Beards are here to stay, aren't they?

I think too many guys have facial hair today.

I think men look better clean shaven.

Beards have always been here to stay OP. From clean shaven to beards and everything in between. And this has been the way of men's facial hair for thousands of years.

I don't mind beards, it's the recent trend of pornstaches that gets me.

I can't work out whether guys who have them think they look good, or if they do it to be "funny".

Going all the way back to Washington's time and the French Revolution, Western men were clean-shaven in the 1700s until the mid 1800s.

Then bushy beards were in vogue until the early 1900s.

Then clean-shaven was in until the 1960s.

Facial hair made a comeback in the late '60s through the '80s.

Then clean-shaven was in again in the 90s and 2000s.

Remember when Joaquin Phoenix showed up on Letterman looking like this in 2009 and everyone thought he looked homeless and probably was on drugs!

Turned out it was for a mockumentary, but it's funny how just a few years later (in the early 2010s), bushy beards were back in style.

Even Letterman, who makes fun of his appearance here, now sports a worse bushy beard than this.

Beards are here to stay as long as Hollywood actors feel pressure to stay closeted.

While the outcome can be highly individual, I'm all for the broad trend of beards, facial hair, and mustaches and hope it lasts for many years.

It doesn't hurt either that it's a nice antidote to the immature male faces that look like cookies taken too soon from the oven.

Who is that at OP? He's hot

Anyone who dislikes beards is not required to grow one.

Fashion now changes at a glacial pace nowadays. When American Graffiti came out in 1973 it was a look back at completely different time...eleven years earlier! Imagine a movie coming out today taking place in 2013. What would be different?

R9 no broccoli haircut on young men in 2013.

I’m keeping mine.

James Beard died in 1985.

I’ve been on a beard journey the last year growing out my facial hair for the first time in my 50s now that it doesn’t matter so much for my work. The beard influencers were very useful for me to learn the ins and outs. That’s said, some of the online communities are weirdly obsessive and fetishize facial hair. Go to subreddits for beards, moustaches or bald, and you’ll see. They tell guys with perfect jawlines to cover it up. The only one that gives objective answers about what looks good is r/malegrooming where they’ll give the hard truth about a patchy beard or pervy pornstache.

[quote][R9] no broccoli haircut on young men in 2013.

I remember in the late 2000s/early 2010s, it was the Tintin hairdo.

[quote]I’ve been on a beard journey the last year growing out my facial hair for the first time in my 50s now that it doesn’t matter so much for my work.

Did you switch jobs?

R3, I love, love, love a good porn stache. Porn's Beau Butler grows one that's just amazing.

A simple mustache is to automatically a "porn stash."

Porn stashes must have hairs growing downward on both sides surrounding the mouth.

No, r17.

No, r18

No r17

A pornstache is a mustache that makes the wearer look sleazy, predatory, or cheaply groomed. It can appear in many different forms and styles.

No, R17.

Yes, R20

[quote]Porn stashes must have hairs growing downward on both sides surrounding the mouth.

That's a Fu Manchu

I LOVE facial on a guy. Hair can someone go from meh to hot.

You call it corn, we call it maize.

[quote]I don't mind beards, it's the recent trend of pornstaches that gets me.

Same, and I DO NOT get it. I also don't get that it's somehow STILL a thing. A lot of the guys who wear them are boyish, and more than a few gay ones speak via cascading Prada purses, so is it simply viewed as somehow a way to look more "butch"?

I don't mind neat, trim beards. But the long, bushy "my beard looks just like my pubic hair" look is a bit off putting.

I like bushy beards and pornstaches.

I also love a thick thatch of pubic hair.

For me, I think these are linked.

I hope so. I love 'em.

I can't stand no pussy-faced man.

I recall the latest beard trend starting in 2008 with the outset of the Great Financial Crisis. I assumed it would be relatively short lived (e.g like the Man Bun) but it seems it’s here to stay.

"Beards are here to stay, aren't they?"

As long as Proctor and Gamble keeps jacking up the price of Gillette razors, yes, beards are here to stay.

You guys should be watching MLB. Now is the time for those guys to be growing out their beards.

I have a very pale baby face. I do indeed look like a cookie taken out of the oven too soon R6. Took a flight last weekend and the TSA agent asked me if I was traveling alone. I'm 38. A beard stops those comments but the beard is now full of grey so I look like a drama kid in a bad prop. So, I have to dye the beard which is a pain in the ass and I probably do look like a young queen butching it up but at least I'm never mistaken for a child.

R33, count your blessings!

Everybody looks dirty lately.

Growing a beard in my late twenties made me feel much more confident in my appearance. My chin is my weakest feature -- it's short and throws off the proportions of an otherwise balanced face -- and growing a beard corrected that. I would never want to go back, unless I got a chin implant.

This guy is also a prime example of someone whose face might read as too soft/young without facial hair, but the beard helps him cross over into being a good looking adult man.

Just about every man looks good with scruff, and there are some men, like R36, whose facial features are flattered by a beard. But my personal preference is clean shaven. I love men's faces and I like to see as much of the real estate as I can.

The only types of facial hair I find truly objectionable are the Yosemite Sam beards going down to the clavicle (hideous on everyone) and the handlebar (pure affectation).

I'm clean shaven. My facial hair is sparse. There but not dense. It looks like my beard is having chemo. I would love a beard but it does not flatter me. I also realized the other day my jaw is bigger than my head. I got a buzz cut that's way too close to the bone and I look like an upside down skull.

Being pretty is sooooooo difficult.

It's a played-out trend.

David Letterman's beard is over the top. I don't like it.

A beard never goes out of style.

I've had a beard since I was 28 and am 45 now and can't imagine not having one.

Yes but only if they're photoshopped.

I always assume they're hiding something. Laziness, ugliness and/or herpes.

R33 I dyed my beard for the longest--10 years--and nobody really noticed because I'm a Black, and it's hard to tell unless you know what to look for (e.g. it’s scarily, unnaturally dark and there’s a grayish tint under light). When COVID hit and everything shut down, I said “Fuck it” and took a break from it because I wasn’t going anywhere. I eventually got used to it. I tried to dye it recently and it just seemed…laborious, and it even looked odd to me. Sure, I look older but as a friend told me, “Don’t be embarrassed. You’ve earned it.”

Of course, he’s straight, so he would say some shit like that.

R44 Whenever I shave, I get razor bumps that inevitably turn into cysts. That's why I keep a beard.

Yes, beards are a mainstay in Hollywood. Many careers hinge on sustaining that illusion.

I like a nice beard. What I don't like are those ones that look like the guy is trying to audition for ZZ Top or become a rabbi. Extra busy and I don't like it.

Some guys look their best with a beard. Maybe a 7, 8, or 9.

Clean shaven = 3 or 4.

Yeah, R40, that Gabby Hayes look flatters no one.

I hate facial hair.

Groomed and clean are very nice on many guys. Just back from Midwest and saw many sloppy fatsos with great big sloppy-looking BUSHES on their faces -- obviously too lazy/cheap to trim/groom them, or trying to cover up their fat jowls: it's the male equivalent of fat old women trying to cover their fatness up with drape-y tunic tops. It doesn't fool anyone.

I LOVE facial hair

Beards are here to stay, be it facial hair or gay beards.

Now if only they'd learn to trim and connect.

I love big beards.

I’m more a goatee guy. I don’t like the look of bushy facial hair at all.

Goatees are for sociopaths

The beard doesn't end.

Beards are now security blankets for a lot of guys.

I'm horrible at recognizing someone 'through ' the facial hair. Half the people I run into and know, I don't immediately recognize them as they all seem to wear the same lumberjack Grizzly Adamsesque heavy beard with a mustache and also sometimes going into chop territory- it's like the facial hair protection program.

Not a fan.

Sexy beard.

Scruff yes, beards no.

Beard and a hairy chest.

I'm happy for the fashion and it's staying power.

The sorts of men I like tend to look good with beards or facial hair. Not super styled and sculpted and cut with templates and laser precision, but hearty, natural looking beards. Nothing too ZZ Top or Alaska survivalist, just a nice full beard looked after but not unduly fussed over.

I had no fault with the Hipster years. They kindly brought facial hair back. Yes, the craze for hair products and mustache waxes and beard balms and oils and creams went a bit overboard - but more when they talked about it.

A close shaved face on a man with no discernable stubble creeps me out. Too Ken Doll, too fussy, too feminine/Baptist preacher. I know it's the best choice for some men, but it's not to my taste.

Viva la barba.

It’s those try-hard mustaches….

Nebuchadnezzar? Nevah.

Scruff is the only thing that creates any send of a jawline on my aging saggy jowls and neck.

Ryan Seacrest has a beard. Gets a new one every three years.

IBM had policy on beards. Grow one, but not on company time, you'd look scruffy. Lots of guys did it over vacation.

Love short beards.

R68 I do much better on Scruff.

Beards are the yoga pants of gay men. Just shave already.

They look good on a lot of men. Lots of pudgy guys looks 100% better with one too. Some very handsome men look a lot better without one.

Wait till they tell you that you'd be a good Santa.

Bearded with an ultra hairy armpit.

The beard continues on down.

Nice beard (gay Pakistani-British guy who posts on X a lot).

One person I don't like scruff on is gay CBS reporter Jonathan Vigliotti. To me, for some reason, it makes him look unwashed, bordering on homeless. He did a piece on CBS Sunday Morning today, and once again, he turned me off with that scruffy face, although the story was very good. Scruff works for some, but not Jonathan.

IMHO

Had to look him up on Google, but I think Jonathan looks good with a beard (is this his boyfriend?).

I went all my life shaving every day until about eight years ago. Then I wondered if I even could grow a beard, so I stopped shaving and grew one in about 10 days. I was going to shave it off, but everyone I knew told me they liked it, so I kept it.

Now I can't even imagine myself without one.

I only started growing one 10 years ago because I left corporate life to retire early.

Plus I'm lazy, and the damn razor blades cost too damn much.

Full beard.

Watching football I'm seeing more and more beards. Some teams are almost all beards, to look mean and nasty.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, 80+ posts before this gets typed? This thread is useless without pictures.

A fit 30 year old with a beard and a big cock is the most beautiful thing in the world.

Black beard.

the damn razor blades cost too damn much.

R82 never heard of an electric shaver.

In my 60s I just eventually gravitated towards shaving off my years-long continuous goatee, trimmed up the sideburns and haircut shorter, and began shaving pretty much every other day or two. It just felt better. I think it looks cooler when a younger guy has the elaborate beard or multi-days scruff going on (exception: if it’s a dark beard and the scruff is manicured to within an inch of looking like a backyard lawn).

There was a guy who had a gym in I think Rhode Island and got in trouble during covid times for not shutting it down. He was in the news a lot, but I can't find him now on Google. Anyway, he had the greatest beard I've ever seen. I'd like to find a pic of him.

Him?

No R92 - this guy had a super long beard.

I was wrong, it wasn't Rhode Island, it was New Jersey. Here he is - his name is Ian Smith. Great beard!

It's very clear, Our beards are here to stay. Not for a year, But ever and a day.

Quite the beard.

How long does it take to grow a beard that long? Not that I want to.

Ricki Hall. Now THIS is a hot man with a hot beard.

R97 - it varies. Beard hair on average grows between 1/3 to 1/2 inch per month, but it also depends on genetics. Hair on different parts of the face can be in different cycles of growth and vary on speed of growth. There is also terminal or maximum possible length and that varies significantly by person. (from 12-36”)

In the beard groups, there the ‘three month rule’ which means let everything grow and see where you’re at before tidying up and deciding how to style. There’s also the concept of a ‘yeard’ which is a year’s growth. People will proudly show pics of their big bushy yeards which are usually a mess. It’s always hard to get objective advice from beard fanatics because the ‘more is better’ view is the loudest.

I find this Punjabi guy really hot.

Persian beard.

I've had beards for about 30 years but have never gone the ZZ Top length. After a certain bushiness they are too itchy and I get beard dandruff.

When I left corporate life I tried to grow a "Dumbledore" but my hair stopped growing at nipple length. Now it's a short, neat length that I trim with my Flowbee.