# With facial hair, or without?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 1, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028 "2003-09-01T22:27:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [September 1, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/1 "2003-09-01T22:27:56Z")
Alright, I need some impartial, unbiased opinions here on the status of my facial hair. Currently, I have been growing it out for the past two weeks. Having never had a beard before (well, a goatee a few times) I’m not sure if it looks good on me. I’d ask my friends, but, well, I don’t trust them. So I turn to the one place I know I can get an honest answer, the SDMB.
Go to [photos.yahoo.com](http://photos.yahoo.com), and login as bouvphotos. Email me for the password, since I don’t know if I’m allowed to post it here (the account is only a photo account, no email, and I created it for the sheer purpose of showing to dopers, so I think it’s ok to post it, but I won’t until a mod shows up and says it’s ok.)
Basically, I just want to know, better with, or without. Opinions from females are especially wanted,
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### Author:  [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/2 "2003-09-02T00:30:07Z")
For a tip on what _doesn’t_ attract the ladies, check [this](http://www.uvm.edu/~nvenet/TheBomb.htm) out!
(my roommate, **ellis555** , and I had fun with his digital camera the day he decided to start shaving off the beard he grew this summer. Some girl told him it looked distinguished, but the day he shaved the whole thing off she told him how much better he looked without it)
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/3 "2003-09-02T02:27:42Z")
OK, better plan, just go to [here](http://www.geocities.com/axpauction/beard), and then [here](http://www.geocities.com/axpauction/clean), and compare. Much easier for all involved.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/4 "2003-09-02T02:39:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> For a tip on what doesn’t attract the ladies, check this out!
So, Wolverine DID have a son!
😃
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/5 "2003-09-02T03:05:26Z")
I’m a guy so my opinion doesn’t matter but I think you look fine.
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### Author:  [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/6 "2003-09-02T03:12:44Z")
CLEAN!
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### Author:  [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/7 "2003-09-02T03:44:37Z")
I’d say go for the clean look.
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### Author:  [@TheFunkySpaceCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFunkySpaceCowboy)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/8 "2003-09-02T04:19:14Z")
Shave it dude. It looks like your facial hair grows just like mine does, beard with no moustache and that just doesn’t work for anyone. Trust me.
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### Author:  [@Laurasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laurasia)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/9 "2003-09-02T04:35:36Z")
I’m a girl…I vote for clean. And the smiling pic looks cute, so smile a lot!
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### Author:  [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/10 "2003-09-02T05:02:56Z")
Hmm. Over all, I’d say clean; I like the first pic with facial hair a lot, but from the angle and quality of the shot (it’s kind of blurry), and because your hair isn’t very dark, it like you have a lot less than in the other two pictures. So another vote for clean, but I think you’d probably look pretty good with a little bit of stubble.
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### Author:  [@Shana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shana)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/11 "2003-09-02T05:43:58Z")
I’m a female, but I suppose that’s obvious from my user name…Anyway, I vote for CLEAN. And I agree with **Laurasia**! You should smile more. You look nice when you smile!
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/12 "2003-09-02T05:48:45Z")
I look nice when I smile? Yeah, I think both of my past girlfriends have told me that, but I don’t buy it. I hate smiling, I always think I look like a doofus. And it’s not that my mustache doesn’t grow, it’s that I’m shaving that part, I’m going for the “amish” look, I guess you could call it. Well, it seems pretty obvious that the consensus is clean, but my question is this: How many of you like facial hair to begin with? Cause I asked some of the girls I know, but they all already have the opinion that all facial is bad, no matter what.
But I think I will end up shaving it, if nothing else than because the itching is driving me crazy.
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### Author:  [@Laurasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laurasia)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/13 "2003-09-02T05:59:17Z")
You’re right…I don’t like facial hair in general. A bit of stuble is good though.
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### Author:  [@Shana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shana)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/14 "2003-09-02T06:09:16Z")
Hm, now you see, I do like a little facial hair on a guy. When my husband is a bit scruffy he looks really hot. I’ve been known to like goatees as well…still, I say CLEAN. It just seems to suit you better **bouv**.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/15 "2003-09-02T06:43:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> And it’s not that my mustache doesn’t grow, it’s that I’m shaving that part, I’m going for the “amish” look, I guess you could call it.
Lincoln had that kind of beard, and I think we all know what happened to him. 😉
Seriously, I think the third pic looks okay, but that’s not my kind of beard. And I actually have one. [Here’s a fairly recent picture of me.](http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/index.php?module=My_eGallery&do=showpic&pid=2497&orderby=dateD)
> [@](#):
>
> But I think I will end up shaving it, if nothing else than because the itching is driving me crazy.
That does go away when it gets longer, if you’re so motivated. But the in-between period (for me, that hits after 3 or 4 days without shaving) is tough.
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### Author:  [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/16 "2003-09-02T07:00:20Z")
To answer your second question, I’m neither for or against facial hair in general. It completely depends on the person.
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### Author:  [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/17 "2003-09-02T12:42:15Z")
CLEAN definitely! [Brigit Jones]And I think you should seriously reconsider the length of your sideburns[/Brigit]
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/18 "2003-09-02T13:42:06Z")
I’m for the full beard look. I think you need quite a lot more growth before you can tell if you’ll like it. My husband has a zztop/ santa / Unibomber thing going on. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love it.
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### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/19 "2003-09-02T14:04:56Z")
Clean. Unless you _want_ to look 5 years older.
I am partial, a full beard looks good on only a few young men. However, in your pics the beard is hardly past the stubblestage, and I do like stubbles. So I compared stubbles to clean. And I still vote:
clean and smiling: 10 out of 10
clean, not smiling: 7 out of 10
beard…5 out of 10.
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### Author:  [@Angel\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_Heart)
#### Post date: [September 2, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-facial-hair-or-without/199028/20 "2003-09-02T14:54:24Z")
I vote for clean-shaven, because I think beards look strange on men under 30. JMHO.
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