There is no way I’m going to be able to accurately cite this, so if any of you bio-folks can help me out I’d appreciate it.
The way I learned it back when I was sleeping through human sexuality class, facial hair is secondary sexual characteristic, a positive and quite visual indicator of testosterone production. Women are initially attracted to men with facial hair because it is visual proof that the guy is a viable mate.
Then, when the female accepts the male as a suitable partner, she wants to make her mate less desireable to others. Ever have your girlfriend suddenly start complaining about how your moustache irritates her? According to the class I took, what that really means is she wants to keep you around for awhile.
Here’s where I go out on a limb. I suspect that certain matrilineal and matriarchal societies may have institutionalized the practice of removing men’s facial hair. I might even go so far as to guess that if you looked hard enough you could probably find a correlation between the role of women in a given society and the average length of a man’s beard.
Unfortunately, searching for this stuff without a firm grasp of the actual terminology used is very difficult. If anyone can help me confirm the above, I’d appreciate it.
There’s another factor at work: the transitional phase.
I usually wear my beard close-cropped, neat and professional. However, due to some weird circumstances recently, I decided to grow out my beard and see what happens. I quit shaving, and I’m looking like a crazed Grizzly Adams wannabe. Eventually, I’ll go to a stylist and see what beard/hair designs they think might look good on me. I should have enough hair to pull off anything by then.
The circumstances that allow me to do so are as follows. I’m in a long-term relationship, and my SO likes my beard. I work by myself, no contact with the public. I don’t have any formal social engagements for a while.
In other words, the circumstances that allow you to go through the difficult transition period without losing your job, losing your spouse, not getting dates, and not causing a screaming panic at the opera, are pretty rare. Even though I’ve had a beard since I was 16, I’ve never before seen how it looks when I just let it grow.
It’s not just a secondary sexual characteristic, it’s a VERY obvious signal of male power, of potency, agression, dominenance, power, and authourity. Older, wise, respected men wear beards. It’s a fatherly Authouritarian signal. A bearded male is percieved to be physically powerful, (if he’s in decent shape). Men are hairy. Men are burly. Men have beards and muscles. Youths have clean jaws, slim lines and more gracile physiques. (note youth, NOT boy) I think this frightens a lot of women who may not feel emotionally ready to deal with an ALPHA MALE. A dominant male. By prefering shaved men, it keeps the difference between the sexes to a closer degree. Shaven men are percieved as more youthful, and therefore less dominant. These men are seen as “safer”. Many women prefer their men to wear facial hair so long as it grows decently. My S.O. seems to love it. Bearded men are what nature intended, if you can grow it, wear it proud.
I think some people see it as a sign of laziness. Too lazy to shave or whatever. My husband has a bodacious beard and wouldn’t even consider shaving. But he’s a hard worker.
I also think many women hate the way a beard feels (unbeknownst to some, a long one is as soft as can be), so the beard gets a bad rap from that corner.
I worked at IBM for a spell. They frowned on ANY facial hair. Your career was doomed if you sported even a neat mustache. I heard from one person that they felt the customer’s attention would be on your beard/mustache and not on the content of your words. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
I think some people see it as a sign of laziness. Too lazy to shave or whatever.[\QUOTE]
Actually, that’s the reason I tend not to shave.
My beard tends to be rather coarse and tough. I’m rather clumsy. These result in my cutting myself quite a bit. After hearing this, people often suggest I switch to an electric razor. When I tell them I already use one, they tell me its’s not supposed to be possible to cut yourself with one.
I stopped shaving because I thought having a beard would be easier. I end up spending more time grooming it then I ever did shaving. I only grew it because I didn’t have to worry about a transitional phase. As soon as school is out and I need to beat the pavement I’ll shave it.
Beards itch a lot… mine does at least. If I didn’t look like a caveman with one I might consider keeping it out of sheer laziness.
Also for kissing and eating beards are a big bother… so I just shave it off.
Why are Beards more off than on fashion ? It looks aggressive and men are becoming ever more less masculine in their behaviour. Youthful appearance too.