# My baby doesn't like dark hairy men **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 27, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929 "2006-11-27T12:33:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/1 "2006-11-27T12:33:35Z")
I’m not sure why, one of the dark hairy men she has met is one of my best mates and the other is my sister’s boyfriend’s sister’s fiancee (so not entirely an evil stranger) Everyone else gets a beautiful beaming smile, these two unfortunates get the dropped bottom lip, wail and turn to daddy for a hug. I can’t explain it, and I hope it doesn’t lead to a life long prejudice 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/2 "2006-11-27T12:43:56Z")
Babies/toddlers have different reactions to different looking people is all. They grow out of it. My 2 year old twins constantly have different reactions to the same people or things. Yesterday, we had a live crab get out and start crawling across the floor. Audrey freaked out and ran away crying. Serena wanted to pet the nice little crab. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/3 "2006-11-27T13:52:08Z")
I’d love to see that, our Rosa is tempting fate by bothering the cats when they sleep, but the felines are fortunately wary of her too. ---
**Author:** ![Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gut)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/4 "2006-11-27T16:04:32Z")
I’m a guy with long hair and babies seem to cry only after I speak. The common theory so far is that the long hair and deep voice is confusing to them so they cry. It’s not a theory developed under tight laboratory conditions mind you. Just the Moms and Dads speculating. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/5 "2006-11-27T20:29:28Z")
I was the same way as a toddler-in fact, my mother had to switch pediatricians because our doctor was a dark, hairy guy with a big bushy beard and mustache and I screamed whenever I saw him. It’ll get better, I promise. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/6 "2006-11-27T20:33:39Z")
When my daughter was little she wouldn’t have anything to do with a man who was clean shaven. All the men she saw regularly had a full beard. Myself, a close friend, and her mom’s dad. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/7 "2006-11-27T21:47:07Z")
Way back when I was teaching swimming, I was forbidden from the toddler classes up to the Poliwogs. The little kids would see I was a man, and the entire class would dissolve into mommies trying to calm the freaked out kidlets. I ended up getting all the older kids, since most of the girl-type teachers of those classes were freaked out by the students, whereas scary boy-type me could keep 'em in line. Give it a few years; scary men who aren’t evil strangers will have their uses, then. ---
**Author:** ![conurepete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@conurepete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conurepete)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/8 "2006-11-27T22:23:48Z")
I worked many summers painting faces at the Renaissance festival. When Big Brian worked with me we would see it a lot. Little kids would see this big, hairy, scary, beardy guy who loomed even when sitting down and burst into terrified sobs. Brian would usually mention “Its okay, my kids did that, too” Of course, about 1 in 100 little girls would rush straight towards him with the huggy affection usually reserved for ponies and kittens. I was always glittery pink-princessy girls. They would cry when they had to leave. ---
**Author:** ![conurepete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@conurepete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conurepete)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/9 "2006-11-27T22:26:00Z")
oops I meant to type “It was always glittery pink-princessy girls” ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/10 "2006-11-27T22:44:07Z")
[QUOTE=conurepete] oops I meant to type “It was always glittery pink-princessy girls” [/QUOTE] Darn. Can I still think of you as a glittery pink-princessy girl in garb? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/11 "2006-11-27T23:54:19Z")
Al day long I’ve been thinking this thread was about your SO. Anyways, yeah. Typical of little kids. It seems like they’re all born with a mental image of The Devil and get a little upset when they meet somone who resembles it. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/12 "2006-11-28T00:07:51Z")
Before I was born, my mom worked at a national lab with physicists. Many of them, at that time (1975) had big fuzzy beards, and, then as now, many of them wore glasses. Mom took me in to meet some of them once when I was about 8 months old- they wanted to see her baby. Mom thought I would be scared of their big fuzzy beards, but she says I loved reaching out and grabbing at them. I was a strange child. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/13 "2006-11-28T00:12:37Z")
Personally I think it’s because kids havn’t developed the ability to discerne the nuances of appearance. As a big fat ugly hairy guy, I think young kids clue on the effect rather than the particulars. Sometimes they see me and start crying, sometimes they just stare like a deer in headlights, and sometimes they run up and grab a leg and start talking and hugging like I’m their uncle. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/14 "2006-11-28T00:58:11Z")
Yeah, beards never freaked me out when I was an infant, as my dad had one at the time. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/15 "2006-11-28T01:54:29Z")
My first went through a phase where she was terrified of blond men with beards. Normally a calm, placid baby, she went into complete hysterical panic on seeing one in the supermarket. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![pipperroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@pipperroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pipperroo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/16 "2006-11-28T03:25:18Z")
My older child never liked beards and wouldn’t kiss Grandpa because he has one. My younger child thinks Grandpa is great and likes to rub his beard. No clue what the difference is. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/17 "2006-11-28T05:25:18Z")
[QUOTE=Regallag\_The\_Axe] Yeah, beards never freaked me out when I was an infant, as my dad had one at the time. [/QUOTE] Mine didn’t, but I still liked them. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-baby-doesnt-like-dark-hairy-men/381929/18 "2006-11-28T08:36:57Z")
My Dad’s beard seems to be a source of fun because its all grey-white, he doesn’t mind the odd curious tug 😉 The stubble on my own chin has had a somewhat fortunate/unfortunate effect, little Rosa does like to chew on people from time to time, my chin no longer gets chewed now that the taste (and texture) of stubble has been discovered :eek: