homepage Forums SimHQ Community Community Hall The great vanishing of the male facial hair...

had a beard since about 1974. Grew it to keep my face warm while climbing steel in winter. I used to shave it in summer and grow it in winter for many years, but my wife informed me that she liked me better with a beard and I should not shave it off.....ergo I have not shaved it since

Interesting to see how women have such a large influence on men's facial hair habits.

I've never gone a day without shaving since high school (when I could). As it is mine grows so fast that after 16 hours or so my wife will push me away because it can hurt her skin (so some weekends I actually shave in the morning AND the evening!).
The longest I go is about 28 hours, because I wake up early Friday mornings but sleep in a few hours on Saturday, so it's about 4 hours later that I shave. One time I had to go about 36 hours and the razor nearly choked to a halt.

I can't stand it on my face, I can't stand if it gets too long (but I've never been a super-short buzzcut type, long for me is Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker-long).




The Jedi Master

I've had a beard for the last 10 years. Since before the hipsters came along and tried to take over facial hair. I originally did it to catch an extra 15 mins of sleep while working full time and taking finals, then decided that I liked it and kept it. I met my girlfriend about 6 months after the beard came along and since then she has only seen me clean shaven twice. Once the first Halloween that I knew her, and again this past Halloween. She doesn't really care one way or the other about the beard, but I feel weird without it at this point so it stays for the time being.

I would rephrase it this way:

Women have an overwhelming influence on all mens' habits.

Especially married men

It's much easier and a lot less time consuming to keep my beard and mustache trimmed than it is to shave. I hate shaving with a passion and stopped a long time ago.

Shaved everyday for 12 years while in the Military. Now i have a trimmed beard. I hate shaving. Girlfriend loves the beard. I trim my beard when I cut my hair, Although the older I get the less hair there is to cut. I didn't shave for the first year I was out of the military. Just let it grow it felt good. Every once and awhile I shave it off just to mess with people.

Yeah same here, in Seattle it's a hipster beard wonderland, I'm one of the few clean shaven men around here, (but I might just be jealous because I can't grow a decent one).

I think even some of the hipster women may be trying to grow a beard too, at least from what I see on their legs in the summer around the university...

Ah yes, those "free spirit" earthy-women.

I don't need a scarf in the winter as the beard keeps the neck warm. In the summer, it tickles my ears when I am riding. It also collects the odd protein for nourishment.

I've had a mustache since I was discharged from the Navy.
I've had a 'well trimmed' beard, and mustache since I was working Vice...minus the beard when I was transferred to the DB. Then grew it again when I retired.

I like it well trimmed, and only about 1/2 - 3/4" long, with the mustache meeting the beard, all trimmed.
I've posted photos, so we won't go there again.

I don't like the wild, unkempt beards or mutton chops...etc...
But it's just a matter of taste, I suppose.
You are, what you wear people do form 'first impression' opinions of you.
If you're trying to 'frighten' people, it says something about your insecurities, I think.
If you just don't like to 'clean-up', that is a 'tell' also.
But personally, I could care less what other guys do to their faces.
Look at the nose rings, and stick pins all over peoples faces....lol....gotta love that

....and BTW, my wife likes my facial hair.
But I doubt it would matter, much. As it's my face. Like the guys with the pins in their faces.
To each their own. You live with it.
I did cut it once, and she told me to grow it back
You get used to 'things', I suppose.

It was tough for me to see the decline because I grew up loving bands like Boston:

70s rock was all about epic mustaches, beards, and Jew-fros!!!
Journey guitarist Neal Schon:

And Rush drummer Neil Peart:

I have had a mustache accompanied by most every combination from mutton chops to current Fu Manchu mustache, since 1972. One early attempt at a beard was KO'ed by my CO, it just wasn't connecting the dots. One good thing about maturing later is that now at 63, I don't look my age, at least according to my wife. I have noticed, as did PM, how many were vetoed by wives. Maybe because mine isn't very course, it has never been an issue. I shave the center of my chin and below my side burns, still regulation ear lobe length, up to my mustache, usually about one time a week. Cheap disposable razors last a couple of years. I still have half a bag of them I bought from a store that closed 10 years ago. I usually shave after showering and an still using brush, mug and shaving soap that my Dad left me 38 years ago.

I don't get whiskers so much as steel bristles if I don't shave for a couple days - rough enough to put a minor abrasion on the wife, who is naturally a redhead.

Plus now it's all streaked with white around my chin, and those suckers are even more bristle like.

Funny thing is that while I have to shave before sharing the conjugal bed, the wife likes the rogue look after a few days. We're all still one step away from sharpening something and raiding villages or killing wild beasts, aren't we? It would seem that women may not like violent men but they appreciate one that has the capacity for it should the need arise.

Shaving daily, or every 2-3 days at most, is just less hassle than keeping a beard & mustache looking neat. It's also why I keep the hair on my head as short as what's on my face. After getting out of the army I tried growing my hair & beard like I think most do, but by the middle of the afternoon the hair I'd washed that morning felt more dirty than my army cut had after a week in the field - and I was a track crewman so I word a close-fitting helmet similar to a pilot or open-face motorcycle helmet. Hair that's not there can't feel greasy! Shampoo is as much for the scalp as the hair, so I still use it every day.

Insulation isn't a reason for me, either. If I get cold in the winter I'd rather just pull on a balaclava, because when the temp warms up to -15F or so the beard will have me too warm. Wearing a hat while snowshoeing at -15F will have sweat running down my face like it's the middle of August.

I think real men have facial hair.

You mean like Prince? There are lots of ethnic populations that genetically don't have thick facial hair if any, and they can be pretty tough. Hair in itself doesn't prove a whole lot. When long hair and facial hair became popular for young people, the older generations couldn't understand it and thought it was weird. I've known people who outwardly look like hippies, they have long tangled hair and long beards and they're rolling in money, they're engineers, but a couple of decades ago people would have looked at them as just bums.

Then again, there are a lot of bums that look like that, too.

They are the realest men of all.

My wife is a redhead too. She likes the rough look even with the grey on it. More of that nowadays I'm sorry to report. I have to shave before as you say " sharing the conjugal bed" or have it long enough where it doesn't feel like sandpaper. But if I shave it all off she says I look strange..go figure. Pfft women! Or in our case redheads!