought. Shit. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/34 "2011-09-09T16:20:11Z")
How are you supposed to convince people you’re straight if you don’t stroke your beard? ---
**Author:** ![Forestprairie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Forestprairie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forestprairie)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/35 "2023-10-23T01:17:05Z")
Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. Men: Keep your beard minimal and nicely trimmed. DO NOT constantly stroke your beard. SOOO annoying to a woman. ---
**Author:** ![Forestprairie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Forestprairie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forestprairie)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/36 "2023-10-23T01:45:11Z")
Grown women seldom “twirl their hair.” A woman who does is just as annoying as a man who is forever stroking his beard. Both behaviors are signs of OCD. Neither behavior is attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/37 "2023-10-23T14:08:43Z")
You’d have been in a constant state of irritation if you’d been around [during the Civil War](https://www.businessinsider.com/best-civil-war-beards-and-mustaches-2013-11). ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/38 "2023-10-23T15:36:36Z")
There’s a tv commercial running for one of the HIV drugs that has a guy with a sort-of narrow but long beard. Like maybe three inches wide? And reaches down to mid-chest? The commercial is supposed to be outdoor and this guy’s beard is blowing off to one side and it just looks so scraggly and stupid and unkempt to me and all I can think while they’re intoning “With XXXX your virus level is so low you can’t pass on HIV” or something like that my mind is adding “but with that beard you have NO CHANCE of ever getting into a situation where you COULD pass on a STD anyway.” ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/39 "2023-10-23T16:17:35Z")
Fun fact: The chin is anatomically referred to as the “mental process” specifically because of the long established tendency to hold or rub the chin (and by literal extension, the beard) when thinking. Consider the position of hand on chin of The Thinker. Not sure _why_ so many of us do that and apparently always have. Submental btw does refer to deficiencies of thought but under the chin. I honestly don’t notice others stroking their beards myself. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252/40 "2023-10-23T17:01:36Z")
You might be surprised what some people will do for money or drugs a scraggly beard ain’t no obstacle for giving or getting sex. I think of beard strokers as cats who groom, the oils on your hand are smoothing out the wild hairs. I don’t really notice or care. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-absentmindedly-stroking-their-beard-annoying-irritating-or-not/595252.md?page=3)