https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160418-the-real-reason-men-grow-beards
You might think all the facial hair you’re seeing on the street is a way of attracting a mate. It might not be so simple.
You can tell a good developer/sysadmin by the length of their beard. If they don't have to shave to get a job that means they're 1337
Yea. You can go 3 weeks without trimming and it just looks kinda full. You can go one day before a clean shave looks like you don't care about it.
It still ends up being more work than I’d hoped for (which was 0), but certainly less than staying clean shaven. That and my wife really likes it are my two biggest reasons.
Exactly. My lazy ass shaves every 2 to 3 weeks when it starts itching. In the summertime more often since a beard sucks when you try to wipe your sweat off....
this is me. would keep in summer but it just gets uncomfortable. have a lot of stubble through the summer.
Appealing to prospective partners is not why I have a beard. Improving my standing with other men is not why I have a beard.
I have a beard because....I like it. It's for me. I was clean shaven for a year for a job and hated it so much I quit.
If you don't mind my asking, why do you think you hated it so much? Just hate the way it looks on you specifically?
It made me look 10 years younger and I'd prefer to look my age
Shaving is annoying. Occasional razor burn and cuts aside, it's an "all or nothing" style. If you miss a spot, it sticks out against the smooth skin
Having to do it daily sucks especially for people like me who get 10am shadows. Post-shave stubble looks bad. Post-#1 trimmer stubble looks the same
It's relaxing to scratch a beard and it doesn't feel good to scratch a freshly-shaven face.
I trim my beard once a week and I can do it half asleep. it stays relatively nice and if I miss a spot, it mostly blends in. Sometimes during the week I will trim the couple of hairs that grow a little higher on my cheeks but even if I don't, it doesn't look too bad.
There can be other, individual reasons especially for "like", but that and "beauty" have a strong link to evolution. For example, a wolf wouldn't find a bowl of fruits beautiful.
It's not about hiding a weak jaw line? Jokes aside, it is interesting that a lot of the masculine activities we may have naively agreed were intended to attract women, are to repel other men and avoid competition.
Well what does my mustache say? That I'm sad the craft beer bubble burst?
I gotta say I was never on that hype train.
To me it was like someone went "Hey, what if we take the worst part of beer, and made it the only part?"
I’ve never been a fan of IPAs and don’t think I’ve ever bought one on its own, but I’ve enjoyed a lot of other local craft brews. I think we’ve had a few local breweries close, but others still open.
My kid didn't think I look enough like a real dad so he harangued me until I grew a beard. And hey it grew on me and eventually even on my wife. Well you know what I mean.
Then it grew on the dog. It grew on the couch. It grew on the house and the neighborhoid block. It grew on the town, the county, the state. It grew on the Earth, the sun, all the way to Oort cloud. When it grew on Sagittarius A* we stopped keeping track.
With a little more ridiculous imagery, that could've been a Shel Silverstein poem.
Well, except he didn't write it...
My wife originally hated my beard, and now she doesn't like me clean shaven. I guess she got so used to it that any time I shave she says she prefers me with facial hair.
Some people do look better with beard. Not that' it is a bad thing, me too. Well, "beard", 5mm.
When I shaved my cats wouldn't let me pet them. I couldn't deal with that kind of rejection.
It would probably even more upsetting to have someone smell like your servant owner without looking like him.
Imagine if someone spoke to you sounding exactly like your mother but looking nothing like her
I have a beard because my fiancé says I have to keep it. I'd have a stubble face (clippers only, no razors) every day if I could.
There have been a lot of articles about men's beards since hipsters started rocking full beards in the last couple of decades, and they're often loaded with opinions against it. It's usually not more scientifically interesting than asking "why animals grow hair". They do, and nobody really cares enough to ask "why".
I'd rather like to know "the real reason men shave". That's somewhat more interesting, because it's something humans have created and there ought to be a reason why.
Expensive? My friend, buy a safety razor and you'll spend $6 on 25 blades that'll last you 7 months, if you're shaving every day and changing the blade once a week.
These are the blades I use:
https://vanderhagen.com/product/25-ct-razor-pack/
And the razor I use:
https://vanderhagen.com/product/85mm-chrome-basics-safety-razor/
This is the razor I've used. I'm sure there are better ones out there, but this one has adjustable blade support for different skin types. I bought a pack of 100 German blades.
And you got the fancy expensive blades. Feather blades are fantastic and you can buy a box of 100 for like fifteen bucks. They're a bit too aggressive for me, I like Derby blades, but I wouldn't really recommend them (also I'm not super impressed with their quality control, I keep finding dud blades).
As in the occasional cuts or like actual constant pain? Not judging or anything just mildly concerned.
General razor burn. I have pretty sensitive skin, drawing sharp metal over it repeatedly irritates it.
Don't do the same area repeatedly. Get a safety razor so that it's cheap to install a new blade (.05¢), and change blades every 3rd shave. Soften your facial hair with hot water. Use a high quality shaving cream and brush. Pass over each part of your face only once. Shave in the direction of your hair growth, not against it. Use a good facial moisturizer when you're finished.
Phillips Series 3000 for shaving and Braun Series 9 for cutting was it for me. Both dry. But OneBlade Pro was useless trash.
Do nothing, and voilà! No makeup.
Do nothing, and voilà! Beard.
Beards take effort to remove, not to grow, and exist completely independently from human fashion and technology
Not that much effort. I trim about every two weeks. My GF puts on makeup every day.
Beards are way easier than makeup
"If"... That's called moving the goalpost.
Growing a beard takes zero effort. None, nada, zip. Do nothing and a beard will grow.
Just like toenails, hair, skin, etc.
